Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Board commits to transparent communication with community about Parry Sound JK-12 build

Following through on its commitment to provide accurate, transparent and timely communications to stakeholders, Near North District School Board (NNDSB) will be publishing information about the new school on the JK-12 Parry Sound build section of the capital planning page of the board website. Anyone interested in the build will find Board reports and minutes, the build committee’s terms of reference, media releases and the compilation of questions and answers from the community feedback survey.

The purpose of the page, which will be updated regularly, is to hold news, details and questions/answers about the build in one place.

NNDSB has held three information sessions for various stakeholders. There have been presentations to the Town of Parry Sound council, a session with the architect for the public and a session for staff who will be affected by the project.

Following the community presentation about the new build, the community was invited to share questions and concerns in an online form, which closed Thursday afternoon. The information is being compiled by theme (to avoid repeated questions) and questions and answers will be posted online by July 16, 2021.

This is just one more way this board is demonstrating its commitment to excellence in communication and excellence to relationships – two of the four priorities in the Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP). The community has been waiting many years for the Parry Sound build to happen and this board is motivated to see students in a new school capable of providing a 21^st century education.

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For more information, please contact:

Deb Bartlett
Communications Officer
Near North District School Board
P. (705) 472-8170, extension 5010
E. Deb.Bartlett@nearnorthschools.ca

Monday, June 21, 2021

Board Highlights for June meeting

The following are the highlights of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) meeting of Tuesday, June 15, 2021.

Board meetings will open with words from Elder

To improve the work the board does in honouring the Truth the Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, it was announced that NNDSB’s Board of Trustee meetings will include an opening prayer by an Elder.

Tuesday night’s meeting opened with a prayer in Anishinaabemowin from Elder June Commanda of Nipissing First Nation. In her translation, she said she thanked Creator for today, this life, and everything Mother Earth provides us with – water, plants, food and medicines. She thanked Creator for the gift of life and helping us to be brave and strong-hearted.

Trustee Nichole King, the Board’s First Nations representative, read a poem she wrote called Our Children as the Board paid tribute to the children whose remains were found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Coaching supports students with different needs

At the request of the SEAC Committee, Trustees heard a presentation from Rick Cunningham of LEARNstyle about the work that company is doing with NNDSB students who access special education programs and services.

LEARNstyle provides technology coaching support for school boards and families. The project began in September 2020 for students in Grades 7 and 8 and has since been expanded to include junior and secondary students. The goal is to help the students adapt to the expansive use of technology in education.

The company builds relationships between the students and coaches, which leads to students trusting their coaches, and coaches understanding the student’s greatest need and choosing the best strategies.

Cunningham says coaching students with different abilities on utilizing technology can “change the trajectory of their life.” The goal is to move students through four stages – full guidance, moderate guidance, minimal guidance and full independence.

He added that cancellations and no-shows of NNDSB students is the lowest of any board and attributed that to the engagement and excitement of staff.

Trustee Harry Fry, Chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee, said “the success has been quite astounding.”

Lead shares information on Indigenous Education

At the request of the Equity Advisory Circle Committee, NNDSB’s Indigenous Education Lead, Tracy Hendrick, gave a presentation about the creation of resources that assist educators to better support Indigenous students and their families.

Hendrick says 10.8 per cent of the board’s students self-identify as Indigenous (First Nation, Métis or Inuit), although she expects there are more who are not comfortable identifying themselves. The self-identification helps the board create programs and supports for Indigenous students and their families.

Hendrick, who started in her position in fall of 2020, began using Sway, a Microsoft app, as a tool to keep herself organized. She soon discovered that it was a great way to curate content and make it available to anyone in the board. She has been adding resources for staff, including the creation of resources (by NNDSB Anishinaabemowin teacher Falcon McLeod) that are relevant locally, and in the local dialect.

The resources, she says, “are not for special events or by Indigenous People”.  Hendrick says many non-Indigenous people want to teach Indigenous Studies courses and do it right, and the resources she’s compiled are comprised of content and how to teach it.

School trip preparedness being reviewed

Student safety and well-being is a priority at NNDSB, which also realizes that learning experiences outside of school can deepen understanding. To ensure that board policies and processes reflect provincial best practices and provide families with as much information as possible to make informed decisions, a thorough review of policies and procedures has resulted in the testing of a School Trip Preparedness (STP) template.

