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Near North District School Board

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Chippewa Secondary School celebrates 10 years of excellence with International Baccalaureate program

January 10, 2025 By Brett

Friday, Jan. 10, 2025               

Chippewa Secondary School celebrates 10 years of excellence with International Baccalaureate program

Chippewa Secondary School is thrilled to announce the successful completion of its recent five-year evaluation, conducted by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), reaffirming its commitment to providing a world-class education. Chippewa Secondary became an IB World School in 2014.

The IB evaluation process is a five-year cycle, culminating in a review of all documents, processes and procedures, and academic and school priorities during a five-year period. This was Chippewa’s second such evaluation. The successful evaluation, conducted over 12 months, underscores the program’s adherence to the high standards set by the International Baccalaureate organization. The IB community – administrators, teaching staff, current students, alumni, and families – are all allowed to participate in the process. This comprehensive review is designed to provide the opportunity to celebrate the successes and to look for ways to continually improve.

Chippewa’s World School Manager, Remy Lemon, stated, “I would like to thank your school community for the thorough and thoughtful presentation of your self-study results. Your commitment has been evident in the review of your school’s documents and engagement throughout the process.”

The evaluation team at the IB World Schools department commended the school for its dedicated faculty, robust support systems, and overall growth and success of its IB students. The conclusions of the evaluation team noted, “Chippewa Secondary School has consistently aligned its mission and vision with the IB educational principles. This commitment is evident. [They showed] a strong focus on equity and inclusion across both curricular and extracurricular activities. The school team fosters relationships between students, teachers and the community, encouraging global perspectives and equipping students with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in an evolving world.”

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the program at Chippewa Secondary School, with its first students entering the diploma program in 2015.

For more information about the IB program at Chippewa Secondary School, please contact Kim Larivee, IB coordinator, and check out Chippewa’s open house event, Welcome to High School, for Grade 8 students on Jan. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m.

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Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

NNDSB – Letter to Families – PowerSchool breach – 2025-01-09

January 9, 2025 By Brett

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We wanted to share an important update about a cyber incident experienced by Near North District School Board (NNDSB) involving PowerSchool – the application used by NNDSB and many school boards across North America to store a range of student information and a limited amount of staff information.

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, PowerSchool notified the board and other school boards in Ontario and across North America that they had experienced a data breach between Dec. 22-28, 2024.

Our cybersecurity team promptly activated our response plan, taking immediate steps to ensure that our critical systems remain operational.

Working with PowerSchool, we are conducting a thorough investigation to understand the nature of the incident and what personal information may have been affected. At this point in time, we are still assessing the exact information that may have been accessed or exported from the application. PowerSchool has informed us that it has received confirmation that the data accessed by an unauthorized user has been deleted and that no copies of this data were posted online.

When we determine what personal information has been impacted, we will let you know as soon as possible. In the meantime, we have proactively notified the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner of this incident.

We know this news may be concerning, but please know that we are doing everything possible to learn more from PowerSchool about what occurred and will share that information with you.

Many of you will have questions as a result of this news, but given the ongoing investigation into what occurred, we do not yet have more information to share at this time.

We will continue to update the community as more information becomes available.

Sincerely,

Near North District School Board

 

Filed Under: Letter to Families, Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

Another successful Indigenous Youth Council Gives Back

December 18, 2024 By Brett

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024

Another successful Indigenous Youth Council Gives Back

After last year’s incredible success with the Necessities Drive, the Indigenous Youth Circle, in partnership with the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre and the Anishinabek Police Service (APS), held a Stuff the Cruiser fundraiser.

The Indigenous Youth Circle is a student organization comprised of Indigenous students from all Near North District School Board (NNDSB) secondary schools. Over the last two months, the Indigenous youth at six secondary schools across the board held various fundraisers to collect money and toys to donate to the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre for their holiday gift-giving.

