DRAFT NVPAC Report - SP Objectives Consultation PDF Prep

February 25, 2011
NVPAC President’s Council Report
Results of NVPAC’s Parent Consultation on Proposed Draft Objectives for the Board’s 10-Year
Strategic Plan.
Executive Summary
● In order to gain feedback and input from the parent community on the current draft of the
10-Year Strategic Plan, NVPAC conducted an open survey asking parents to rate the
priority of each high level goal and the related draft objectives. The survey used the exact
language proposed by the Strategic Plan Design team.
● A very large majority of parents expressed difficulty with understanding much of the
jargon and the nature of many of the programs referred to within the goals. They reacted
quite negatively to the use of such language and expressed strong desire to see plain,
clear language used throughout, where possible. Parent support for the Board’s Strategic
Plan will likely be increased if this is addressed.
● Parents generally did not view these goals as focused, clear or measurable. In other word
they do not meet the “SMART” standard. They want to see goals to which they can
clearly hold the school district accountable.
● Certain goals and objectives were controversial with a wide range of parent responses.
For example, parents are supportive of the outdoor school but not at the expense of
quality instruction. Parents are supportive of specialty programs but also consider them
an expensive distraction from delivering quality education for all. Investments in IB and
Distributed Learning and improved environmental practices in particular received both
mixed and lower support.
● The parent community indicated strong support for goals that directly addressed
outcomes for their children: quality teaching, rich curriculum, career linkages and a
personalized learning experience. Parents however did not have such clear support for the
provided sample strategies. This can be linked to comments that showed a lack of
understanding of the proposed strategies and a general cynicism about the ability to
deploy new best practices when there are no good ways in which teachers can be
evaluated.
Disclaimer
The NVPAC wants to fairly represent all the views of the parents in the community whether they
are insightful, balanced, well-informed or politically incorrect, unpopular or otherwise difficult to
accept. The authors of this report (David Whitehead and Mike Sexsmith) have done their very
best to summarize these views in as balanced a way possible without adding any of their views or
biases. This is however a difficult task so we apologize in advance if we have not met
expectations in this regard. We encourage feedback and clarification because in the end it is our
intent to relate the views of the parents. A short opinion from Mike Sexsmith is included as an
Appendix because he really needs to get it off his chest.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 1
Introduction 3
Part I Survey Analysis 3
Overall Comments 3
High level Goals 4
Sub Objectives 5 to 13
Part II Workshop 13
Appendix A Power point from Workshop 17
Appendix B Mike Sexsmith’s Opinion 22
Appendix C Raw Survey Data 24
Appendix D Complete List if Comments 29
Introduction
The NVSD #44 is presently preparing a 10-Year Strategic plan. As of February 2011 they have
developed a set of six high-level goals, several proposed draft objectives under each goal and a
list of sample strategies. Partner groups were then asked to provide their input and feedback. The
NVPAC quickly constructed a survey to poll the parent community about the relative priority of
the goals and draft objectives to gather comments. A total of 1,055 survey responses were
received, including 820 comments - forming the basis of this report. All results and comments are
included in the Appendix in an unabridged form. The preliminary survey results were then used
to frame a workshop at the February NVPAC General Meeting. During this workshop, groups of
parents discussed four goal themes to try to identify key performance indicators, and to refine the
language of the goals to make them follow the SMART goal quality indicator used in the School
Plans and many industries. During this workshop however the parents also generated alternative
strategies proposal.
Part I - Parent Survey

The survey asked parents to rank the relative importance of each of the high level goals identified
in the plan and each of the objectives that support those goals.
The original wording of the goals and objectives and the sample strategies suggested within the
plan was used to present the survey. The survey was emailed to all parents through the synervoice
system and conducted online. In total 1,055 responses were collected to the survey over 10 days.
Comments were also collected for each goal and the overall set of high-level goals. In total, 820
comments were collected.
Early respondents (first 300 approx.) were surveyed with the objectives appearing in random
order, which may have differed from the order that the objectives were presented in the
explanatory text. In response to some early feedback from a handful of survey respondents, this
was revised to a fixed order for the remaining respondents to avoid any confusion that may have
occurred from the mismatched list order.
Overall Results Brief
Ratings Data
In general, all goals received positive support in the rating scales with no goal scoring below 3
(neutral). The results were self-consistent, and in general there were no anomalous distributions
of scores. The typical standard deviation was around 1 point; which over a survey this large is
sufficient to distinguish the ratings. Thus from a statistical perspective the survey results can be
considered significant. Most of the objectives tended to receive similar scores to the goals they
were intended to support, where this was not true suggests parents did not see the objective as a
good fit for the goal. Examination of the questions that received a significant number of "don't
knows" suggests many of the goals and objectives are confusing and unclear to parents. The need
to eliminate jargon and desire for measurable results oriented goals is reflected in these results
and heavily in the comment. Looking at the items with a large number of "not important"
responses suggests parents question the value of land management, the outdoor school and IB as
important strategic initiatives for the district. The raw survey data is available on the NVPAC
blog and a complete data summary in included in the appendix. We encourage the reader to
conduct their own analysis.
Comments Summary
Reading the comments suggests that overall parents found the goals confusing, immeasurable,
vague and poorly connected to successful student learning. The goals fail the SMART test, they
are not seen as specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, or time bound (see Appendix). Many
parents consider the effort cynical. They see the plan as enabling the district to fit pretty much
anything within the plan without any sense of accountability. With such vague and jargon laden
goals and objectives, they appear to be written with hidden meanings in mind. Parents want a plan
that doesn’t force them to interpret or guess what the district wants to do and what the district will
do as a result of the plan. The comments however often had constructive recommendations and
good insight and it is recommended that the reader spend some time with them (see Appendix).
Note that in order to protect the stakeholders some comments had names removed. All comment
edits are annotated.
Out of the comments several themes came out that indicate that there are some missing goals:
● Where is the ability to overcome technology gaps? – teachers need to learn about
technology.
● Where is the goal to provide support for struggling kids, especially those with
disabilities, discipline issues, or other challenges?
Question # 1 High Level Goals
N VSD Stra te g ic Pla n H ig h Le v e l Go a ls
Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations 3.35
Provide leadership in environmental education and

3.59
sustainability practices
Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace 3.95
Develop and promote innovative and sustainable

3.94
programs
Expand the availability of best instructional practices and

4.52
enriched curriculum
Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive

4.06
learning environments
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Summary Data
Sample Comments:
● All of these items are important to ensure the students become productive contributing
members of society once they have passed through the school system.
● Although goals 1, 4 and 5 are important, in terms of priorities, it is essential that energy,
money and support be first directed toward improving instructional practice and creating
effective and responsive classrooms. If only a limited number of goals can be met,
student support and learning must take a front seat.
● C'mon guys, you need to explain what the heck these are. This is such consultant
gibberish. How can anyone respond intelligently? Why wouldn’t everyone want their
cake and eat it too. Where are the tradeoffs?
● Focus should be on good quality instruction to engage learners and specific remediation
for those who are not making good progress. Need school leadership that encourages
teachers to be engaged and excited about what they do. Seek out best practice and
strategies for all struggling learners that is evidence based; keep expectations high for
every learner.
● I am not sure how we will measure when we have achieved these goals? I understand the
concept of long-term goals, but believable that they can still have measurable features to
them.
● I think if you are going to go about this by setting goals the goals need to be SMART.
These are not specific enough are difficult to measure and difficult to understand. Very
academic, no teeth and nothing that sounds like it would have significant returns.
Author’s interpretation:
Parents do not in general understand these goals or buy into them. They feel that they are vague
and difficult to link to tangible changes in practice or student outcomes. They do however support
the general direction these push for. Many parents expressed a high degree of cynicism about
both the goals and the process and question the value of the planning process if there is no
tangible outcome.
The number one concern of parents can be summarized as "which goals say my children will get
a good education?" This is reflected in the comments and shown here by the high ranking of
Goal #2 "instructional practice". Looking at the dispersion of the results there is strong agreement
amongst parents that instructional practice and curriculum IS the most important goal for the
district. Parents want the focus to be on delivering high quality education for their kids. Those
goals perceived as being connected to student success received the strongest support. There is
also strong agreement related to career development, collaborative learning and retaining good
teachers.
Goals and objectives with little visible connection to investment in education were not well
supported. Where parents are less certain about the options shows up in areas of sustainability,
community connection and the specialty programs.
Question # 2 Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments
Go a l #1 -
Enc o ura g e the g ro wth o f c o lla b o ra tiv e a nd a d a p tiv e le a rning e nv iro nme nts
Enhance opportunities for collaboration among all

3.56
educators (professional learning community)
Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning 4.21
Strengthen a sense of belonging and connection for all

