School District 8 – Kootenay LakeDistrict Professional Development Day

Superintendent WelcomeSeptember 18, 2020Dr. Christine Perkins(she, her, hers)

Structure of the day 8:30 AM

O Canada Territorial Acknowledgement Superintendent Welcome – Dr. Christine Perkins (she, her, hers)

9:00 AM Keynote: Ivan Coyote (they, them, their)

10:00 AM Break

10:30 AM Morning Workshop Breakout Sessions

12:00 PM Lunch

1:00 PM Afternoon Workshop Breakout Sessions

2:30 PM Wrap Up Session - Mindfulness with Javier Gonzalez and Meredith Eaton

Acknowledgement of Indigenous Territory

We acknowledge, respect, and honour, the First Nations in whose traditional territories the Kootenay Lake School District operates and all Aboriginal people residing within the boundaries of School District #8.

Welcome allWelcome to Ivan Coyote, and all our session leaders. Thank you all for sharing your expertise with us today.

Welcome our guests: Waldorf, Kootenay Christian School, St. Joes, West Kootenay Teacher Education Program (WKTEP), Yaqan Nukiy School, and Community Partners

Introduce ProD Committee who helped organize this day: Carla Wilson, Doug K, Tamara Martin, Heather Bury, Jason Fisher, Naomi Ross, Tamara Malloff, Gail Higginbottom

Behind the scenes: Nona Lynn

Ministry of Education update #1

• Over 85% of students have returned to face to face to date

• 624 additional teachers hired in 34 school districts and 157,000 additional staff hours;

• 73 educational assistants hired in 12 school districts and 5,100 additional staff hours;

• (We need more EAs – tell people who want to take the course to email us – we will help them out)

MoE update #2 …

• 542 custodial staff in 38 school districts hired and 386,000 additional staff hours; and

• 287 positions such as school counsellors, bus drivers or administrative staff in 23 school districts and 38,000 additional staff hours.

• Laptops, hand-sanitizers, meals, masks, masks, and more masks

• (SD 8 is hiring! Tell everyone you know.• Makeafuture.ca)

MoE #3 - Mouth-rinse testing coming to a school near you!

• The Province is making a first-of-its-kind, made-in-B.C. mouth rinse gargle sample collection available for school-aged students who require a COVID-19 test. This new saline method doesn’t require a health-care professional to collect the sample, and it is intended to encourage more students to get tested if they have symptoms.

Mission

We focus on excellence for all learners in a nurturing environment.

Vision

Focus. Learn. Excel.

District Goals/Strategic Plan

Learning

Organizational Excellence

Engagement

Relationships

Congratulations to ourStudent Trustees for 2020-2021!

• Crawford Bay Elementary Secondary School – Lily Saunders and Will Wiltzen.

• J.V. Humphries K-12 - Faye Petersen and Tatum Hearne.

• L.V. Rogers Secondary - Avie Waterfall and another student yet to be determined.

• Mount Sentinel Secondary - Adriana Wilson and Calla DeRosa.

• Prince Charles Secondary in Creston - Aurora Jarvis and Reese Klassen, and Madelyn Darby.

• Salmo Secondary - Kyla Jones and Brook Jessup.

Can’t do it without a great Learning Community –THANK YOU!

Parents and community supporters/partners/guests/media

Students

Teachers

KLTF

CUPE

Exempt staff

Board of Education – amazing support during pandemic

Ministry of Education

and in 2020, … not without …

The Public Health Office

and

Dr. Bonnie Henry and team!

Speaking of Dr. Henry … five big goals for year …

Health & safety

Relationships

Students at the centre for learning

Organizational Excellence

Learning goals

#1 - Health & Safety• Thank you all …this has been tough … basically, four pandemics … a

global pandemic called COVID-19, climate change as evidenced by hotter temperatures and wildfires impacting our air quality, many people out of work and poverty, and a reckoning with racism both in the United States, in Canada, and, in fact, around the globe.

• Physical distancing• Hand Sanitizer• Masks, Arrows, and Dots• Most important washing our hands with soap and water• All of this creating lots of worry and stress• Daily reminder … you/we are all right … most of all, be kind …to

yourself and others … continue to support each other … these are not easy times and we are all impacted differently.

Our Kindies are getting this right!

#2 – Relationships & Engagement • We can’t say “thank you” enough – to our kids and families –

amazing support while the province, the district, and you, figured this all out

• Health care workers, grocery stores, gas stations, banks, our government (yes, provincially and nationally!)