Indigenous Student Trustee Riley Trudeau and NNDSB’s Indigenous Lead Kelly Nootchtai Huston joined Sgt. Chantal Larocque, Const. Justin McLeod and Const. JP Spence at the Sturgeon Falls Canadian Tire, where they collected toys and monetary donations from customers.  Over the two days, while also handing out popcorn and raffling an APS hoodie, stuffed police dog and maple syrup that was donated by a local business owner, they stuffed an entire APS truck with toys, as well as raising more than $1,282.

Stuff the Cruiser event culminated on Dec. 12, when Student Trustee Riley Trudeau and Dokis First Nation student Jacob Restoule hopped in APS cruisers driven by Sgt. Larocque and Const. McLeod. Joining them in the back seats were Indigenous Education Coordinator Amanda Mathias and Indigenous Lead Kelly Nootchtai Huston. They visited five of the six secondary schools to collect their donations and completed their travels at the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre.

Along with a $1,000 donation from Dokis First Nation and the monies procured at Canadian Tire, more than $4000 was raised.

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Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

NNDSB – Board Highlights – December 13, 2024

December 13, 2024 By Brett

Friday, Dec. 13, 2024

The following are the highlights of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) meeting of Tuesday, December 10, 2024.

Director of Education’s report

Director of Education Craig Myles began his report with a reflection on this season of giving, gratitude and hope and urged everyone to pause and celebrate the efforts being undertaken in school communities. He noted that the staff’s hard work and passion bring the board’s mission to life every day.

The report outlined several activities that took place on the Nov. 15 professional activity day, including a learning symposium for secondary educators, a collaborative session with the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit to address conditions to promote positive school climate, math, English, civic and career workshops and a session that explored science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning through an Indigenous lens.

Myles thanked the staff and trustees who contributed to the Nov. 27 multi-year strategic plan (MYSP) public information session. A recording of the session has been uploaded to the MYSP page. NNDSB is also seeking stakeholder and rightsholder feedback regarding the MYSP. A survey is open until Dec. 31. Access to the Fall 2024 survey can be found here.

Student conduct administrative guideline revision

A report to the Board presented a draft revised administrative guideline about student conduct management. There will now be a 30-day consultation period. The final guideline will aim to incorporate applicable feedback that aligns with the mission, vision, and values of the board and the Ministry of Education.

The draft revised guideline contains three areas of major change, including: how to respond, report and assign consequences for behaviour that is motivated by bias, prejudice or hate; language has been updated to be more inclusive with gender-specific pronouns removed; language has been updated to be more user friendly, and directs readers to other areas of the NNDSB website that contain additional resources, such as the bullying prevention and intervention plan and the Safer Schools Reporting Tool. 

School trip administrative guideline revision

A report to trustees included revisions to the School Trips Administrative Guideline. The guideline was last updated in May 2023. The proposed revisions note that the changes are small but speak to the board’s desire to create a clear guideline that outlines specific parameters that promote student safety with high levels of student participation. This guideline will be posted for 30 days for public consultation.

Proposed changes to the school trip guideline include:

  • incorporation of the new Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA) terminology (the guidelines are now called Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education;
  • clarification of water-related activities that changes the wording to “near water” (instead of when on or in water);
  • acknowledgement that not permitting Grade 9 students to attend Level 3 or Level 4 trips negatively and disproportionately impacted smaller secondary schools, where Grade 9 students are integral parts of sports teams and extra-curricular clubs. The previous restrictions resulted in either having to decline the opportunity or leaving a portion of their group behind;
  • removing the requirement to bring paper copies of medical forms for Level 1 trips. These trips are local and occur during the school day when trip leaders can obtain medical information via phone from the school if required.

Trustees to ask for a meeting with the City

Following a discussion in the committee of the whole meeting, trustees agreed to send a letter to the City of North Bay asking for a meeting to discuss the effects of the low-barrier shelter on the Chippewa Secondary School community and NNDSB.

Indigenous Student Trustee’s report

Indigenous Student Trustee Riley Trudeau noted in her report that members of the Indigenous Youth Circle met in November at F.J. McElligott Secondary School.

Students at Northern Secondary School learned about medicine pouches, supported Treaty Week and Veterans’ Day, and will be working on ribbon skirts and shirts at the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre.