4.01
learners
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Survey Data
Overall category rating 4.06 or 2nd
Sample Comments:
● Again as I've mentioned, the professional learning community has to stop isolating itself
and recognize and work with the community at large.
● Another objective you should add is "strengthen and enhance flexible career-focused
programs for secondary students.
● Finally some acknowledgment that not all the bright children shine in the current
academic environment. Some require parallel structures and accommodations (test
anxiety, more verbal as opposed to written testing, longer time to take tests etc).
● Given these three objectives ... why are you closing Windsor House? You should be
highlighting it as an example of how NVSB reaches these objectives in education.
● I still don't know what the outcomes of this strategy are? What will you have achieved in
5 years by implementing these strategies? How will you be measuring progress and
success?
● I will assume that the educators are using best practices to identify the areas of focus. On
first glance, I think that we are being optimistic with the number of tactics that have been
suggested.
● It all sounds great - but what does it mean? There seem to be a lot of ideas / programs that
have some deeper meaning or need to be clarified/ defined before I can accurately
comment on the above. Educators seem to spend a great deal of our children's time in
meetings and PD days - surely they are already getting ample time to collaborate with
other educators. It is difficult to rate these because ( cut off by character limit)
● I don't know what many of the terms you are using mean, for example, 'multi-year in-
service calendar', 'tribes', 'the second Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement'.
I'm sure many other parents will also not know what these mean, probably lowering the
validity responses to this survey. My responses reflect what I understand the meaning to
be of the overall draft objective.
Author’s interpretation
From the parent response it is clear that the parent community supports a more personalized
learning approach. They generally expressed specific needs (in the comments) about support for a
variety of different types of students. They expressed a need for better support for all learners,
especially those that are struggling.
There were some very negative comments about more professional development days. Many
parent expressed the belief that (as with most professionals) teachers ought do a lot of
development but that it should be outside of classroom time. Parents also want to see better
linkage between the professional development and the actual practices applied in the classroom.
They want to see mechanisms by which the teachers are given support to implement new
practices and some sort of way in which the teachers are assessed and held accountable for
teaching quality.
While collaboration was seen as important, parents were generally unsure what was meant by the
terminology. Collaboration amongst teachers is expected but they see a need for more
collaboration with students and parents. Collaboration amongst students, with students and
between parents and teachers were seen as missing elements.
Question # 3 Expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched
curriculum
Go a l #2 - Exp a nd the a v a ila b ility o f b e s t ins truc tio na l p ra c tic e s a nd e nric he d

c urric ulum
Support local development of enhanced curriculum and

assessment methods to support the learner and learner 3.88
engagement
Provide quality in-service and professional development

opportunities for staff through the continuation of the 3.67
Instructional Intelligence Institute
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Survey Data
Overall category rating 4.52 Ranked 1st
Sample Comments:
● These are both 'inputs' rather than 'outputs' ... Let's see some measurement which
ensures the kids feel the impact of this work
● Again, does the average parent know what an IEP is????
● All of this seems directed at administration and someone with a teaching background. As
a professional outside of the teaching arena this has very little importance to me, nor do I
see its value to my children.
● Any professional development requirements of teachers should be made public online:
what they need yearly and whether that have completed it
● As well as continuing to provide quality in-service and professional development, annual
performance reviews should be performed on the staff. There are many excellent
teachers, but there are also a few that need to either pull up their socks or retire!!!
● Focus on the kids more; less on programs, practices.
● How about performance evaluation and recognition as is used in most industries.
● I support improved training for teachers, but this needs to be tied to improved
performance in the classroom, anyone can take a course but those skills need to be
deployed in the classroom after all the goal of teacher education should ultimately be to
help the children learn more effectively
● If this means even more Pro D days, then forget it - I want the teachers in school teaching
the children. As a professional myself, continuing education is my problem and I satisfy
my association's requirements on my own time.
● Rubric Central, Revise IEP Central and Report Central, What are these items?
The data shows this as the highest rated overall goal however support for the stated objectives
was relatively low. This is likely because parents do not see the connection between the
objectives under instructional practice and the higher goal. The comments suggest they are
looking for more direct strategies to improve the quality of education and found the identified
objectives confusing and “insider oriented” rather than student oriented. Many parents are unsure
about the need for local curriculum and assessment development in North Vancouver and are also
unsure about the need for the Instructional Institute and Distributed Learning. This may be
because few parents understand what these are.
Similar comments about professional development were found in this section and these are
discussed under Question #2. PD is supported but parents think that there is too much PD time.
There is no real support for the development of local curriculum. It is considered a nice to have
but the objective needs to be to have the best curriculum. They want to see the district source the
best globally rather than invent everything here.
Parents want high quality instruction they haven’t seen that IB, II or any other single program is
best. We don’t know what is best but we want to see it in action and see changes if it isn’t
working.
A small fraction of parents expressed frustration that IEPs are not being used in the intended way.
This indicates a need to strengthen existing best practices before moving onto new initiatives.
Question # 4 Develop and promote innovative and sustainable programs

Go a l 3 - D e v e lo p a nd p ro mo te inno v a tiv e a nd s us ta ina b le p ro g ra ms
Increase the awareness of program opportunities available to

3.85
students throughout the School District
Expand and enhance career program opportunities for

4.09
students
Explore the expansion of the International Baccalaureate

3.49
Programme to provide increased and equitable access
Expand Fine and Performing Arts program opportunities for

3.80
students
Expand course offerings provided through Distributed

3.52
Learning
Continue to strengthen and expand school district Academy

3.72
programs to provide equitable access for students
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Survey Data
Overall Category score 3.94 ranked 4th
Sample Comments:
● A variety of career programs should be offered to students -- may be even better linked to
job shadow opportunities -- like they do at Van Tech.
● Again, this SOUNDS good, but no confidence this will actually happen as long as $ reign
and actual progress twds (sic) these goals is lip service.
● Careers should include trades as well as professions. Trades are often rewarding, good
paying jobs but are often promoted as something to be done only if a child is not dong
well academically.
● Customized education to meet the needs of your clients, the children, is key.
Separating kids into different locations and classrooms isn't the answer. Tech is advanced
enough that this shouldn't be required.
● Distributed learning is something we can't do!!
● Do the basics right, then expand your offerings. Why dilute the effort to cover a wide
range of courses, rather than concentrate on the fundamentals? Expanding course offering
may result in quite easy courses with high grades, but leave them unprepared for the real
world. Basics provide a greater foundation for learning diverse skills than an intro course
into those diverse areas. Clearly will not be able to go into depth if the students do not
have strong basic skills!
● Expansion of the IB program included a note about feasibility study for program
expansion including French Immersion. Slow down...be sure that you are able to provide
quality to the programs that exist. We are already noticing a shortage of qualified French
Immersion teachers, so unless your study includes locating and securing quality teachers,
I don't think expansion is the wisest move.
● I for one do not believe that the IB programming is for all children. It does not support all
learning needs nor all learning styles. These initiatives seem directed at High School and
College aged people. How will you plan to survey the children from ages 5-14 yrs to
assess their needs and how relevant are their wants to their educational needs.
● If there is too much choice, it will end up watering down all the other programs, by trying
to expand you will become weaker. Everyone needs to have a core of the same education.
Do not over expand. Do not cater to the squeaky wheels that only benefit their children
(i.e., Cantonese programs) - give everyone a solid foundation. Public education should be
for the greater good - become an expert at the essentials! Too much choice also makes it
harder for kids to choose - beware of that fact (read the "paradox of choice")
The parents did not strongly support this category overall and there was mixed support for most
of the objectives. Overall this category showed the highest dispersion in the results. This was
shown in the numerical data and the wide-ranging comments.
The one theme in this category that seemed consistently supported was the concern that their
students be well prepared for transitions to careers. This also came up strongly in the workshop
(discussed below). Parents want to see a more diverse range of career preparation programs or
courses. Programs that reach few students are not seen as important as the overall delivery of
quality education to all students. Parents appear to be uncertain about the value of special
interest programs like the academies and IB.
“Elitist” programs are controversial, desirable for a few students but also expensive distractions
taking resources and attention from teaching all kids. Special programs however seem to have
strong support from a sub-section of the overall parent population.
Question # 5 Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace

Go a l 4 - N urture a n ins p iring a nd he a lthy wo rk p la c e
Continue the implementation of the strategic plan for the retention

3.29
and disposition of land
Develop modern, attractive and efficient facilities that enhance the

learning and teaching environment, improve health and safety 3.75
conditions, and provide a welcoming appearance
Support meaningful ways to recognize the value and contributions

3.65
of our students, staff, and community partners
Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster employee

4.25
engagement and pride in the School District
Develop and implement a comprehensive human resource

program to optimize the potential for staff members to support 3.79
student learning
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Survey Data
Category Score 3.96 ranked 3rd
Sample Comments:
● A healthy, facility that is attractive and well-lit contributes to learning, as does beautiful
outdoor space for the children to play in.
● Again, speak English! What does all this mean to the end results of how it effects student
learning - which is the ONLY goal in the strategic plan. Our students are falling behind
globally, and it is what should primarily be addressed. The rest is just fluff - as much as it
may support that goal, let's address getting quality curriculums and quality education so
that our nation can remain innovative and competitive. Let's move away from being
addicted to mediocrity and political correctness.
● Although you are dealing with budget cuts - do not dispose of land if at all possible.
These assets should be retained for future expansion of the population. Renting out
schools to other organizations should be considered whenever possible.
● Attracting exceptional staff is a laudable goal; however, what will be done to address
staff that is anything but exceptional? What will you do to address sub-standard
teachers/staff? How will they be held accountable?
● Develop specific training and credentialing/qualifications of Special Education Assistants
around common learning disabilities (e.g. autism, Downs, dyslexia). Provide sufficient
SEA support to each school that is very flexible as needs change and shift within and
between school years. Assign teaching positions based on merit not seniority.
● I believe the District should sell land, or make a lot of money on it. Don't just leave it
sitting, or rent it out when the District NEEDS the money. It's a waste of space if you've
closed a school and there isn't any plan to build another school there - SELL IT!
● If it was possible to comment on the individual objectives as they relate to the high level
goal, I would grade the third bullet under "support meaningful ways to recognize..." as
high importance and the other three as low importance.
Authors Interpretation
The vast majority of the comments relate to either the land disposition strategy or the
development of excellence in teaching. The other topics received little support or dialogue. There
is a strong and clear message that parents want to see good teachers rewarded, encouraged and
given the tools to do their jobs well. There is an equally strong message that parents want the
school district to find ways to hold poor teachers accountable. Performance reviews are
advocated both as an accountability tool but also as a mechanism to help good teachers become
better (the way most other professionals use them).
Most parents do not support the sale of land. A very small minority do. There is reasonable
support for using vacant land for revenue although this is still controversial. Parents want to see
nice clean schools with good working environments but do not necessarily connect this with new
buildings. The new buildings are seen as lacking key attributes that support a complete education.
Question # 6 Provide leadership in environmental education and sustainability practices
Go a l 5 - Pro v id e le a d e rs hip in e nv iro nme nta l e d uc a tio n a nd s us ta ina b ility

p ra c tic e s
Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices 3.65
Integrate environmental education and sustainability into

