ASCA Annual General Meeting (AGM), and

Issues Resolutions April 30, 2017

SCHOOL COUNCIL CONVERSATIONS, AND

PROCESS FOR AGM PROXY VOTING

ASCA Conference April 28-30, 2017

ASCA deals with issues relevant to parents represented by parents

Parent voice in education is important

Five Calgary Catholic SC Chairs attending. Funded by the Board of Trustees

April 28-29: Keynote speakers and breakout sessions. Opportunities to learn about issues facing education in Alberta, hearing Minister of Education David Eggen’s message, engaging in conversation and networking

April 30: AGM voting on Issues Resolutions and ASCA Board of Directors

Proposed Resolutions that Pass…

…become advocacy policy of ASCA and these policy statements are used at the issue appropriate external provincial advisory committee tables where ASCA sits with representatives of other provincial education associations ( i.e. Alberta School Boards Association, Alberta Teachers Association, etc.) and Alberta Education.

All SCs in Calgary Catholic are ASCA voting members

Each School Council has a vote weighted as ‘1 vote’

SC Chairs attending the AGM have ‘1 vote’ and may also carry 4 proxy votes (from 4 other School Councils) for a total of 25 votes representing Calgary Catholic

School Councils may choose to be represented at the AGM via Proxy Vote◦ Deadline April 26 to register proxy vote with ASCA◦ Members of the SC Committee can support your Council with this process. Please

call or email members

All information is available at www.albertaschoolcouncils.ca

Process for giving your SC proxy vote to conference attendeeUnderstand proposed Issues Resolutions

Have conversation at SC meeting

Give SC intent whether to support or not support (Issues are listed at the end of this PP and rationale for supporting or not supporting is also provided)

Proxy Form available at ww.albertaschoolcouncils.ca

Form must be signed by 2 members of SC Executive

Form sent to the ASCA office by fax or email by April 26 and also…

Sent to one of the 5 SC Chair Attendees as Proxy Vote

Names of attendee schools will be forwarded at a later date

Voting Process at AGMAttendees speak to the proposed Resolutions, pro and con

Information presented may influence the delegate to vote differently than previously arranged

Attendee carrying the proxy votes, has to decide if he/she will change the proxy’s vote based on new information

Changing vote at AGM will need to be discussed and arrangements made ahead of time

The proxy vote carries the vote for all voting, including Issues Resolutions and Board of Directors

Issue Resolutions Preview 2017Proposed Resolutions in full are an email attachment as a Word Document

Issue Resolution A 17-01 Motion to reaffirm (17 policies in one omnibus motion) (pgs. 4-7)

Recommendation: Support in one omnibus motion

P17-01 Support for mental health content and awareness in the K- 12 programs of study and schools (page 4) Recommendation: Support

The current health curriculum does address mental health and wellness, through the discussion of relationships, awareness of personal feelings, and dealing with negative feelings. Incorporating vocabulary specific to mental health or emotional well-being would be helpful.

Additionally, one of the six areas in the new curriculum is “wellness” which includes physical and mental health, as well as human sexuality. It is important that all of these areas can be addressed through our Catholic lens.

Increased communication with Alberta Health Services with respect to student mental health needs would be beneficial in providing wrap-around supports for students.

P17-02 Accountability Pillar surveys delivery and accessibility (page 6)

Recommendation: Support

Further engagement in the development of survey instrument questions with stakeholders such as Alberta School Councils’ Association could assist in providing valuable data to schools, jurisdictions and the provincial government.

It is likely that parent response could increase if given the opportunity to respond digitally. Therefore we would support that the portion of the Accountability Pillar surveys, as they relate to parent and school council involvement, be available online and distributed and collected digitally.

Recommendation: Support

Coding is already present in CTF and CTS curriculum (optional programming in grades 5-12). Coding is incorporated in the Occupational Area Cluster of Business, more specifically in Computing Science, where the outcomes include: Explore hardware, software and processes to write or create structured algorithms and programs that impact process and output data.

Integrated curriculum in Information and Communication Technology is currently present throughout our current curriculum. Given the evolution of technology, this would be a logical next step in technological integration into K-12 study.

P17-03 Coding and computational thinking skills in the Alberta Curriculum (page 10)

Recommendation: Support

In setting the priorities for our district, the Board of Trustees have already established our need to support FNMI students. As such, our district has already undertaken many activities to support the calls to action.

Additional support from the government would assist in providing assistance for all of our FNMI students in eliminating the achievement gap.

Providing updates to ASCA and parents would be helpful to school districts in supporting the work of reconciliation.

P17-04 Support for Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action (page 12)

Recommendation: Support

It would be expected that all future curriculum documents clearly address the full range of learners in the school system, and include the development of related resources that address the full range of student learning needs.

This would address students with complex learning needs, English Language Learners, and the integration of digital resources.

Additionally, this should allow for the permeation of our Catholicity across all subjects, and particularly in the area of wellness, which will include Human Sexuality.

P17-05 Addressing all learning needs (page 13)

Recommendation: Support

Transparency in use of financial resources is imperative for any publically funded entity.

At this time, the Inclusive Education Grant does not take into account the complexity of students in metro areas.

The grant is not related to number of students coded, number of ELL students present (including those beyond 5 years), or relationship to levels of anxiety or depression compared to Canadian norms, all of which are higher in metro areas.

Many special education families gravitate to metro areas as they know specialized programming (and transportation to these programs) is provided by the metro board, as are supports from health care providers or community services.

An improved funding model would take into account the complexity of student wellness needs (as shown in OurSCHOOL data), foreign born and Canadian born ELL students (beyond five years), the number of specialized programs available per district, or a consideration of student coding (both ELL and special needs codes) when providing funds for education.

P17-06 Funding for inclusive education (page 14)

Recommendation: Support

A working group of the four partners (ASBA, ASBOA, ASCA and the Ministry) that comes up with standards and recommendations for Budget Consultation would be the best way to meet the needs for all stakeholders.

Broad guidelines on Budget Consultation for school districts will assist with continuity in budget preparation across the province and ensure that all stakeholder’s voices are heard.

P17-07 District Budget Consultation (page 16)

P17-08 Cost Neutral Carbon LevyWE REQUEST that the Alberta School Councils’ Association call on the government of Alberta to either:

• exempt school districts from the newly-created carbon levy indefinitely, or

• provide new funding to cover the full costs that school districts will incur due to the carbon levy.

Recommendation: Support

It does not make sense for one level of government to tax another level. As well the carbon tax is increasing the operating costs of schools with no benefit being derived. The best possible outcome would be to exempt school districts from the carbon tax.

P17-09 Publicizing Behavior Guidelines for Persons Working on School Property during School HoursWE REQUEST that the Alberta School Councils’ Association (ASCA) call on school boards to ensure that their behavior guidelines for persons working on school property during school hours, and the procedures for dealing with complaints about such behavior, are easy for members of the public (including parents) to find.

Recommendation: Support - ensures safety of students

School Councils are integral in providing advice to the principal as parent voice in education is so important. Thank you parents for the work you do to support the district, your principal, your school and student success.