Chippewa students participated in a youth leadership event with graduates and past leaders. In addition to Okimikon, a mino-okimakon was established to support Grade 7 and 8 youth, more than $700 was raised to support the Chanie Wenjack fundraisers, and a candy-gram campaign will support the Stuff the Cruiser event. Students have plans for making moccasins, medicine pouches, ribbon skirts and shirts, mini drums, and beading with the Indigenous Friendship Centre.

At West Ferris Secondary School, students delivered educational Treaty Week announcements and posters and have been fundraising for the toy drive. Students participate in a weekly drumming circle for both hand drums and the grandfather

drum. Students are looking forward to rattle making, medicine teachings, water teachings, pow wow dance and culture teachings, and ribbon skirt and shirt making.

Students at Almaguin Highlands Secondary School supported Treaty Week with activities. They create and share daily announcements for days of recognition like Orange Shirt Day, Louis Riel Day, Rock Your Mocs and Indigenous Veterans’ Day. Students continue to learn about the Seven Grandfather Teachings and how to apply them in everyday life.

F.J. McElligott students have been working on spirit days that highlight Indigenous culture. They’ve been making bannock to support the Stuff the Cruiser fundraiser. Indigenous food is celebrated weekly at the school. Plans are underway to build hand drums, and students are excited to engage in the annual OYAP paddle-building transition activity incorporating Indigenous art forms.

Parry Sound High School representatives could not attend the IYC meeting in person but shared that they had a parent night. The Grade 7 and 8 Indigenous Ezhkiniigijik O’zaswinwaa (Youth Nest) space was officially opened that evening with a dedication by Elder Dave Rice.

Trudeau said the IYC worked with the Student Senate. She presented a slideshow to the Senators explaining what IYC is and what they do. There are plans to grow the relationship with the Student Senate to create a safe place for students to connect and show partnership.

IYC has been working on the Stuff the Cruiser/IYC Gives Back initiative. Each school has been fundraising for the event. Dokis First Nation donated $1,000 to the initiative, and an event at Sturgeon Falls Canadian Tire raised $1,282 and filled the box and cab of an Anishinabek Police Service truck with gifts for children.

Student Trustee’s report

Student Trustee Nanak Sidhu’s report to the Board included updates on academic successes and community-focused initiatives that demonstrate students’ passion, resilience and creativity.

With the holiday season approaching, students have embraced the spirit of giving in many ways. At Chippewa Secondary School, a student-led necessities drive is underway to support the North Bay Crisis Centre. Almaguin Highlands Secondary School is hosting a food drive for the local food banks, and Northern Secondary School is bringing joy to 15 residents at the West Nipissing General Hospital through thoughtful gift-giving.

In athletics, athletes are participating in sports like volleyball, basketball, and football, with students bringing school communities together to cheer for their peers.

The recent Student Senate meeting was productive as the senators made significant progress on our primary initiative to develop foundational resources to empower current and future senators. These resources include a comprehensive

Trustee and Senator Handbook, a database of external contacts, templates for organizing past events, and pre-prepared materials to support new initiatives effectively.

During the meeting, senators heard from Riley Trudeau, who provided an overview of the IYC and its mission. IYC also heard a presentation about the Student Senate. Both groups then had the opportunity to connect over lunch and engage in meaningful discussions. Feedback from the senators was overwhelmingly positive. They found the session informative and greatly valued the chance to engage with the IYC, especially the newer senators. Looking ahead, the Senate is excited about potential opportunities for further collaboration.

Student Trustee Sidhu had the opportunity to represent NNDSB at the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association (OSTA-AECO) Fall General Meeting. Connecting with student trustees from across Ontario, Sidhu gained valuable inspiration for future initiatives and practices from other board senates, which he looks forward to adapting for NNDSB.