3.67
the curriculum
Transform the North Vancouver Outdoor School into a

Centre of Excellence for environmental education and 3.59
stewardship
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Survey Data
Category Score 3.59 ranked 5th
Sample comments:
● Aren't we already integrating environmental education and sustainability into the

curriculum?
● At what cost to other issues would need to be addressed - yes ideal - but.
● Continue to embrace the positive learning that arises for all NV students who visit
Outdoor School. This is a gem to our district and provided lifelong memories for all
North Shore students.
● Focus on teaching and learning and good ACADEMIC programs for our students. Of
course environmentalism is important, but look at the waste produced in schools, and the
lack of cleaning and hygiene. Please focus on the learning conditions for students and the
need for them to have strong skills to compete in the future job markets.
● Physical education is a higher priority for students and N.V. community than the outdoor
school focused on environmental education
Author’s Interpretation
This goal was ranked 5th overall and all three objectives received relatively low scores. While
there are some passionate advocates for a strong environmental aspect to the school district most
parents want to see a focus on quality education in all areas not just this one. Parents were mixed
in their opinions of sustainability curriculum but think the district should at least be sustainable in
its practices. From the comments, it appears parents agree the outdoor school is a wonderful place
but many question its value as a strategic priority relative to other education needs. Most already
believe that outdoor school is a center of excellence and want to see that continue. There is
general sentiment that it does not need a transformation.
Question # 7 Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations

Go a l 6 - Stre ng the n a nd e xp a nd re c ip ro c a l c o mmunity re la tio ns
Work with our municipal partners, other school districts and

service agencies to benefit our students and the broader 3.59
community
Enhance reciprocal communications with the broad community

3.40
through media and the application of technology
Provide seamless transition for students to careers and post-

4.20
secondary opportunities
Develop schools as community services hubs for the mutual

3.73
benefit of children, families and residents of North Vancouver
1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00
Survey Data
Score 3.35 Ranked Last (6th place)
Sample Comments:
● Jeeze, just use plain language and people will start to trust you again.
● Again, focus the limited resources on education and learning in the schools -- that's what
we're paying taxes for! Too many outreach, technology or "seamless" programs divert
resources and attention from the fundamentals of learning!
● Coordinated services are important. Too complicated for parents to know and access all
the resources that are out there. I understand teachers are filling the parent role in many
cases but I'm not sure making them a hub is the answer. Could distract from their main
responsibility which is to educate children. Not sure it is the role of the schools.
● Given the number of families with 2 working parents, school use should be expanded to
included before/after school care. The placement of the Strong Start program at Boundary
Elementary is a great example of utilizing the school for a community purpose. Years
ago the Church was the center of the community, now we build our communities around
malls, our goal should be to shift this focus to include the schools. Consider the fact that
our residential communities are only as healthy as the schools around them: families with
young children will often select the neighborhood to live in based on its proximity to a
good school.
● Lets focus on our schools being a place to teach kids vs. community services hubs.
This high level goal was ranked lowest. Many parents see the value of good community relations
as a strategy but not an end goal. The most important rated sub objective was to see a good
transition for their kids into careers and they want to see better relationships with organizations
that can help this (universities trade schools, industry etc..). The overall parent sentiment is for
the school to be a good school before any effort should be placed on making schools into
community hubs. There is however a general belief that such hubs would be a good thing. There
were however very mixed and bipolar views on schools as community hubs. Some love it; some
think it will distract the district from its core job. This category also produced the most positive
set of comments in terms of tangible suggestions and the reader is encouraged to read them in
detail.
Part II - NVPAC workshop

On February 17, 2011 at their monthly GM, the NVPAC hosted a workshop to gather feedback
on the School District #44 10-Year Strategic Plan. Prior to this meeting, the NVPAC posted a
survey to the parents asking them to rate the importance of each of the high level goals and the
associated draft objectives. Based on preliminary survey results, we chose to discuss in detail four
specific goals that were rated as high importance:
1. Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster employee engagement and
pride in the School District.
2. Expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched curriculum.
3. Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning.
4. A combination of: Provide seamless transition for students to careers and post-
secondary opportunities; AND Expand and enhance career program opportunities for
students.
The attendees at the GM were given a short primer on strategic planning, KPIs, and how to make
SMART goals. This primer is included as an Appendix. Four Sub teams were formed to enable a
detailed discussion of the 4 high importance topics.
1. Discuss how we could measure progress in each area. Try to define Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will be relevant to us as parents. Discuss what
an appropriate rate of progress and target level of Achievement would be.
2. Propose a specific (SMART) version of the objective that would satisfy (even
please) the parent community.
Discussion Results
Item # 1 - Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster employee engagement and pride
in the School District.
The group assigned to this item divided it into two parts:

Attract and retain exceptional staff:
● Training for Administrators to foster School Spirit; ensure retention; and attract the
best educators.
● Find mechanisms for the best teachers to become mentors for student teachers.
● Identify and recruit from the top universities.
● Provide incentives for educators to take the best and most appropriate training. (form
of incentive was not discussed but was intended to apply for more than just large
scale training like masters degrees)
Engagement and pride:
● PAC activities to appreciate and celebrate

● KPI some type of PAC based Poll
● Possibility of NVPAC awards fro teaching excellence
Item # 2 - Expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched curriculum.
This high level goal was chosen for discussion because the two sub-goals provided did not seem
to fit with parent expectations and were rated with low scores. The top-level goal however was
rated as the most important.
The group discussed KPIs for the implementation of the strategy to use the Instructional Institute
to disseminate best practices. These were listed as:
● Percent of teachers certified

● Number of II trainers certified
The group also examined KPIs for the overall availability of best instructional practice and
determined that a survey of parents, students and teachers in which they assess student
engagement and satisfaction would be best, but that all three perspectives were needed. This
survey would need to be done on an annual basis to get a meaningful measure of improvement.
The group then discussed what were the elements that defined an enriched curriculum:
1. Challenge (different for each student)

2. Diversity
3. Relevant to students.
4. Interconnected (with other elements of the curriculum)
A possible KPI in this area is for the school to report the number of specific enrichment events
that took place at the school.
The group then discussed that many parent don’t understand how rich the curriculum is and that
there would be value in giving the teachers the opportunity to explain how they have provided a
rich experience. This would make is possible to assess this element in a parent survey.
A specific goal for curriculum enrichment could then be to: “Improve the satisfaction score on a
Teacher, Parent, Student survey by 10% year over year”
The group also proposed a goal on instructional Practice: “100% of schools and more than TBD
% of teachers report the implementation of a specific list of best practices generated by education
professionals; AND that TBD % of teachers felt that they are supported properly in implementing
these practices (e.g. confidence, training, budget, time etc…) “
Item # 3 Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning.
The group discussed two main type of personalized learning: The variety of choices in program
available and any kind of special learning style, talent, need etc….
Possible Measures
● Greater flexibility on part of teachers

● Actual # of new programs
● #Students enrolled
● Some level of subjective satisfaction (survey)
● Transition to post programs
Possible Strategies
● Self Direction in regular class

● Need budget
● Specialized Staff
● Specific professional development training
Overall Assessment: we have a lot of program variety already; AFK, NVOS, Literacy
Centre, Many individual teachers, band and Strings, French Immersion, IB etc….
Item # 4 Provide seamless transition for students to careers and post-secondary opportunities *
AND * Expand and enhance career program opportunities for students.
This goal was chosen as a combination as the two related items scored very high in their
respective categories and seemed to be closely related.
This group started out by discussing possible strategies:
● Standardize a cohort Counselor model across the district

● Explore ways of integrating a stronger careers focus in secondary school
Planning (10, 11, and 12) courses
● Encourage the development of student and family driven academic/vocational
paths.
● Explore connections to fine art programs and services that have a career focus.
(e.g. SASS – The School Alliance of Student Songwriters organization –
teaching songwriting workshops in school settings, but also providing linkages
and excursions to studios to build career connections)
● Increase support of entrepreneurship
● Have career fairs/career days
● Improve access to real life careers ed opportunities
● Strengthen career explorations program
● Attract and retain dedicated career counselors at secondary level supported by a
centralized model (specialists)
Proposed KPIs
● Number of students accepted into apprenticeship, university trade schools etc…

(multiple career paths)
● Track and measure number of “touch points” meaning direct connections
between industry and students in a given year.
● # of scholarships
● # of career placements in a given year within career exploration programs
Additional Objective to consider:
● Develop and implement an entrepreneurship program