The template is a visual method of communication that shares the out-of-school learning opportunity with parents with maps, photos and concise language to identify the activity and rational for attending, map links for parents and emergency services, contact information of leaders and providers, curricular links, initial assessment and acknowledgement of risk, emergency preparedness including communication protocols and mustering areas, and more.

Specialist High Skills Major lead teachers were trained June 16 on how to complete the STP template, and future training dates will be held next school year. Information gathered from the first round of training, including teacher feedback will be used to update the board’s administrative guideline to align the guideline to the STP template. 

Student Trustee provides final report

Madelaine Hall-Paradis, NNDSB’s student trustee, gave her final report to the Board. Her term ends August 30, and she was acknowledged as this is the last scheduled board meeting of her term. Cecilia Darling is the student trustee-elect.

Student Trustee Hall-Paradis reported on how various secondary schools managed graduation photos, how the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association is working to achieve menstrual product equity in all Ontario schools, and that students are encouraged to participate in a Pride month photo contest showcasing pride or solidarity for the LGBTQ2S+ community.

Trustees approve Multi-Year Strategic Plan

The Board approved the Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) following an extensive 16-month collaboration with stakeholders. Over the summer, staff will get to know their role in the MYSP, which will be implemented in September.

Nanos Research, Ramsay Partners Inc. and Ministry special advisors Wayne Joudrie and Wally Easton engaged with stakeholders to gather input to determine strategic priorities for the board. Those priorities – excellence in teaching and learning, communication, building relations and innovation – will guide all work done by NNDSB for the period 2021-2026. All school, department and board improvement plans will align with these priorities, with student achievement and well-being at the centre of all the board does.

The MYSP is a living document that will be responsive to Ministry and community changes.

Board approves $160.9 million budget

Trustees approved the 2021-2022 budget, which has an operating revenue of $160.9 million. The budget was developed, after review for efficiencies and savings, to align with the Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) and provides resources that support the Board’s mission and vision. The Finance Committee met for a thorough review of the budget in advance of the Board meeting and recommended its approval.

Expenditures are projected at $161.2 million, resulting in a deficit of $417,000, or 0.3 per cent of the total budget. COVID has significantly impacted revenue and expenses this year, and the Ministry of Education is allowing boards to access previous years’ surpluses to assist with the current budget. The Ministry has allowed two per cent of operating grants ($2.9 million for NNDSB) but asked boards to budget half this amount.

Build committee engages with council, community

A report in the agenda package brought trustees up to date with the status of the Parry Sound Build Committee and its two sub-committees, the building and programming sub-committees.

The programming sub-committee’s focus will be on room allocations, move management and how to accommodate programming in the new build. The building sub-committee will ensure the project stays on track. There will be meeting over the summer with specific department staff to design specific spaces.

Representatives of NNDSB were invited to the Parry Sound town council meeting on June 1 to provide an update on the JK-12 build. The deputation lasted 90 minutes.

On June 8 there was a community session at which stakeholders heard from the architect about the new build. Members of the community were invited to provide comments and questions online. Now that the online form has closed, those questions and answers are being compiled and will be published on the board website.

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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.

Information about Near North District School Board:

Near North District School Board is an English-language public school board serving the North Bay – Parry Sound – Nipissing area. The Board consists of approximately 10,000 students in 27 elementary schools, seven secondary/senior schools and various alternative learning centres. For more information, please visit nearnorthschools.ca and follow Near North District School Board on social media.

For more information, please contact:
Deb Bartlett (she/her)
Communications Officer
Near North District School Board
P. (705) 472-8170 ext. 5010
E. Deb.Bartlett@nearnorthschools.ca

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Trustees approve MYSP that will be board’s roadmap

The five-year roadmap that charts the course for Near North District School (NNDSB) has been approved by the Board of Trustees. It has taken 16 months of extensive research and collaboration to get the Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) to this stage. Now that the plan is approved by the Board, staff will be oriented to their role in the MYSP, which will officially launch in September.

The MYSP is more than just an assertion of the work the board wants to accomplish. It is a comprehensive document that incorporates the voices and concerns of internal and external stakeholders into a plan whose goals all focus on student achievement and well-being. As a living document, the MYSP will adapt as new ministerial and community initiatives come forward to align with the board’s ultimate goal of student achievement and well-being.

