June 25th, 2013

Director’s Update

Waterloo Region District School Board – Board Meeting

On June 24, 2013 at 7:00pm, the WRDSB held its monthly Board Meeting. The agenda and reports for this meeting are available on the Board’s website by clicking here.

Special Order
Executive Superintendent Marilyn Allen made a presentation to Student Trustees Xie and Clubine to support their education on behalf of the Council of Senior Business Officials.

Announcements
The Waterloo Region District School Board is pleased to announce John Bryant as Director of Education, effective September 1, 2013. The Board then honoured retiring Director of Education, Linda Fabi.

No delegations appeared at the meeting.

Receipt/Approval of Minutes
Trustees approved the following minutes:

• Parent Involvement Committee Meeting – March 5, 2013
• Policy & Bylaw Standing Committee Meeting – April 29, 2013
• Special Education Advisory Committee – May 8, 2013
• Special Committee of the Whole Budget Meeting – June 3, 2013
• Committee of the Whole Meeting – June 10, 2013
• Special Committee of the Whole Budget Meeting – June 12, 2013
• Committee of the Whole Meeting – June 17, 2013
• Special Committee of the Whole Budget Meeting – June 19, 2013
  Trustees approved an amendment to study programs and services and their costs and benefits as part of the fiscal review.

Trustees received the following minutes:

• Board Meeting – May 27, 2013

Reports

Year End Review – System Success Plan (For Information)
This report provides the Board of Trustees with a year-end review of our System Success. In May 2011, the Waterloo Region District Board initiated a strategic planning process to review and refresh the Strategic Plan (now also known as the Multi-Year Plan) culminating with the approval of the new Strategic Plan at the May 28, 2012 Board Meeting. The six Strategic Directions in this report describe the goals to which the Board aspires. They are the critical few influences that will guide the work of the Board in the coming years:

• Pursuing student achievement and success for all
• Engaging students, families, staff and communities
• Fostering wellness and wellbeing
• Embracing diversity and inclusion
• Championing quality public education
• Promoting forward thinking

The strategic directions of this plan will be carried out through various school programs, the programs and initiatives are available in the full report.

Annual Plan – Human Resource Services (For Information)
This report provides an update on actions and support provided through Human Resource Services in an effort to prepare, challenge and inspire learners to be engaged, connected and contributing global citizens.

Human Resource Services continues to support our Board’s strategic plan. Human Resource Services identified key priorities for school year 2012-2013 included the following:

• Negotiating and securing collective agreements for nine bargaining units
• Further develop our program to reduce incidents for employees;
• Undertake a comprehensive review of our hiring practices

Human Resource Services has identified specific undertakings for the 2013-2014 year, these include:

• Refinement of the Human Resource Services Departmental plan as it relates to the WRDSB Strategic Plan;
• Ongoing implementation of Bill 115/MOU requirements;
• Implementation of “Webforms” technology, using the Laserfiche electronic document management system

The entire list of priorities is available in the full report.

Secondary Average Class Size (For Approval)
This report provides information on the secondary average class size for the year 2012-2013 and seeks approval from the Board to set the secondary average class size for 2013-2014 as required under the Education Act, 170.1 (3) (4).

For the school year 2012-2013 the average class size of our secondary schools is 21.11 as determined under Section 3 of Regulation 399/00. This report follows the direction of the WRDSB Strategic Plan.

Trustees approved the following recommendation:
That the Waterloo Region District School Board approve a secondary school average class size of 22, effective September 1, 2013 through to June 30, 2014.

Major Capital Projects Quarterly Update (For Information)
The purpose of this report is to provide up-to-date information with regard to major capital projects. The major capital projects listed on the attached have been approved or are pending approval by the Board. Capital projects with budgets greater than $2.5M are outlined in Appendix A of the full report.

All projects are proceeding as planned through the design and construction stages with the exception of Tait Street P.S. Major projects include:

• MacKenzie King P.S. – major addition
• Breslau P.S. – major addition
• Groh Drive P.S. – new school
• Manchester P.S. – major addition
• Westmount P.S. – new school (rebuild)

Student Trustees 2013-14 (Verbal Report)
Student Trustees Xie and Clubine were presented with a plaque to recognize their work as student trustees. Incoming Student Trustees Jen Duimering and Aaron Shantz were presented to Trustees for school year 2014/14.

Staffing Information – Retirements and Resignations (For Information)
Staff members who are retiring or resigning from the Board are listed in this report. Sixteen staff members with over 420 years of service will retire from the WRDSB. Three staff members resigned.

Staffing Recommendations – Appointments (For Approval)
The Board is pleased to appoint one new support staff. The report lists the name of the new staff member.

Trustees approved the following recommendation:
That the Waterloo Region District School Board approve the appointments to staff as outlined in the report titled “Staffing Recommendations—Appointments,” dated June 24, 2013.

Suspension/Expulsion Report to May 31, 2013 (For Information)
The report provides information about suspensions and expulsions for May 2013, as well as the data for the same month in 2012. Year-to-date suspensions and expulsions up to May 2013 are included in the report.

The meeting adjourned at 9:02pm