● Develop and implement a reciprocal partnership program with local industry, Gov’t etc…
Facilitator Summary
Based on the energy and passion behind the discussion, the four proposed elements were clearly
important topics for the parents present. The groups struggled quite a bit with the concept of
measurement and in many cases felt that the measurement and the specific strategies needed to
come from education professionals. They did however want the district to measure and quantify
progress against these objectives. It was also clear from the discussion that the parents in the
community want to contribute directly to the tactics and strategies that they think will work in our
community. Much of the discussion was focused on immediate things that could be done to make
improvement in the areas discussed.
Appendix A
Powerpoint from Workshop
Strategic Plan
NVPAC Workshop
1)
Strategic Planning Process

1. Know where you are and where 5. Explore Strategic Options
you have been • Cross functional Senior Experts
– Dashboard Needed
– Achievement Reports • 4 points of view ($, People, Process,
Customer)
– Experience of Stakeholders
2. Define where you want to be 6. Drill Down into Possible
– Ideal future “Paint a picture”
Tactics/Goals
• Specialist experts needed today
– Dream big
• Be SMART
– Be SMaRt
• Make a Map
3. Understand your reality
– SWOT analysis ( Strengths,
7. Chose the Tactics/Goals
Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) • Be selective
Pre
– Be honest and frank with yourself and • Objective Filter
Survey
each other • Buy-in!!!!
– Know your values 8. Deploy Tactics/Goals
4. Define Objectives • Monitor Progress
– Not too many!!!! ( 3 or 4) • Reward Success/ Help where needed
– Top Down and Bottom Up. 9. Assess Results
– SMART 5. Were Tactical goals met?
6. Was there a positive impact on High
Level Goals?
2)
10.
3) Survey Summary
Top Themes In Comments

( I have only processed High level Goals So far)
• Goals are too lofty

• Goals are vague
• Goal are in confusing language
• Missing something about students who need
extra help.
• Disenchantment with process/history
4)
Top 5
High Level Individual Category
Goal Detailed Goal As Provided Score Score Product Ranks
Support local development of enhanced curriculum and assessment methods to
3.88 4.52
3 support the learner and learner engagement 17.5 1
2 Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning 4.21 4.05 17.1 2
Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster employee engagement and
4.25 3.95
5 pride in the School District 16.8 3
Provide quality in-service and professional development opportunities for staff
3.66 4.52
3 through the continuation of the Instructional Intelligence Institute 16.5 4
2 Strengthen a sense of belonging and connection for all learners 4.01 4.05 16.2 5
4 Expand and enhance career program opportunities for students 4.09 3.91 16.0 6
Increase the awareness of program opportunities available to students throughout
3.84 3.91
4 the School District 15.0 7
Develop and implement a comprehensive human resource program to optimize
3.78 3.95
5 the potential for staff members to support student learning 14.9 8
Provide seamless transition for students to careers and post-secondary
4.19 3.34
7 opportunities 14.0 9
6 Integrate environmental education and sustainability into the curriculum 3.66 3.59 13.1 10
Develop schools as community services hubs for the mutual benefit of children,
3.73 3.34
7 families and residents of North Vancouver 12.5 11
5)
Today’s Task
• Drill down into 4 or 5 selected objective and propose ways to make them better.
• We will use the same standard we apply in the School Planning ( SPC) process.
• Each Objective needs to be S.M.A.R.T

– Specific, Measureable, Achievable Relevant and Timebound
• Given the survey results we are assuming that the objectives under discussion are
relevant.
• We will break into 3 to 5 table groups. Each group will discuss 1 objective and:
1. Discuss how we could measure progress in each area. Try to define Key Performance Indicators
( KPIs) that will be relevant to us as parents. (M)
2. Discuss what an appropriate rate of progress and target level of Achievement would be. ( T&A)
3. Propose a specific version of the objective that would satisfy ( even please) the parent
community. ( S)
6)
Key Performance Indicators

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is an industry jargon term for a type of Measurement used to guide an
organization towards a goal.
Paraphrasing Wikipedia
– KPIs are commonly used by an organization to evaluate its success or the success of a particular activity.
– Sometimes success is defined in terms of making progress toward s a goals or success is simply the repeated achievement of some existing
capabiltiy.
• Quantitative indicators which can be presented as a number.
• Practical indicators that interface with existing company processes.
• Directional indicators specifying whether an organization is getting better or not.
– KPIs are most commonly defined in a way that is understandable, meaningful, and measurable.
– They must be largely controllable by the organizations or individuals responsible.
• It is best to chose KPIs that are as directly related to what the organization defines as success but this is
not always possible. Do the best you can.
• In our case how would we as parents assess the success of the goals?
• They should not be inputs to the process ( example: How much money we spend of Special Education)
• It is OK if it takes work to make the measurement but should be in reasonable proportion to the effort
spent trying to acheive the goal.
• Should not be “High Stakes” where success is measures on a small or narrow sample. It is best if the KPI
integrates lots of diverse data. Perhaps more than 1 is needed to achieve this.
7)
A SMART Test
Specific
1. Does the goal have a quantified level of achievement at which we can
celebrate success?
2. Can each individual in the organization understand what success looks like
for them and can they understand how their actions contribute to the
goal?
Measureable
1. Is there a way we can determine if we are making progress against this
goal?
Types of measures
1. Direct Quantity: A direct measure of success:
– E.g.. Total Annual Sales, Frequency of Failures
2. Indirect Quantity: Use a quantity which is expected to correlate with success
– E.g. 6 year graduation rates, % Post secondary registrations.
3. Qualitative Evidence: Observations or Anecdotal data, Perceptions
– Survey results, Focus Groups, Expert Interviews or reports
8)
A SMART Test
Achievable
1. Often a matter of Judgment.
2. Do most people involved in doing the work believe that if we work hard we can reach the target
in the time we have? With the resources we have?
3. Do other organization achieve our target and can we be better than them? How?
4. Are we aiming to low? Will our stakeholders be happy when we hit the target?
Relevant
1. Does achieving this goal make our organization successful?
2. Is it a “Management Fad” to have such a goal?
3. Do our customers and owners want us to pursue this goal?
4. Would it be the first to go if we had to cut spending? Is it a need to have or a nice to have?
Timebound
1. Is it clear when we need to reach the goal?
2. Do we have checkpoints along the way?
3. Are they in time to help us make changes to our approach if we are off track?
4. What happens if we are late? Who will it impact and how?
5. Are we being aggressive enough? To aggressive?
9)
Objective Filter Maturity Plot
1. Criticality Technology Limit
• The criticality is the relative importance of
Improvement
making a tactical improvement Opportunity
• Combined effect on ALL objectives
Status
2. Remaining Opportunity
• How much improvement remains to be
made along each technology path?
• How much effort will need to be made?
Effort
3. If a tactical path is fully mature we reach the
“Natural Limit” and further improvement will
require a “breakthrough” or the exploitation of Value Plot
a different path.
4. You should chose the High Value tactics A B

• Rate High on Both Criticality Scale and
Criticality
Opportunity Scale. (B)
• These should change each year because
as we get better, the value of the tactic
gets less. C D
• BUT we may still need to keep parts of it
to avoid slipping back
3 Opportunity
10)
Appendix B
Mike Sexsmith’s Opinion Piece
As a management professional in technology development I have participated in many different

strategic planning exercises. I have experienced many of the common pitfalls that occur when
organizations do such work. Several of these pitfalls appear in the proposed goals and I wish to
point out three of the key ones.
Most of these high-level goals and objectives fail to meet the SMART test (see workshop
Powerpoint) and as a result it is very difficult to link specific actions to them. Organizations often
are afraid of SMART goals because either they fear accountability or they do not feel empowered
to do what it takes to reach them. I’ve observed evidence of both in this school district.
Accountability is not something to be feared, it is in fact something most successful people
choose to take on and it is accountability that allows you to reach out to harness the power to
make change happen. Accountability however requires assessment and, as all educators know,
good quality assessment is hard work. We need to create an environment where everyone feels
accountable to meeting the goals. This needs to start at the top and it may take years before it can
be flowed down through the whole organization. One key tool that can help with both
accountability and the improvement of all personnel is a formal performance review and
development plan process.
The second key pitfall is a lack of focus. Strategic planning is mostly about deciding which of the
many good things that you could do, you will do. Most large organizations can only focus on a few
objectives at a time. This large goal set has no focus. Many organizations are overconfident in their
ability to move forward and often set too many objectives and as a result fail on all of them. It is
clear from the parent feedback that the parents want the quality and richness of the education
experience to improve and they want this to happen by making it possible for each student to have a
personal learning experience with a high quality teacher. This should be the source of all goals.
The third key pitfall seen in these goals is a lack of customer presence. This is seen in several
ways in these goals. The language of the goals is not fully understood by the customer
representatives. In addition, the objectives appear to be derived from organizational hubris and a
desire to continue the methods and practices already in use. It is just fine to use your strengths to
move towards your objectives but many of the proposed objectives are actually tactics. They are
thus inputs and not outputs. These goals need to be entirely re-written into a form that states what
the outcomes of the educational experience will be for the students. Strengthening the
Instructional Institute may be a good tactic but it is not a student outcome.
These pitfalls are very common and thus no-one should feel bad that the team has fallen prey to
them but to help the strategic planners in the district avoid these and other pitfalls I have created a
rubric (yes, I had to look that up!) that the team could use to test the plan.
Category Below Approaching Good Excellent