Sidhu also attended the OSTA-AECO December Leadership Retreat. This retreat allowed the team to carry out a lot of the planning regarding the OSTA-AECOS Education Action Conference (EAC) as well as receive professional development. One of the highlights of the retreat was an engaging and thought-provoking Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) workshop led by Irfan Toor, the Social Justice and Anti-Oppression Advisor for the Ontario Principals’ Council. This workshop offered profound insights and strategies that deepened the team’s understanding of EDI principles and their practical application in leadership and education.

Sidhu said he is confident that students within NNDSB will continue to thrive in academics, activism, athletics, and the arts. He added that he is eager to see the progress of the Senate’s initiatives and the impact they’ll have on school communities in the new year.

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Note: the full agenda package is posted on the website prior to meetings, and official minutes are posted after they are approved at the next Board meeting.

Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

December Letter to Families

December 6, 2024 By Brett

Friday, Dec. 6, 2024

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The monthly Letter to Families is intended to keep you apprised of news that affects all students and families of Near North District School Board (NNDSB) and is distributed on the first Friday of the month.

*
Director of Education Craig Myles extends warm holiday wishes to all students, staff and their families.

The Director hopes students, staff and families will take time to enjoy what is important to them over the break and wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday.

The two-week winter break begins on Monday, Dec. 23 and students will return to school on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

*
NNDSB’s special education department’s psychology team will be providing participating schools with an opportunity for their Grade 7 and 8 students with learning disabilities to become more informed, supported and encouraged to better understand their unique learning profiles.

Through in-person and virtual sessions, participating students will be provided with information intended to empower them to understand themselves as capable learners, to self-advocate during transition years into secondary school and to choose high school academic and extra-curricular areas of interest and ability to help ensure future success.

Parents/guardians are encouraged to contact their children’s respective schools’ Differentiated Learning Resource Teachers for more details/information.

*
School Mental Health Ontario, a Ministry of Education partner that assists schools in supporting student mental health, is running a survey for students in Grades 7-12. It is a research study approved by Western University Research Ethics Board.

The survey, called #HearNowON24, wants to hear students’ perspectives on mental health learning needs, how to make services and resources more accessible for students, and how to address mental health stigma in your schools.

Students can find the online survey here. Please note this is not an NNDSB survey; the board is not controlling or keeping the information shared.

*
The next meeting of the Board will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public, and you are welcome to attend in person or join via Zoom. The link and login information can be found at the top of the Board and committee meetings page.

Upcoming committee meetings include the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) on Wednesday, Dec. 11, and the Special Education Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 1 p.m.

Here are the links to join the SEAC meeting and the PIC meeting.

Information about the Board, committees and their meetings can be found here.

*
In addition to staying informed via the board’s website, families can find NNDSB on Facebook and Instagram.

Sincerely,
Near North District School Board

Filed Under: Letter to Families, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

Artists to battle it out at Parry Sound High School’s first Art War event

November 25, 2024 By Brett

Monday, Nov. 25, 2024

Artists to battle it out at Parry Sound High School’s first Art War event

Local artists are getting ready to battle it out in Parry Sound High School’s (PSHS) new fundraising event Art War!

The exciting evening of entertainment will see Parry Sound students and alumni go head-to-head in a live art-making competition judged by the audience. Attendees will enjoy a delicious meal catered by the PSHS hospitality department while they watch artists create artwork right in front of them.

Artists will participate in a three-round elimination contest until one artist is left standing. In the first-round participants are tasked with creating a still life or portrait, round two is a landscape painting and the final round is freestyle where those remaining can play to their strength and let their imaginations run wild. Participating artist specialties range from ink portraitists and watercolour painters to street artists.

After each round, the audience browses the art and then votes for their favourites with their phones through a QR code found at each table.

Proceeds from the event will go towards replenishing the whole school collaborative event account.

PSHS visual arts teacher Melissa Beasley said the account is used to fund large scale collaborative events at the school such as full-scale musical productions, the One-Of-A-Kind show and even events like Art War.

“Art War was in collaboration with business leadership students, the arts council and hospitality students,” Beasley said. “Hospitality students will cater the dinner, business leadership students are handling the marketing, advertising and are event organizers. Arts council is creating the venue design and selling tickets. They will also staff the event, waiting on tables, ticketing at the door, selling art, and managing the artists.”

