“As you can imagine, timetabling for these courses, room setups and teacher assignments, all need to be in place to offer these programs. The extension of the restrictions may alter what the class may look like but we will proceed within the guidelines to reduce risk.” Some schools in Southeast Cornerstone have already been offering some extra curricular choir and band programs, using a virtual format. “We have looked at programs like SMART music to help to deliver lessons virtually and some of our staff have invested in those programs,” said Hiske. COVID-19 created many challenges for traditional delivery of education. Band and choir programming were no exception.
Several board members such as Tami Scott, Subdivision 4, Kevin Keating, Eric McCrimmon (City of Estevan) and Jim Henderson, Subdivision 3, provided updates on school community council meetings they attended. They brought back information on school fundraising efforts, online Christmas concerts, the Hillcrest breakfast program and other activities. Little reported that some school systems have moved to remote learning practices within the past few weeks as operation challenges grew due to a lack of home room teachers, education assistants and/or bus drivers. SECPSD has not chosen this path. She said that the current holiday break will provide a respite for those in the education trenches and there should be a return to classroom instructional sessions on January 4, 2021, as planned.
Yurkiw provided the numbers online while the majority of board members also received them in the same manner as the meeting took on a virtual and on-site mixture to end the calendar year. “Ministry grants are not being adjusted for enrolment changes this year,” Yurkiw said, noting that contingency funding has replaced that exercise for this pandemic fiscal year. The operations budget showed a first quarter surplus of $1.547 million with Ministry of Education grants showing up as $27.8 million and projected to be $3.02 million higher than budget due to additional funding received for costs related to COVID-19. Total operating grants amounted to $25.536 million while capital grants were just under $2.23 million.
Starting with an online listing of his 12 staff members who are assigned to provide network analysis, system analysis, programs and technical services to the division and its 8,300 students and nearly 600 teachers and support staffers, Belinsky outlined how each sector works and what they provide. The entire network makes use of five security systems as the division sends out hardware management, data management, network monitoring requirements, emails, computers and voiceover device support. Attempting to keep security foremost is often a challenge within the budget, he said. “Wireless pieces are an ongoing challenge as students bring in their devices to the schools,” he said.
Chairwoman Audrey Trombley led the session from the boardroom joined by director of education and CEO Lynn Little and administration support staff, when required. Several board members such as Tami Scott (Subdivision 4), Jim Henderson (Subdivision 3) and Kevin Keating and Eric McCrimmon (City of Estevan) provided updates on school community council meetings they attended. They brought back information on school fundraising efforts, online Christmas concerts, the Hillcrest School breakfast program and other activities. Little reported that some school systems have moved to remote learning practices within the past few weeks as operation challenges grew due to a lack of home room teachers, education assistants and/or bus drivers. South East Cornerstone has not chosen this path.