Expectations Expectations
Operating -The plan ignores -The plan has -There are specific -The true root causes
Processes bottlenecks and elements to process improvements of past performance
gaps in internal improve basic planned in all gaps have been
processes. business processes. departments that link examined across the
-The plan has no -Process directly to the high entire organization
specific actions to improvements are level goals. and a comprehensive
adjust processes to only loosely tied to -A SWOT or similar tactical plan exists to
enable goal high-level goals. analysis has been eliminate them.
achievement. -Only the directly completed on
affected operational processes
departments were
considered
People And Skills -The plan requires -The plan addresses -The plan has specific -The plan not only
people in the general resource or elements to improve achieves the goals
organization to skill gaps in the skills needed but broadens and
perform things directly affected -The plan allows strengthens skills of
they are not departments. sufficient resources to the whole
trained to do. -The plan relies too be available during the organization for
-The plan requires much on key learning period and future challenges.
unreasonable experts or allows time for experts -Everyone in the
effort to achieve specialists. “Burn to mentor their peers organization puts
the goals. No plan out” is likely. and replacements. their passion and
exists to deploy -Many people in -Most people in the energy into
appropriate the organization do organization can link achieving the plan
staffing levels. not understand how their every day because they see
-Many people in they contribute to activities to achieving how it helps them
the organization the plan but accept the goals. and the organization.
do not understand that it is good.
the plan.
Financing Plan -The plan would -The plan has -The finance plan is -There is a clear
need to be elements to redirect directly linked to the linkage between
changed some resources to other elements of the each goal in the plan
dramatically if the the directly plan. and the available
funding changed. affected -The plan clearly resources.
-The plan does not departments. indicates the response -A thorough and
address the -The plan is based of the organization recurring bottom-up
resource on realistic should funding analysis of the plan
redeployments expectations for change. is linked to a
needed. future funding and -Funding priorities are responsive finance
is robust to small clear on an ongoing plan to ensure
changes. basis. optimal flow of
resources to needed
areas.
Customer Focus -The plan is based -The customer -The plan is based on -The plan includes
largely on needs needs were a good understanding elements to
perceived by included in the plan of how the continuously
internal experts. development. organization needs to improve
-The plan is driven -The customer may change (or stay the understanding of
by internal loosely understand same) to meet well customer needs and
politics, inertia how the plan would understood customer to respond to
and hubris. benefit them. needs. changes.
-Thorough and -The plan causes the
meaningful whole organization
consultation with to be oriented
customers occurred around the customer.
during the generation
of the plan.
Appendix C Survey data summary
High Level Goals
The DRAFT Objectives of the 10-Year Strategic Plan are grouped into the six high-level Goals listed
below. Using the scale provided, please rate the relative importance of each high-level Goal from
your own perspective.
1 2 3 4 5
1- 2- 3- 5-
4 - High Dispersio
Lowest Low Average Highest Don't Rating Respons
Answer Options Importa Import Importan
Importan
Importan Know Average e Count
n (St.
ce Dev)
nce ance ce ce
Encourage the growth of collaborative
15 28 180 450 340 42 4.06 1055
and adaptive learning environments 0.869
Expand the availability of best
instructional practices and enriched 12 5 62 308 640 28 4.52 1055
curriculum 0.735
Develop and promote innovative and
17 39 229 446 296 28 3.94 1055
sustainable programs 0.900
Nurture an inspiring and healthy
23 26 230 450 303 23 3.95 1055
workplace 0.904
Provide leadership in environmental
37 74 340 398 181 25 3.59 1055
education and sustainability practices 0.976
Strengthen and expand reciprocal
36 113 441 286 124 55 3.35 1055
community relations 0.958
Comments on the High Level Goals 208
answered question 1055
skipped question 0
Question 2: Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments

3- 5-
1- 4-
0 - Not 2 - Low Averag Highes Rating
Lowest High Don't Response Dispersion
Answer Options Import
ant
Import
Import
ance
e
Import
Import
t
Import
Know
Averag
e
Count (St. Dev)
ance ance
ance ance
Strengthen a sense of belonging and

8 10 30 177 402 308 16 4.01 951 0.939
connection for all learners
Provide increased opportunities for 4 6 31 135 333 427 15 4.21 951 0.903
personalized learning
Enhance opportunities for collaboration
among all educators (professional 14 10 63 335 368 138 23 3.56 951 0.962
learning community)
Comments (Please suggest any missing Objectives that would support this high level
110
Goal)
skipped question 104
Question 3: Expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched curriculum
3- 5-
1- 2- 4-
0 - Not Averag Highes Rating Respo
Lowest Low High Don't Dispersion (St.
ant
Import Import
e
Import
Import
t
Import
Know
Averag
e
nse
Count
Dev)
ance ance ance
ance ance
Provide quality in-service and

professional development
opportunities for staff through the 13 19 40 247 373 158 71 3.67 921 1.00
continuation of the Instructional
Intelligence Institute
Support local development of
enhanced curriculum and assessment
8 11 28 207 355 226 86 3.88 921 0.95
methods to support the learner and
learner engagement
105
Goal)
Question 4: Develop and promote innovative and sustainable programs
3- 5-
1- 2- 4-
ant
Import Import
e
Import
Import
t
Import
Know
Averag
e
nse
Count
Dev)
ance ance ance
ance ance
Continue to strengthen and expand

school district Academy programs to 13 8 52 245 314 197 51 3.72 880
provide equitable access for students 0.944
Expand course offerings provided
12 20 63 282 302 131 70 3.52 880
through Distributed Learning 0.896
Expand Fine and Performing Arts 11 12 35 252 327 232 11 3.80 880
program opportunities for students 0.957
Explore the expansion of the
International Baccalaureate 25 30 78 269 252 189 37 3.49 880
Programme to provide increased and
equitable access 0.957
Expand and enhance career program 7 10 22 146 351 330 14 4.09 880
opportunities for students 0.957
Increase the awareness of program
opportunities available to students 7 12 36 217 375 219 14 3.85 880
throughout the School District 0.957
114
Goal)
Question 5: Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace
3- 5-
1- 2- 4-
ant
Import Import
e
Import
Import
t
Import
Know
Averag
e
nse
Count
Dev)
ance ance ance
ance ance
Develop and implement a

comprehensive human resource
program to optimize the potential for 12 7 24 251 354 192 24 3.79 864 0.944
staff members to support student
learning
Attract, recruit and retain exceptional
staff and foster employee
7 6 10 106 335 389 11 4.25 864 0.896
engagement and pride in the School
District
Support meaningful ways to
recognize the value and contributions
10 15 46 272 349 156 16 3.65 864 0.957
of our students, staff, and community
partners
Develop modern, attractive and
efficient facilities that enhance the
learning and teaching environment, 11 13 40 243 349 196 12 3.75 864 0.957
improve health and safety conditions,
and provide a welcoming appearance
Continue the implementation of the
strategic plan for the retention and 19 37 74 324 243 94 73 3.29 864 0.957
disposition of land
117
Goal)
Question 6 Provide leadership in environmental education and sustainability practices

3- 5-
1- 2- 4-
ant
Import Import
e
Import
Import
t
Import
Know
Averag
e
nse
Count
Dev)
ance ance ance
ance ance
Transform the North Vancouver

Outdoor School into a Centre of 25 19 67 253 257 203 31 3.59 855 0.944
Excellence for environmental
education and stewardship
Integrate environmental education 13 19 53 248 329 183 10 3.67 855 0.896
and sustainability into the curriculum
Integrate sustainability as a priority in
13 13 53 260 341 162 13 3.65 855 0.957
all business practices
92
Goal)
Question 7: Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations
3- 5-
1- 2- 4-
ant
Import Import
e
Import
Import
t
Import
Know
Averag
e
nse
Count
Dev)
ance ance ance
ance ance
Develop schools as community

services hubs for the mutual benefit of 9 14 54 244 317 202 13 3.73 853 0.944
children, families and residents of
North Vancouver
Provide seamless transition for
students to careers and post- 3 3 17 131 335 352 12 4.20 853 0.896
secondary opportunities
Enhance reciprocal communications
with the broad community through 9 20 82 348 261 111 22 3.40 853 0.957
media and the application of
technology
Work with our municipal partners,
other school districts and service
6 18 47 308 320 135 19 3.59 853 0.957
agencies to benefit our students and
the broader community
74
Goal)
Consolidated data in Rank Order