PSHS hospitality students will be serving a gourmet four-course meal. Hospitality teacher Blair Cousins said the dinner starts with a ravioli with spinach and fresh ricotta followed by Caesar salad and lasagne with garlic bread as the main course. The dessert will be a cranberry tart.

“Students have been working on perfecting the tart and ravioli for weeks,” Cousins said.

Art War will take place on Thursday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m. at Parry Sound High School. Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased by emailing Melissa.Beasley@nearnorthschools.ca or David.Wigney@nearnorthschools.ca.

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Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

NNDSB first to offer senior virtual Indigenous language courses to students across Ontario through eLearning Consortium

November 21, 2024 By Brett

Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024

NNDSB first to offer senior virtual Indigenous language courses to students across Ontario through eLearning Consortium

Near North District School Board (NNDSB) is offering a first-of-its-kind opportunity for secondary school students through the Ontario eLearning Consortium (OeLC). Students in the 56 school boards who are members of the OeLC can now earn upper-level Indigenous language credits through the virtual courses offered by NNDSB.

Previously, Level C and D Ojibwe language courses have only been offered through in-person learning. However, due to timetable conflict, students often faced the difficult task of having to select courses that are pre-requisites for post-graduation opportunities over language. Starting in January 2025, the availability of the courses through e-learning eliminates the issue of timetable conflicts, low enrolment, and potential course cancelation. This is not only a benefit to students in NNDSB, but across the province.

NNDSB teacher Falcon McLeod, who will be teaching the online courses, explained that a crucial aspect of learning Ojibwe is to gain proficiency in navigating resources (such as dictionaries and grammar resources of various dialects). The online courses NNDSB offers can inspire and support students in their learning experience and language learning goals.

McLeod has developed meaningful and authentic course content that can be used effectively to reach more students. With his dedication and focus to language revitalization, he supports the employment of strategies and resources that can best support language learners.

McLeod’s Nishnaabe name is Nishnaabemwin Bemwidood which means Keeper of the Language, and so, he has been learning the language since the age of five. He sought out every opportunity available to study Ojibwe while in school and studied with many notable language instructors along the way. The real turning point in his language education came when he attended his first immersion camp Ojibwemotaadidaa Omaa Gidakiiminaang (OOG) in Cloquet, Minnesota.

“Ever since that experience, I have been slowly trying to emulate all those experiences in my home community of Nipissing First Nation and recreate several of those resources in the Nipissing dialect,” McLeod said. “These resources have ultimately become what I use to teach Ojibwe in my classes and plans for future materials.”

The courses build on learned skills from week to week. McLeod said students will cover one grammar concept per week and the following week will build on that knowledge in a way that has students learning Ojibwe at an exponential rate.

“For example, first week we introduce a set of nouns to be the actors for our sentences. The next week we have those same nouns doing actions and that’s how we introduce verbs,” McLeod said. “From there we introduce commands, then prepositional phrases, etc. Within about four lessons we’ve gone from no language knowledge to nearly story-telling abilities in Ojibwe.”

Each lesson consists of a pre-recorded video of the in-class lesson available on YouTube, a PowerPoint presentation from the video going over the lesson, a worksheet to get learners situated and aware of what to do for the work and an opportunity for them to seek help. Students also receive audio files of McLeod speaking Ojibwe at regular and slow speeds for learners to transcribe and translate.

“Upon entering the online classes and following along attentively with the materials I share, students can go from no awareness of the Nipissing dialect to being able to express conservatively hundreds of thousands of sentences in Ojibwe with one out of four types of the verb classes,” McLeod said.

“At NNDSB, we recognize the importance of Indigenous language revitalization and preservation, in fulfilling the Calls to Action related to language and in forwarding Truth and Reconciliation,” said Sarah Spence, NNDSB Principal of Student Achievement and Well-Being. “The board is situated on the Robinson Huron Treaty Territory, specifically on the lands of seven Anishinaabe First Nations. We are honoured to have exceptional language holders who can offer such calibre of language teachings to not only students in NNDSB, but across all of Ontario.”

