Thursday December 16, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The December 14, 2021 SD62 Board of Education public board meeting saw the re-election of SD62 Trustee Ravi Parmar to the position of Chair, and Trustee Bob Beckett to the role of Vice-Chair.
After those elections of trustees from among themselves, there were also appointments of trustees to various external organizations such as BCSTA and BCPC. The current SD62 board (first elected in 2018) consists of four trustees from within the Belmont Zone (Langford, Colwood, Highlands, Metchosin, and parts of View Royal) — Ravi Parmar, Bob Beckett, Wendy Hobbs, and Dianna Seaton, as well as three trustees from within the Milne’s Landing Zone (Sooke and Juan de Fuca areas) — Bob Phillips, Margot Swinburnson, and Allison Watson. | Trustee profiles
Parmar gave some season-end remarks, at this time just ahead of winter break (December 20 through January 3) within the 2021-2022 academic year.
Board Chair Parmar summarized that during the last year there has been the ongoing pandemic, the overdose crisis, the heat dome and floods, and shocking news emerging about former residential schools. He thanked executive team staff and the board, as well as acknowledging students for their resiliency. He thanked communities of the region (that would include Langford, Colwood and Sooke) for their commitment to SD62. Parmar said that 2022 is an opportunity to re-imagine education.
Vice-Chair Bob Beckett highlighted the working relationship with the City of Colwood, mentioning three partnership agreements.
Some trustees and staff participate in board and committee meetings remotely during the ongoing COVID pandemic.
Staff comments:
SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson acknowledged the scope of work done on the new 2021-2025 strategic plan this year. Stinson remarked that the SD62 strategic plan is embedded with the belief that “every student be treated with respect”.
The next day, he told Island Social Trends: “Despite ongoing external challenges such as the pandemic and recent flooding, the start of the school year has allowed for the return of non-academic activities, such as sports and performing arts.”
“This return to a more normal school environment has created a very positive start to the school year. We acknowledge the incredible work of our school district staff to create such a strong learning environment for our over 12,000 students,” said Stinson.
Stinson also mentioned at the meeting that middle school philosophy work is being undertaken by Associate Superintendent Stephanie Hedley-Smith.
Associate Superintendent Paul Block announced at the board meeting that there will be a new name for what is currently known as the Westshore Centre for Learning and Training. There will be a new name and identity for the three alternative schools, within a process of rebranding, said Block. The school locations are presently on Sooke Road in Colwood (aka Westshore Annex), on Goldstream Avenue in Langford, and within the CASA building in Sooke. The process will be reviewed by the Education Policy committee “when the time is right”, said Block, indicating that would be in a couple of months from now.
Block also highlighted the renaming of offices within the SD62 administration building, to now having Indigenous names. There was a brief slideshow.
Schools in the holiday season:
As happens at most SD62 board meetings, that evening’s rep for the Principals and Vice-Principals (PVP) outlined what various schools had been doing in the holiday season.
That included Colwood Elementary‘s 12 days of giving, Willway Elementary‘s funds to the local food bank, Spencer Middle School collection of funds from local businesses toward food hampers, Millstream Elementary‘s collection of 550 food items, and Saseenos Elementary announcing their new River Runners logo and nickname.
===== RELATED:
SD62 interrupts winter break with ‘new hires’ vaccine mandate message (Dec 21, 2021)
Supporting food banks in the holiday season (Dec 4, 2021)
SD62 Board meeting: COVID, child care, CUPE input (Nov 23, 2021)
SD62 school bus challenges contribute to service shortfall (Oct 21, 2021)
Mandatory COVID vaccination for teachers left up to school districts (Oct 8, 2021)