Goal All Goals and Objectives - Sorted by Rating Rating Average Response Count Agreement (St.
Dev)
0.2 Expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched curriculum 4.52 1055 0.735
4 Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster employee engagement and pride in the School District 4.25 864 0.871
1 Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning 4.21 951 0.903
6 Provide seamless transition for students to careers and post-secondary opportunities 4.20 853 0.840
3 Expand and enhance career program opportunities for students 4.09 880 0.936
0.1 Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments 4.06 1055 0.869
1 Strengthen a sense of belonging and connection for all learners 4.01 951 0.939
0.4 Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace 3.95 1055 0.904
0.3 Develop and promote innovative and sustainable programs 3.94 1055 0.900
2 Support local development of enhanced curriculum and assessment methods to support the learner and learner 3.88 921 0.954
engagement
3 Increase the awareness of program opportunities available to students throughout the School District 3.85 880 0.949
3 Expand Fine and Performing Arts program opportunities for students 3.80 880 1.004
4 Develop and implement a comprehensive human resource program to optimize the potential for staff members to 3.79 864 0.950
support student learning
4 Develop modern, attractive and efficient facilities that enhance the learning and teaching environment, improve health 3.75 864 0.994
and safety conditions, and provide a welcoming appearance
6 Develop schools as community services hubs for the mutual benefit of children, families and residents of North 3.73 853 1.018
Vancouver
3 Continue to strengthen and expand school district Academy programs to provide equitable access for students 3.72 880 1.023
2 Provide quality in-service and professional development opportunities for staff through the continuation of the 3.67 921 1.002
Instructional Intelligence Institute
5 Integrate environmental education and sustainability into the curriculum 3.67 855 1.049
4 Support meaningful ways to recognize the value and contributions of our students, staff, and community partners 3.65 864 0.975
5 Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices 3.65 855 1.009
0.5 Provide leadership in environmental education and sustainability practices 3.59 1055 0.976
6 Work with our municipal partners, other school districts and service agencies to benefit our students and the broader 3.59 853 0.947
community
5 Transform the North Vancouver Outdoor School into a Centre of Excellence for environmental education and 3.59 855 1.184
stewardship
1 Enhance opportunities for collaboration among all educators (professional learning community) 3.56 951 0.962
3 Expand course offerings provided through Distributed Learning 3.52 880 1.027
3 Explore the expansion of the International Baccalaureate Programme to provide increased and equitable access 3.49 880 1.206
6 Enhance reciprocal communications with the broad community through media and the application of technology 3.40 853 0.990
0.6 Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations 3.35 1055 0.958
4 Continue the implementation of the strategic plan for the retention and disposition of land 3.29 864 1.095
Appendix D Survey Comment Summary
Please note that these comments have not been edited and are reprinted exactly as written. No
Attempt has been made to correct typos and other errors. Many of the views expressed may not
be nice, politically correct or popular but they are the views expressed but the parent surveyed.
Comments on High Level Goals
"Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations" means what? This is a very confusing statement
A lot has to be done for the community relation in younger adults. They are a bit lost in the time between high school and
college/ university!!
Adaptive learning environments are key to our children's success - this one could have used a bit more explanation on
who/what we are collaborating with. enriched curriculum across the board, not just in one academic area.
All of the above are far too vague to be able to give an accurate response.
All of these "ideas" are broad and have no definition. There is no where for me to go to find out what you mean by any of
these stated programs. I can not put an informed decision down here based on the very poor description you are providing.
This seems like another " face value" survey to which you will add your own actual plans to later and then present as ....
but we did ask ! Give me something that has facts and details and I will then provide you with my answers.
all of these are important
All of these items are important to ensure the students become productive contributing members of society once they have
passed through the school system
All seem very important
Alternative models of education must be available to students who require special needs and or have an advanced or slower
mode of learning
Although goals 1, 4 and 5 are important, in terms of priorities, it is essential that energy, money and support are first
directed toward improving instructional practice and creating effective and responsive classrooms. If only a limited number
of goals can be met, student support and learning must take a front seat.
Are you serious? encourage growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments? expand reciprocal community
relations? Can you tell me how your management would change if I indicated that these goals are of average importance
versus highest importance? The language is so unclear that whatever reults you get will be meaningless. And what
about nurturing an inspiring and healthy wokplace. Why would you even ask if I support that. I would hope a low score
would not drive you to actievly create an unhealthy workplace.
Bottom line, believe we need to provide a great alternative to the regular school system, for which, some of our children do
not seem to fit into. They should be able to reach similar academic achievements through a different environment that they
feel they are being successful in, with encouragement for future college/job prospects, which must be promoted and
nurtured.
By adaptive learning, I strongly support this IF it means to find new ways for a child to successfully achieve the curriculum
WITHOUT feeling like the odd one out - that they are opting in, not rejected from the more standard learning methods.
Giving a child two paths to choose from to reach the same PLO as their peer while still staying in the same classroom
together. Sustainability needs to go deeply into the roots of our community, not just pay homage to a fluorescent light bulb
with so much mercury in it that breaking one creates a bio-hazard.
children learn at all levels and differently and should be able to learn at their comfort level .Special needs should be
included. All of this means that we should have adaptive learning environments for all children.
Choices and options that are realistic and sustainable are always a positive, I'm disappointed at the lack of extra curricular
activities at the High School level, sports seem to be the most frequent option, and the community already has a rich
resource in terms of sports organizations to provide this outlet, more academic, and interest group clubs would help
augment these goals
c'mon guys, you need to explain what the heck these are. This is such consultant gibberish. How can anyone respond
intelligently. Why wouldnt everyone want their cake and eat it too. Where are the tradeoffs?
Collaborative and adaptive learning environments for who - the educators or the students?
Commendable as these goals are, they appear to be esoteric in nature and don't seem to have much connection to teaching
my children math, science, history, etc.
Difficult to rate without understanding the complete picture or whatr exactly these mean.
Each goal is important for our children to grow
Elementary schools should strengthen their ability to teach math beginning in Kindergarten and following through all the
way to grade seven. Teachers should be held accountable for their math teaching skills and there should be consistency
through every grade. If students have a teacher who is weak in math of less interested in math students suffer in the long
term.
encouragin to have a firendly and posetive school enviroment
Encouraging all intelligences are nurtured in respectful ways ie:emotional intelligence
Enriched community should mean enriched education
enriched curriculum is of particular importance to me, and other parents I know (e.g., more access to IB programs;
improved identification and programs for above-average or gifted learners)
Environmental Ed. and sustainability practices are post-secondary goals. The curriculum is tight enough on ABC's, 123's
and NVSD44 must meet those goals first. We lose too many high school kids to W.Van innovative programs. Why not
academy here?
Even as a teacher I don't know what you mean by each of the goals listed above. I can only guess at their meaning and
context. Depending on the what is really meant, they could all be very worthy goals.
Excellent goals, would have liked to see something about providing on-site after school programs for families with two
working parents.
Excellent Goals.
Focus on educational fundamentals, not saving the planet from itself! Be sure our children know how to read and
communicate as well as understand and be able to work with math & statistics.
Focus on points of strength or talents that some students have? or you can call it as talent development program.
Focus should be on good quality instruction to engage learners and specific remediation for those who are not making good
progress. Need school leadership that encourages teachers to be engaged and excited about what they do. Seek out best
practice and strategies for all struggling learners that is evidence based; keep expectations high for every learner.
Goal 1: Instruction and Curriculum Having come from another country, I am often dissappointed in the quality of
education offered here. I believe that a country like Canada could improve on the curriculum and instructional practices. I
find that the teachers that my children have had (4 years of instruction) do not know my children, this is reflected in
feedback to us, in reports that conflict with professional reports - like those from educational psychologists. The number of
non-instructional days is astounding: PD days, supervision (ie. reading own book all day) in other classes whilst teacher
goes off with the rest of split class on outing. Goal 2: Community within the School body As a working parent I am
deeply concerned that there is a BIG gap between the time that adults are expected to get to work (8am) and when school
starts and children are allowed to enter the building. For many of us, finances, lack of family supports, difficulty as
outsiders making friends who can help and support us, mean that our children are unsupervised before and after school.
This to me is the biggest breakdown in community relations - how the school system does not support the parents in this
basic way. When this has been brought up by parents at PAC meetings, it is not supported by the school or the Canadian
parents at the meeting. Most of whom either don't work or have extensive support networks. (I volunteered at the school
for 2 years and still don't have any real friends - Canadian locals, including staff are happy to see us foreigners working at
school, but do not attempt to embrace us in the community) This attitude means that parents stay away from PAC
meetings which are often a cosy pat on the back for a few parents and staff who impose their view on all parents. Meetings
are one way - being talked AT - not collaborative.
Goals 2 and 6 should be more clear. By "inspiring and healthy workplace" I hope this means a healthy workplace for the
students as well as staff. The most important goals to me are quality of education for all children not just the "average"
child and to finally stop bullying once and for all in all our schools. In order to achieve these goals class sizes must reduce
and class size is either missing or burried - send the Province a message and adopt a goal to reduce class sizes.
Hard to know what some of these mean. E.g. "Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations".
healthy workplace also means a safe workplace!!!
Healthy Workplace leads to better morale and support which directly impacts students and thus serves furthering the
following: Learning environments and quality instructional practices impact ability to attain high academic standards and
staff/parent encouragement for new and sustaining programs. CLASSROOMS FIRST
High Level Goals should be framed and defined in terms of results, rather than processes. For example, the Goal should
not be to "expand the availability of best instructional practices" but rather to ensure that our children receive the highest
quality instruction and improve their readiness for high school / university as applicable. Best instructional practices is
only one way to encourage that Goal is obtained. Similarly, the Goal should not be to "nurture an inspiring and healthy
workplace" but rather to obtain the best quality instructors for our schools by ensuring that they are engaged and
challenged in their job and find their work rewarding and stimulating. Nurturing an inspiring and healthy workplace is just
one of the ways in which we can obtain the best instructors for our children, which should be the actual Goal.
I am all for innovative programs but don't think it is important to focus on developing them in our district.
I am hoping the "collaborative and adaptive learning" includes both the students and teachers and not just a one way street
situation.
I am not sure how we will measure when we have achieved these goals? I understand the concept of long term goals, but
