School District 54 has released an ambitious plan to improve the achievements of its students while ensuring it has enough teachers to meet classroom demand.
The 2024-2028 strategic plan also advances the board's current commitment to truth and reconciliation among other key factors.
Here are some of the main points as reviewed by school superintendent Mike McDiarmid.
Student learning
"In terms of overall graduation results, we are currently a little behind provincial norms," McDiarmid commented on the commitment to meet or exceed the provincial rate.
"In a small district like ours, you're talking about a handful of students who may have not completed. So although they may appear substantive on a graph, it is a small group."
But the district has noticed that students who may not fulfill completion requirements in one year, return the next year and finish, he added.
"We're pretty happy that we're on the right track in areas we've identified. Literacy and numeracy continue to be priorities. Numeracy in particular is something we're noticing a bigger gap in the provincial norms and that's something we're actively addressing," McDiarmid said.
Truth and reconciliation
Truth and reconciliation has been a big part of our work in the last few years," said McDiarmid citing the example of the totem pole raising at Walnut Park Elementary School in Smithers as a visible sign of the district's commitment.
Teachers are provided with additional professional development assistance and that will continue, he said.
Deep dives into student learning data also assist the district in pinpointing vulnerable areas so they can concentrate on those to make improvements.
Indigenous student literacy rates exceed the provincial norm in Grade 7 but are below the norm in Grade 4, for instance.
"We do use the provincial standards for comparisons. I can say that we are on or near most provincial norms," McDiarmid said.
Indigenous students make up approximately 20 per cent of the district's student population.
Teachers and support staff
It's no surprise the school district, as with many employers in northern and more rural locations, has a challenge in filling its employee requirements.
But McDiarmid said School District 54 is more fortunate than others when it comes to finding and keeping teachers.
"That being said, we still have, I want to say, six teachers on letters of permission, so those are non-certified folks," he said.
"Of those six, a number of them are pursuing their teaching credentials. So we're hopeful they become certified teachers in the next couple of years," McDiarmid continued.
The total district teaching complement is approximately 130 people.
Newly-hired teachers benefit from a mentorship teacher who provides guidance and advice.
Next year is also a contract bargaining year for teachers and McDiarmid hopes the province is prepared to increase salaries for those working in the north.
One retention incentive is that of a commuter-type service by providing a vehicle, including fuel, for teachers from Smithers and Telkwa who teach in Houston.
McDiarmid added there are equal challenges in finding and keeping the people needed to keep the district functioning and, like teachers, hopes the province recognizes the need for higher pay.
"There is some services we are not able to provide right now because of staffing considerations," McDiarmid said.
A look at the school district website as of last week shows two bus runs have been cancelled because drivers cannot be found.
Capital projects and maintenance
A solid local financial situation and an influx of provincial grants has enabled the district to maintain a consistent program to lengthen the life of its buildings and improve working and learning conditions.
"A lot of our schools are older. It's really important," McDiarmid said of the need to update district buildings.
Smithers Secondary School now has new washrooms. There has also been significant work to upgrade the exterior of Telkwa Elementary and a sustained renovation at Silverthorne has converted half of its interior into a daycare centre.
Based on grant submissions provided to the province this fall, the district wants to spend $9 million on further improvements to its buildings.
The two largest planned expenditures are at Smithers Secondary School where the district wants to spend $5.5 million and at Twain Sullivan where the district wants to spend $950,000 to replace boilers, ducting, heating units and electronic control systems with heat pumps in both facilities.
The district also wants $500,000 to replace the roof of Houston Secondary and $132,500 to renovate the kitchen facility.