Students from across the province that are interested in registering for the courses can do so through their school guidance departments.

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Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

Week spotlights anti-racism education and new Bullying Prevention Plan    

November 15, 2024 By Brett

Friday, Nov. 15, 2024

Week spotlights anti-racism education and new Bullying Prevention Plan

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week occurs Nov. 18-22, 2024, and all schools across Near North District School Board will actively participate in this annual event.

Racist and discriminatory actions and words continue to increase across the  province, which is evident in schools. As a result, NNDSB’s Safe Schools team has identified the theme Call It Out for this year’s Bullying Awareness and Prevention week. The focus will be on providing skills for students and staff to identify and define racism and discrimination, as well as develop the skills needed to feel confident in calling it out when it occurs.

The Safe Schools team works with local and provincial partners to curate meaningful content for students that is tailored to provide specific, developmentally appropriate safety information for all students from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

The North Bay Battalion continue to support NNDSB in cultivating safe, inclusive and welcoming spaces through video resources, school visits, and game spotlights. The Vincent Massey choir will be singing the national anthem at the Battalion game on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024.

The North Bay Police Service, in partnership with Amelia Rising, is providing anti-human trafficking education to Grade 11 and 12 students at West Ferris and Chippewa Secondary Schools. Provincial and local experts will increase awareness of human trafficking and its impact on communities, educate students on how to identify the signs of human trafficking, empower students to become advocates for awareness and prevention, and provide resources for further education and involvement in combatting this issue.

Pink Shirt Day occurs on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. All staff and students are encouraged to wear pink to show that they pledge to call out bullying, racism or discrimination when they see it.

Harmony Movement will be providing a parent workshop entitled Words Matter. The workshop will be held virtually on Tuesday, Nov. 19, starting at 6:30 p.m. Participants will examine and understand how children are exposed to harmful and discriminatory language, practice how to respond to discriminatory language in a range of scenarios, and identify actions they can take to promote a culture of acceptance, respect, and understanding in all of our schools. Parents, caregivers, and community members can register here. Parry Sound High School will also be hosting a watch-party for those in the West Region. Join them at 6 p.m. for pizza and stay for the in-person watch party by registering here.

NNDSB is also happy to share an updated Bullying Prevention and Intervention Plan, which supports Safe and Accepting School Teams with a blueprint for creating student-centred plans that are tailored to the in-year needs of the students within the school.

Through these partnerships we can model citizenship for our students and demonstrate the power of coming together as a community to create safer spaces. “Presentations given by experts, role models, and community members allow us to make the content even more meaningful for our students,” said Principal of Safe Schools, Emily Samuel. “Our partners provide relevant and responsive knowledge that support our students’ development of personal safety and positive citizenship,” she added.

The Safe Schools team appreciates the work that all staff, parents and community members do to support inclusivity in our schools and neighborhoods. We encourage everyone to call out racism, discrimination and bullying when they see it to create safe spaces for all.

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Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

Board Highlights – November 15, 2024

November 15, 2024 By Brett

Friday, Nov. 15, 2024

The following are the highlights of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) meeting of Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. 

Chair and Vice-Chair acclaimed

Indigenous Trustee Ashley St. Pierre and Zone 4 Trustee Howard Wesley were acclaimed as the Board’s Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, positions they held last year. They will serve for the third year of the Board’s four-year term. The 2022-2026 Board of Trustees is composed of these trustees.

More information can be found in this media release.

Board encourages promotion of mining to students

Trustee Bill Steer brought a motion to committee of the whole, which was approved at the Board meeting. The motion requested that the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA), the Ministry of Education and the Ontario Mining Association work together to promote educational student success programs that are directly and indirectly related to modern mining.

In the notice of motion, Trustee Steer noted that within the boundaries of NNDSB there are more than 60 mining-related businesses, and more than 120 associated jobs for secondary school graduates.

He said OPSBA should “forge partnerships” that highlight the field of mining as a viable career path. 