believable that they can still have measurable features to them.
I am not sure what the High level goal is......innovative - how? New styles of teaching, learning?
I am unsure of what a reciprocal communit relation is
I believe that if children have a strong beginning and roots, they will successed more through out their life
I believe that relationships between schools, children/families and teachers is a priority and feel that an atmosphere of
community reciprocity is of up most importance. As well, instructional practices and curriculum need to be led by a strong
leadership that continually re-evaluates and reassesses it's philosophy of education. A shift in teaching paradigms needs to
happen in order to educate children to become creative thinkers and problem solvers of the future. (Schools must move
from the goal of normalization, rather become pedagogies of listeners and creators.)
I believe the high level goals should be focused on creating and maintaining adaptable and sustainable innovative programs
with the goal of providing our learners with the tools to acheive their highest potential in any area.
I believe the primary strategic goals should be centered on children and their learning - curriculum, and best practices. As
a neighbour of Ridgeway school, I know that the School Board needs to work on its community relations in the way of
consulting and informing the larger community about results and activities. In working with some NVSD staff, I have seen
the disconnect between the neighbours, City staff, businesses and the greater community.
I belive students should be singing the national anthem every morning before school starts. I wish you could incorporate
this in the six high-level goals.
I bellieve these are strong and valuable long term goals, but I am much more concerned with the emphasis on today and
working with leadership programs NOW, definately not seeing it.
I don't know what "Strengther & expand reciprocal community relations" means.
I don't understand "Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments"; sounds like nonsense.
I don't understand the specifics of the options. What would each option look like if 'high importance' compared to 'low
importance'?
I don't understand what reciprocal community relations means
I feel in the elememtary school level the most important goal is to make our kids feel safe,happy, excited about school,
nurtured and motivated to have the confidence to go forward to secondary and post secondary education so they can make
good choices that will allow them to succeed and have good self esteem. I do not feel this is a top priority in our school
anyways.
I feel like I don't have enough background to answer the questions properly. It all seems important?
I feel that an inspiring and healthy workplace will help teachers remain energetic and excited about teaching which helps
our children! Of course availability of best instructional practices and enriched curriculum can help teachers stay on top of
the game when they are so busy and may not have time to research it themselves.
I feel that sustainability, partnerships and innovative programming (including upgrading for teachers in these areas) will
serve our community and children over the next 10 years.
I find it hard to understand in a tangible way what is really meant by these high level goals - I would suspect a lot of peopls
say they are all of fairly high importance as they are all positive traits to instill in our kids.
I find these objectives to be too vague. Examples of how you would see them implemented would make it easier to rate
them individually and against each other.
I find this survey too ambiguous “ for example what does each of the goals look like. For the author(s) of this survey
expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched curriculum might mean more enriched programs for
some students or is that innovative programs for all students? “ I think the present model is based still too heavily on a
factory, institutional type of system that does encourage creative critical thinking for the most part & still functions on an
evaluation system that looks for right and wrong answers, paying more attention to correct spelling than to creative ideas “
although there is much talk given to learning outcomes and personal educational plans when it comes down to it the
evaluations in particular and the teaching often does not reflect this model. Some things can be implemented with less
funding required like "strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations' - so again the survey is hard to answer - if I
check off high importance for this I would not be suggesting that I think that this is a high funding priority, but it could be
interpreted as such! Develop innovative and sustainable program’s - who wouldn’t want sustainable programs? I get that it
is more to do with priorities but what reasonable, responsible parent or educator would even suggest bringing in a program
that wasn’t sustainable - seems like a strange proposition. As far as “innovated programs“ again it would seem obvious that
we should always be stretching our programs to be up-to-date with the most innovative approaches “ new doesn’t
necessarily mean better but if we are not growing in our abilities to educate our young with the growing times, they may
miss the boat. Also how can you expect to provide any kind of healthy learning environment if you do not put “nurture an
inspiring and healthy workplace” as a top priority (no I am not a teacher in the district) but if we cannot model respect,
dignity and a collaborative spirit, how can we teach that to our young people. Which brings me to my last point that in this
age of “kumon” and getting the edge on knowing facts, we should be stressing equal if not more importance on emotional
intelligence and social interaction “ which seems to be missing from the survey, suggesting that it is not of importance to
the author(s) of this survey, and I suggest that it should be.
I have answered the above questions but can only guess at what they actually mean. For the average parent you need to
explain the terminology. What exactly are "best instructional practices" and "collaborative and adaptive learning
environments"? I can only guess at what "reciprocal community relations" involves. You should consider explaining the
six high-level goals in plain language prior to asking for a rating. My answers might be different if I were clearer on the
substance of these goals. Consequently, I have only rated two goals as being of high importance. Average importance was
my default answer.
i have no idea what you are talking about, very difficult if not intimately involved in education to understand what these
obviously large vague draft objectives mean.
I have worked my whole life in fields that are now called sustainability, and I am pleased to see this be a part of the
curriculum. However, the primary mandate of our schools remains to teach students to think critically and creatively and
with compassion. Only when they can do that can they contribute to a healthy community. I prefer the emphasis to remain
on good teaching. We can't do it all.
I just became a new member of Eastview Elementery School and I don't have any idea about it
I like the link to "environmental and sustainability practises" as we prepare our students for a potential career in the "green
collar workforce". This is an initiative that the higher education sector is becoming closely involved in.
I presume inspiring and healthy workplace means for students as well as teachers. If this is the aspirational goal, the rest
fall into place naturally.
I realize these are meant to be high level goals but I don't find them meaningful. I have no idea what number six actually
means. I have my guesses but my interpretation can be 180 degrees from what is actually intended. What I really care
about is a healthy and safe environment for my child. Is this what you mean by number 4? I also don't know what is meant
by enrichment. I would like the school to be able to provide a uniform for my child's sport team but does that count as
enrichment. My concern about these high level goals as stated above is that the basic have been over looked and the above
goals are focused more on change a diversion from the basic school functions to something that will just cost most money.
Maybe reference to sustainability in number 3 means continued affordability but this is unclear to me as to what is meant in
the goal. Does sustainability refer to economics or environmental? In number 2 above there is an implied message that best
instructional practices and enriched curriculum are being followed in some places and not others but I am not sure what the
baseline standard is from which to judge. The above goals would be better understood if they stated the standard that
should be established versus the improvement of a standard that is not know.
I really think it's time to look at the overall experience that an average student is getting from their school. Are they
learning using the best resources possible? Does each student have access to an up-to-date textbook? Are the areas such as
band getting too expensive for the average family? Will library provide enrichment rather than a simple book exchange?
Are children being exposed to a variety of information and concepts so they can develop a passion that will help direct
them later in life? Sometimes too much time is spent widening the realm of what teachers are teaching (ex. sustainable
environments, etc...) rather than teaching concepts that will further enhance a student's ability to carry on after high school
so they can lead a happy, productive life! Unfortunately, many students are leaving high school without a passion or an
interest and therefore don't even know what direction or job they'd like to pursue. To me, this is a real issue that needs to be
addressed!
I think here in North Vancouver it is rather distressing that the cost of living here has increased so much that it is forcing
many families to move out of the area. As a result, the 'numbers' show lower enrollment rates and other costly problems
for the schools. I don't know why these 'high level goals' don't include things from a parent's perspective such as on-site
before or after school care options, or better hot lunch programs in schools.. I know it all boils down to the money, and I
think it's sad that many parents are not supported like they used to be or as other schools do, to ensure their children are
able to be supported in other ways as well as their basic education.. Parents of primary school children are forced to
arrange care or pickups/dropoffs for their children, they have to provide lunches but are not able to send a simple peanut
butter sandwich anymore.. There is not enough teacher support for kindergarteners, or for their supervision and safety now
that all day kindergarten is in.. It's frustrating because we know all the teachers, aides, supervisors and principals have their
hands tied by finanical strings and it's not their fault, but it feels like those with money are winning the little wars on
schooling and education while those of us working 2 jobs are running around every extra Pro-D day trying to find someone
to watch our children..
I think if you are going to go about this by setting goals the goals need to be SMART. These ae not specific enough are
difficult to measure and difficult to understand. Very academic, no teeth and nothing that sounds like it would have
significant returns.
I think it's difficult to offer an educated opinion on these just because I'm guessing at what some of them really mean! And
I am fairly knowledgeable, English-fluent, and intelligent. I think this is going to give a somewhat biased result in that
many will not bother trying to answer and those that do will be even more challenged than I by the exercise because they
don't really understand the choices. These Goals need further clarification - some examples - to make it easier to offer an
opinion. Perhaps later in the survey I will understand them better but at this point I'm really just guessing what it all means.
I think teachers in BC are spoiled and the attention needs to return to the students and their education.
I think the staff of teachers needs to be more educated on how to teach our children new technology and computer
programming, robotics, and video media with art on computers. I find that there really isn't a good mix of young teachers
with this knowledge into the base we have of experienced teachers. The kids should get exposure to things which will help
them in the workplace someday.
I think these goals totally depend on your child and your needs from your school. I feel the focus at my school is on ESL
and catching kids up where as my son needs a challenge. He is bored and there seem to be no resources for him because he
is only in grade two.
I would be better able to comment if I better understood these goals.
I would like to see much more on special needs children at a strategic level. Currently they are falling through the cracks.
I would like to see one or two main objectives identified - provide all children in the District with the best education
possible at a fiscally responsible price. All children should be encouraged to develop their own special talents, and
provided support in areas they are less skilled at.
I would like to see something about encouraging and supporting staff to do the best job possible. And monitoring them to
make sure they do it!
I would love to see a school system that looks at each child individually and helps the students that require more help to
learn within smaller groups or with different methods, so that these bright individuals can reach their full potential.
Outside the box is not wrong!