• District Team and PVP – since February and through summer –our Roundtable partner groups - preparing and supporting you through Stage 4, Stage 3, and now Stage 2

• SD 8 – Operations staff – custodians, summer maintenance crews, bus drivers, tech staff

• All of you last week, coming back to work and new ways of doing things

• You have each other…remember…• We are human – people will make mistakes - be calm- and thank

each other (especially with our little people – Gr. 12 and under -and all our worried parents)

BCCPAC, DPAC, PACs, and parents• As SD 8 staff, you are all welcome • You need to wear a parent hat (not an

employee hat – your spouse is welcome and they need to remember you are an employee)

• Promote district positively – especially, on social media

• Ask good questions• Give good advice … be positive on social media

Remind our parents to …

• Talk to our students about importance of nutrition• Ensure our students get lots of sleep, • Home and school need to work together to build

nurturing safe spaces• Eliminate stress together – encourage parents to reach

out if they need resources – counselling, food etc. You have connections that can help them.

• Communicate with each other now more than ever• We are about learning and need to keep the focus on

our students

#3 – Student centred learning

Ask them, what they would like to learn?

What excites them about learning?

How can you help them learn more?

Why are they happy about being back to

school, besides seeing their friends again?

Who would they like to learn about?

Where, in the world, would they like to learn about? Make it relevant

to them.

Under what conditions do they learn best?

Help them know that learning is

uncomfortable but that with you…they can be

safe.

Once they are safe, we can …

Focus on going deeper learning with Literacy and Numeracy across the district –“Coherance”

1Participate in FLE professional learning -in its’ 3rd year – attend as much as you can

2Go deeper on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity than ever before

3Educate ourselves about Decolonization –more important than ever before – we all need to learn more

4

Organizational Excellence • Improving all our Facilities – gyms floors, new paint,

new music rooms, new seamless day early learning centre, and lots of new H & S initiatives

• Carbon Neutral/Climate Change Report and our Go Green initiatives – will involve students (leave it up to you how you do that – building on success of last year) and …

• Technology Report (3rd year of our rollout!).

• Finance and Operations Committee are in charge of Student Symposium this year - cohosted by Student Trustees - date is February 2nd.

New classrooms, gyms floors, and many upgrades

Learning side of things …

• Framework for Enhancing Student Learning (FESL) Report on how are district is doing – 2018-2019 (September); 2019-2020 (November), and then 2020-2021 (September 2021) report out; and…

• Anti-Racism or our Diversity, Inclusion, & EquityReport – (title to be confirmed yet) – highlighting everything from our International program, ELL, Refugee program, and new Immigrant services; Inclusion program, SOGI, Food security, vulnerable students, new anti-racism curriculum and resources, and our Indigenous Education program.

I too, am a learner, and pronouns will now appear on my email signature: she, her, hers

• Why? Because I have learned that something that many people might not have thought about before.

• Knowing someone’s gender pronoun is an important part of people's identity

• Our next guest uses: they, them, theirs.• Use of correct pronouns is one more way of

showing our students, our parents, our guests our respect.

If really valuing Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity is where we want to go, then 2020 is a time of reckoning for all of us … and we all need to get on the bus.

As your Superintendent,

I do not care what colour your skin is, you (universal “you” - our

students, our parents, our staff) are welcome in School District 8 –

Kootenay Lake.

As your Superintendent,

I do not care is you are Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, or Atheist, you are welcome in School

District 8 – Kootenay Lake.

As your Superintendent,

I do not care if you are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, two-spirited,

intersex, queer, or questioning, you are welcome in School District

8 – Kootenay Lake.

Let’s celebrate each other and go out there and focus on our most important goal …

Improve achievement for all our children

Thank you all for leading learning and improving their future.

Looking forward to another Great Year Together – no matter what the world throws at us -2020-2021Thank you.

Dr. Christine Perkins(she, her, hers)Superintendent/Chief Executive OfficerBoard of Education, School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake)811 Stanley street, Nelson, B.C. V1L 1N8Cell: 250-505-9625Email: christine.perkins@sd8.bc.caWeb: www.sd8.bc.ca

Introducing – Ivan Coyote

• Ivan Coyote (they, their, them) is a writer and storyteller. Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon.

• They are the author of twelve books, the creator of four films, six stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music.

• Ivan’s books have won the ReLit Award, been named a Stonewall Honour Book, been long-listed for Canada Reads, and been short-listed for the Hilary Weston Prize for non-Fiction.

• In 2017, Ivan was given an honorary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University for their writing and activism.

• They have toured public schools solo around the world for 17 years now, using the power of a personal story to fight bullying and make schools safer for students, staff and parents.

• In 2019, Ivan marked 25 years on the road as an international touring storyteller and musician, and released their twelfth book, Rebent Sinner, with Arsenal Pulp Press. Ivan’s stories grapple with the complex and intensely personal topics of gender identity, family, class, and queer liberation, but always with a generous heart, and a quick wit.

• Ivan’s stories manage to handle both the hilarious and the historical with reverence and compassion, and remind us all of our own fallible and imperfect humanity, while at the same time inspiring us to change the world. Ivan was awarded the Freedom to Read Award for 2020 by the Writer’s Union of Canada, in recognition of work that is passionately supportive of the freedom to read and free expression.