Math achievement action plan outlined for trustees

NNDSB’s assistant superintendent and math lead Kim Pauli submitted a report to the Board about the 2024-2025 Math Achievement Action Plan.

Beginning in September 2023, publicly funded school boards were required to adopt provincial achievement priorities and metrics to help students improve EQAO scores in reading, writing and math. Boards must develop, implement and monitor their math achievement action plans to the ministry three times a year.

A number of resources and tools have been provided to educators and digital tools will help teachers to understand student learning levels and provide targeted supports.

Bullying awareness week content outlined

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week, held the third week of November, will challenge students to think about how their actions could help cultivate safety and inclusivity in their classrooms, schools and neighbourhoods.

NNDSB’s local partners in the initiative include North Bay Police Service, Amelia Rising and North Bay Battalion. It also includes national partners such as the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Harmony Movement.

In response to the increase in racist and discriminatory actions and words in the province and schools, the theme of this year’s week is “Call It Out”. The focus will provide skills for students and staff to identify and define racism and discrimination and develop the skills needed to feel confident in calling it out when it occurs.

Local events this year include classroom use of a curated bin of resources at each school’s library, a video and lesson plan from the Battalion who will also be visiting schools, optional school participation in the Words Matter campaign that provided lesson plans and resources on how to address racist and discriminatory words, a parent and caregiver workshop on addressing harmful and discriminatory language provided by Harmony Movement, a full day of learning provided by North Bay Police Services on human trafficking 101, and Pink Shirt Day taking place Wednesday, Nov. 20,

Secondary summer e-learning numbers grow

A report to the Board outlined the offerings and number of students enrolled in courses through NNDSB’s summer learning program.

Through July and August of 2024, learning opportunities were offered onsite and virtually for youth in the region and across the province. More than 800 students utilized the e-learning component and 300 students in K-12 attended in person. This is the third year in a row that the numbers for secondary e-learning grew, drawing students from across the province. 

Director’s update highlights achievement, activities

The update from Director of Education Craig Myles included information about a Science North event attended by two classes from Ferris Glen Public School, a gold medal at the Georgian College High School Hospitality Competition won by two Parry Sound High School students, the Parent Involvement Committee’s presentation by Dr. Marian Small, upcoming school food drives and partnerships with Clean Green Beautiful and Trees for Nipissing, who facilitate the gracious donation of trees to schools with the support of a variety of local businesses.

Letter to Minister to be sent to municipalities

A letter from trustees that was sent to Minister of Education Jill Dunlop will also be sent to municipalities in the West Parry Sound area.

The letter requests that the Ministry of Education permit NNDSB to continue operating McDougall Public School as a Grade K-6 school, and that the new Parry Sound school be for Grades 7-12.

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Note: the full agenda package is posted on the website prior to meetings, and official minutes are posted after they are approved at the next Board meeting.

Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

Chair and Vice acclaimed at annual organizational meeting

November 13, 2024 By Brett

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024

Chair and Vice acclaimed at annual organizational meeting

The trustees of Near North District School Board (NNDSB) met Tuesday night for their annual organizational meeting.

Indigenous Trustee Ashley St. Pierre and Zone 4 Trustee Howard Wesley were acclaimed as the Board’s Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, positions they held last year. They will serve for the third year of the Board’s four-year term. The 2022-2026 Board of Trustees is composed of these trustees.

Chair St. Pierre was nominated by Trustee Bill Steer, and Vice-Chair Wesley was nominated by Trustee Jeanie Fuscaldo.

Following her acclamation, Chair St. Pierre thanked Trustee Steer for the nomination, and said, “It’s been an honour to learn the work. I look forward to another year of working with everyone.”

Similarly, Vice-Chair Wesley thanked Trustee Fuscaldo for the nomination, and said he looks forward to continuing the work of the Board.

Membership of trustees to the Board’s various committees was also determined and approved at last night’s meeting.

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Filed Under: Media Releases, News and Announcements, NNDSB Featured, NNDSB Shared News

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