October 26, 2010

Re: Response to Questions to the VSB from Southlands Elementary School parents.

Some patterns emerged in the questions that were posed to me and I have attempted to provide
answers organized around key themes. Some of the questions relate to the ongoing development of
school culture and this will continue to be a day-to-day focus at the school level through the course of
the year. Some of the questions have been raised with me and the principal in the past few weeks, so it
may be that these issues have already begun to be addressed either on a school-wide basis or at an
individual level with parents and students.

My responsibility is to support the principal of Southlands in their role, and currently Ms Debra
Nothstein is the full-time Acting Principal at Southlands. (Schools with 400 or fewer students do not
have vice-principals.)

General Information

Southlands began this school year with a number of staff changes, both in administration and teaching,
along with the addition of eighty-plus children and their families coming into the school. With this
increased enrolment, the number of required teaching staff also increased. The additional enrolment
resulted in more students in hallways and on playgrounds, and naturally created some new dynamics
among the student community. The nature of change is that it can be unsettling, particularly when
several factors occur at the same time, which perhaps has contributed to a sense of uncertainty felt by
some families and students.

During this transition I have been impressed with the professionalism of the staff at Southlands, who are
continuing to provide engaging learning experiences for students in their classrooms. They have
welcomed new students, and worked to create a positive learning environment in the school. Where
there has been any questionable student behaviour, whether in or out of the classroom, the principal
and staff have provided appropriate interventions and consequences for those individual students, in
partnership with their families.

When there have been changes in teaching personnel in some classrooms, the administration and staff
have supported staff new to the school. On October 22nd the staff participated in a full-day session on
the IB program, to continue developing the community of inquiry-based learning that is part of the
Southlands experience. These are very supportive, dedicated people who are committed to working
collaboratively with parents to provide a good education for the children at Southlands.

Communication

Over the past few weeks either the Associate Superintendents’ office or the Principal have sent home
letters to families outlining the Principal changes and giving information on the staffing changes. Going
forward the Principal will continue to update families through school newsletters, in reports at monthly
PAC meetings and through frequent, direct communication with the PAC Chairpersons.

Generally, communication with the PAC is about overall school programs, issues and concerns.
Communication about situations related to specific students and staff occurs directly with the
individuals and families involved.
Planning for Increase in Enrolment

Late last spring the district knew that there possibly would be 80 – 130 students coming to Southlands,
as a result of University Hill Elementary being at full capacity. The school anticipated that there would be
a need for additional teachers, and made arrangements to initially post for 1-2 teachers for the start of
September.

Overall staffing is based on the number of students enrolled across the district as of September 30th, so
following that date there was a decision made to post further teaching positions for the school.

This fall Southlands has received more than its usual ratio of teaching staffing allotment and resource
teaching allotment in an attempt to address transition issues related to changes in enrolment levels and
student learning needs this year.

Staffing Processes

Many of the questions about staffing and ‘posting and filling’ practices are regulated by the collective
agreement between the school district and its teaching employees. This is a reality of public labour
management relations and practices which govern staffing processes for all school districts.

Last spring the VSB was in the position of reducing staff due to budget constraints. A significant number
of permanent teaching staff lost their positions and were placed on a priority list for any new positions
that were ‘posted’ (i.e. advertised). This happened late in June and subsequently when school opened,
there were permanent teachers who were without a job for the upcoming year.

As new job openings were posted, either due to increased enrolment at a school or unplanned staff
absences, these permanent teachers were temporarily placed into a position which still had to be
posted. At that time, in accordance with the collective agreement, any other teacher that had been laid
off also had the right to apply for the position, and provided they had appropriate qualifications and
experience, the most senior of the applicants would be offered the position. This can mean that a
teacher is temporarily placed in September, and then is not the successful applicant for the position,
which results in another teacher coming into the position later in the year. At times the incoming
teacher may be completing another temporary assignment before moving into the permanent posting.
Where possible this is done mid-year to coincide with a natural break.

Due to the circumstances outlined in Planning above, there have been a number of classrooms at
Southlands where a change in teacher has occurred or will occur later in the year. The school works to
minimize the disruption to students and parents in these occurrences by organizing for transitions
through grade team meetings, staff meetings, and school-based team meetings.

A question was also raised about possible teacher retirements this year and whether those can be
posted/filled sooner than later. Again, the dates for this process are in the collective agreement in terms
of when staff submits a retirement notice to the district, and when ‘open’ positions are posted for the
following year.

The French position was not posted until October 12th because we were finalizing the other postings on
staff which, depending on outcome, may have resulted in some internal movement at the school.
Pending the final posting, there has been a qualified French teacher on a temporary basis in the school
to ensure continuation of French for students.

For 2011-12, based on this year’s experience, we hope to have a better sense of how many students will
be registering at Southlands in order to plan for classroom organization. Many schools in the district do
not have students organized into their new classrooms until late in the first week of school, or even
early into the second week, in order to confirm numbers of registrants. This may be an approach that
the school needs to take going forward, to minimize disruption to students. This can be an effective
approach when a school uses this first week as a time for special activities and experiences which build
school-wide culture and expectations.

International Baccalaureate Program

The school is moving forward with the completion of Application B which is the next step in the school
begin approved for International Baccalaureate status. The principal and staff will be working with Mr.
Bob Poole from the Vancouver IB office to complete the application fully prior to its submission to the
international office.

The next stage in the process would be to have an external team come for a visit to Southlands to
complete the assessment for granting International Baccalaureate status.

As mentioned above, the staff is continuing to engage in professional development related to IB

program delivery. It will be important to have new staff and students fully engaged in the IB program
prior to an external visit. It may be wise to request a deferral of the visit until early next fall in order to
ensure that the school is successful in its pursuit of IB status. This possibility will be given full discussion
at the school level with staff and parents prior to any decision.

Timeline for New School at UBC

The completion date for the new school at Acadia Road is planned for September 2013. At that point,
there will be two schools on the Endowment Lands at UBC which will serve students of elementary
school age: University Hill Elementary and the new Acadia Road Elementary (yet to be named).

Currently there are children from the UBC area attending several surrounding schools in the area
including Queen Mary Elementary and Southlands, as University Hill Elementary is at full capacity.

Contact information:
Maureen Ciarniello, Associate Superintendent
Vancouver Board Education
604-713-5197
mciarniello@vsb.bc.ca