Board Chair Jay Aspin said, “With strong and capable leadership from our Director, Craig Myles, this Multi-Year Strategic Plan has been one of the most important initiatives our board has undertaken. This strategic plan will be our compass in focusing on marshalling our resources on student achievement and well-being over the next five years. This process included comprehensive survey scans by Nik Nanos of Nanos Research, one of Canada’s most prominent research firms who concluded ‘our board was headed in the right direction’. Committee Chair Trustee Bill Steer did a tremendous job of shepherding our board through this important process despite the disruptive challenges of a pandemic.”

The MYSP has four strategic priorities: Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Excellence in Communication, Excellence in Building Relationships and Excellence in Innovation. The work of the committee included overseeing the creation of improvement plans for schools, departments and the board that set measurable goals that aligned with the four priorities.

With the MYSP in place, the processes and decisions of the board will be guided by the plan, which will ensure all resources are aligned to the board’s core purpose of student achievement and well-being.

The full MYSP report to the board can be found on Page 64 of the agenda package. All MYSP information can be accessed on the MYSP page of the board’s website.

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Information about Near North District School Board:

Near North District School Board is an English-language public school board serving the North Bay – Parry Sound – Nipissing area. The Board consists of approximately 10,000 students in 27 elementary schools, seven secondary/senior schools and various alternative learning centres. For more information, please visit nearnorthschools.ca and follow Near North District School Board on social media.

For more information, please contact:

Deb Bartlett
Communications Officer
Near North District School Board
P. (705) 472-8170, extension 5010
E. Deb.Bartlett@nearnorthschools.ca

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Trustees approve compliant 2021-2022 budget

North Bay, ON –

At tonight’s meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) approved the 2021-2022 budget, which has an operating revenue of $160.9 million. The budget was developed, after review for efficiencies and savings, to align with the Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) and provides resources that support the Board’s mission and vision.

The budget was first reviewed and approved by the Finance Committee, which is chaired by Board Vice-Chair John Cochrane.

Ministry of Education funding to boards is provided based on enrolment and the needs of students in each board. NNDSB expects to receive 90 per cent of its operating revenue from the province in the form of operating grants based on enrolment of 9,488.5 students in the 2021-2022 school year, an increase of 136 students.

Expenditures are projected at $161.2 million, resulting in a deficit of $417,000, or 0.3 per cent of the total budget. COVID has significantly impacted revenue and expenses this year, and the Ministry of Education is allowing boards to access previous years’ surpluses to assist with the current budget. The Ministry has allowed two per cent of operating grants ($2.9 million for NNDSB) but asked boards to budget half this amount. This budget is compliant.

This year’s operating budget projects a decrease of $3.4 million (2.1 per cent) less revenue than 2020-2021 revised estimates.

The budget has been prepared with the knowledge there will be support for remote learning in the fall, though there was not enough information to determine the number of students registered with the remote school. There will be further Priorities and Partnership Funds (PPF) announced in the coming weeks which may reduce the deficit.

By function, 71 per cent of operating expenses are spent on instruction. A further 17 per cent is on pupil accommodation, which are costs associated with maintaining the buildings that house students.

Of the work done by staff throughout this school year, Board Chair Jay Aspin says, “What a year! This board has overseen the consolidation of three high schools into two and put final touches on the consolidation of three elementary schools into one in North Bay, as well as the consolidation of two elementary schools with a high school to form a K-12 school in the Parry Sound area. The completion of a Multi-Year Strategic Plan will focus resources on student achievement and well-being over the next five years.

“Every staff member deployed new and innovative methods of instruction to deal with disruptions in the face of a costly and unpredictable pandemic. All these accomplishments have been achieved with a small deficit due to the dedication and hard work of all members of the Near North board,” says Chair Aspin. “It has been a remarkable year that has moved our board forward considerably despite being challenged by extremely difficult conditions.”

The full budget report can be found beginning on Page 91 of the agenda package.

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For more information, please contact:

Deb Bartlett
Communications Officer
Near North District School Board
P. (705) 472-8170, extension 5010
E. Deb.Bartlett@nearnorthschools.ca