I would love to see the teachers bring to school an attitude towards their students of fun, open and innovative teaching. I
truly believe that the school needs a review of all teachers and needs to bring on some new, young and innovative blood
before a lot of families look at alternative schools. Why are there no male teachers?
I'd like the outcome of the goals to ensure that all existing schools remain open, efficient and valuable components of the
community in which they are located.
I'm hearing negative things about the new Principal at Dorothy Lynas - and this is VERY disturbing. Why was the previous
principle removed? Why fix what was not broken?
I'm not clear on the first goal....In my opinion (based on my children's experiences) our classroom environments are highly
collabortive and adaptive. I do have concernes, however, that the administrators themsevles, outside of day to day learning
environments, the BOARD, are extremely weak in "collaborative and adaptive" and are not adapting at all - which reflects
in the loss of North Van school age kids to neighbouring, saavy, adaptive, West Van (the marketing machine).
I'm not clear on the meaning of first one and the others are all of equal importance to me.
I'm not sure how to rate these goals because I do not understand what it means. Is there further information that can
explain these?
I'm not sure what the first Goal means.
In my opinion, you don't really have any high level goals. I believe that the role of PACs should be to provide resources,
programs and events that enhance the children's school experience. Too often, time and money is spent on things that the
teachers want, to enhance the teacher's experience and only a residual effect on the students.
In order to make the most of this survey, it would be helpful to have a description of what exactly is meant by these goals
and how they are envisioned at this stage to be implemented. It is very difficult to comment properly at the moment since
it is unclear what is meant / intended by these. While the additional objectives information that follows gives some sense
of this, many of the objectives points are not well explained and lack clarity. Answers here and that follow are provided in
this context.
Increase the number of IB schools all levels.
innovation for its own sake is not important....I don't see effectiveness as a key component. Most critical factor is the
quality of teachers/teaching.....where is this captured? It is unacceptable for poor teachers who are not interested in
teaching to be allowed to continue to be employed - I see nothing happening to address this.
Instruction in academic areas should be a priority. Sometimes I think there is too much "fluff" and not enough emphasis on
reading, writing and math skills, particularly at the elementary level. If we can send our elementary students into high
school with strong math and literacy skills, research shows that they will succeed in all of the subject areas. Have you
looked into calculating how much of the school day is not spent with students working on prescribed learning outcomes?
A focus on challenging students to excel in academics would draw more families back out of the private school system.
It is hard to comment on these when they are so high level and the intended outcomes for each statement is not clear (i.e.
what does "innovative and sustainable programs" or "collaborative and adaptive learning environments" mean?). You
should have articulated what the intended outcome of each statement before asking someone to provide feedback/input.
To those who have been developing the strategy this may be very clear, however to those who are seeing this for the first
time it seems like a bunch of positive fluffy words that are meaningless.
It is imperative to children to have an environment which fosters a strong sense of self. To have a sense of personal power
and to discover how to find the answers to their own questions. Also, to experience how groups of people working
together can create more than they imagined on their own. We are entering an entirely different world now which the old
system does not suffice. Also, mindfulness training, researched and supported by UBC, would be an integral asset to
developing strong, healthy, self regulating individuals who are fortified to dealing with life's stresses and will be less prone
to illness as they mature.
It is important to change with the times and be creative and innovative in the way we teach our children. We need to be
adding more computer technology to our classrooms and increase the physical activity. Two totally different issues but
one goes with the flow of the times and the other with the physical health of our kids now which will eventually become
the burden of our health care system financially in the future.
It is not clear what some of them mean, such as #2 and #3. Also, I started this assuming that the student was at the center
of the objectives. These do not read like that.
it is pretty hard to know what some of these actually mean in terms of real action, at this level. "collaborative and adaptive
learning practices"? What's the difference between "sustainable programs" and "sustainability practices"? I'm pretty sure I
know (ie: the first is a developing programs the school board can afford, the latter is an environment initiative), but the
point is the could be clearer.
It might have been better to provide additional information. For example, does the first goal only relate to the teachers'
workplace? What exactly is entailed in "collaborative and adaptive learning environments?"
It needs to be about the kids learning and the styles that fit...for all learning styles.
It would be more helpful for future surveys, to expand on what these goals mean . Alot of "lofty" terms but not sure what
the goals entail.
it would help to have explanations below each goal ("Such as...") to further explain what each goal would entail...without
knowing what the goals would mean in reality it is difficult to rate them.
Large gap between Schools/Boards and Parents. We need to get back to teaching children and learning new ways of doing
it. - The old way is no longer working for the new generation of children.
Learning evironments are currently overcrowded and filty. Most schools do not even have a daytime custodian. Lighting
and fresh air access is horrendous.
Lots of buzzwords, but no guidance as to what these exactly mean.
Maybe consideration should be given to noting that these goals need to support students at all levels whether an A student,
or a struggling C- student. I would like to see something specific about a curriculum to pull struggling students up - not an
easier program, but assistance to keep up with peers.
Missing is the goal that every child is encouraged to excel and aspire to reach the next level in their learning.
More emphasis on collaborative efforts/joint activities between the English and French programs at dual track schools.
More focus on interschool sporting activities at lower age levels.
More should be done to motivate and inspire all students, learning will come more easily after that. Similarly more focus
should be on providing a community connection and creating a positive learning environment that is respectful.
More specific details needed on some of these goals??
Most important is to promote more individual work & effort, in the context of group work - constantly see some students
doing the bulk of the work in group projects (at all levels even university!).
Most of these "high-level goals" sound like a bunch of feel-good gobbledy-gook churned out by bureaucrats - sorry, but
"recipriocal community relations" - what does that even mean? Just teach our children please.
Much of the online learning is not as closely and regularly monitored at this point in time. Also, assessment feedback does
not seem to be as timely and regular as it can be; perhaps staffing needs to be increased of better assessment models need
to be put into place.
Must expand programs of choice to compete with the West Van School District. Teachers do not like being laid off due to
decreasing enrolment. You problem is not the lack of students but more families choosing outside of the North Van School
District - private or West Van.
My husband and I believe that leadership in environmental ed. and sustainable practices is of the outmost importance
because of the finite resources of the planet, becasue we have been, as humanity, mismanaging the world's resources, and
because we want our children, their children and their children's children to inherit a world that can sustain them
Need to focus on instruction and learning - that's what school is supposed to do - TEACH
No mention has been made to maintain smaller class sizes to help ensure that children are acknowledged as individuals.
None of the goals identify the integration of technology into instructional practices and hope that developing and
promoting innovative programs and collaborative learning environments involves more technology use for the students and
educators.
Not a clue what "strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations" means
not much to say, they all are important.
Not sure at all at what is intended by the first high level goal. This goal as written is vague.
NVSD (in particular, Lynnmour Elementary) needs to learn to implement an adaptive learning environment. Right now,
students are placed into categories as early as Grade 1. If you are a high-energy child, you are a problem student; if you are
a shy child, you are a problem student; and so it goes. Once you are slotted into a category, the teachers will treat you
according to your categorization. Lynnmour needs to learn how to work with children as individuals.
Offer more choice for specialized programs for high school students in academics, arts, and sport.
Over all schools provide very POOR leadership roles in terms of environment and sustainability. I'd like to see more of a
focus on this throughout the school district.
Overall these strategic objectives appear to rather fluffy and light.... Potential suggestions; 1. Leverage technology to
accelerate education 2. Add 5 new after school athletic programs 3. Educate PAC members on fund raising activities to
enable after school programs
Parents are teaching and doing most of the heavy lifting, while schools are spending too much time engaged in activities
formerly the domain of a parent. What has happened here? The hard stuff (the 3 r's) come home for parents and children
to tackle at the end of the day when both are tired and not at their best. I have chosen "best instructional practices" as the
highest importance but I am fully aware that this could mean jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire (spiral aproach
to math anyone?). You turn B students into C students. Don't take credit for A students. They are either naturally gifted
or working hard outside the classroom to overcome your deficiencies in teaching. Please show some courage and tackle
this.
Please keep the focus on core learning skills...all these things around environmental educaction, whilel important are best
handled at home. Learning, and supporting the learning environment is our goal, anything that does not support that is
dilutive. Please stay out of politics.
Provide more technical programs such as the programs Carson Graham used to offer! Not every child is academically
inclined.
Provision of a range of programs that meet the diverse needs of students is essential to keeping students in our district.
Provision of adequate supports to ensure equitable opportunity for success for students of all learning abilities.
Public schools are about developing the best, inclusive programs for all learners. I believe North Vancouver needs to
develop interesting, dynamic programs of choice that will draw students from across the North Shore to this District.
quality and variety of programs available is most important for helping students be aware of what is available in the outside
world after high school
Quality of instruction and curriculum the #1 priority
Simpler wording would make easing these surveys easier.
Smaller classes / more teachers. Hands on and out of desk learning. Separate girls and boys based on learning styles.
Definitely teaching environmental sustainability. Social responsibility. Encouraging, and nurturing emotions, especially in
boys.
Some goals are too abstract
Sometimes highlevel can be hard to interpret as to what it means in daily life. Most of these are very important and hard to
disagree with but does it mean that everything can fall into one of these categories - then everything will be important. I
just went to the next page and understand some of the goals better - would have been helpful to have the description before
you rated them.
Stop closing schools and fracturing neighbourhoods. Leave the smaller schools open. They are more desirable as
numerous studies have shown and West Van obviously knows. Leave the only middle school alone. All other districts are
moving TOWARD middle schools not away. It is very disappointing to see how the School Board has ruined this school
district despite all the business and community help they have received. I guess the best way to improve the district would
be to sack all the backward thinking cronies and get some people with intelligence and foresight in the driver's seat.
Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations - need more information - with whom and for what benefit ?
strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations - with the increased use of social media, perhaps more community
outreach would be adventageous for supporting communication skills.
Suggest that instead of offering several options, to ask what the community wants from the public school system, and then
generating potential strategic goals from that needs assessment.
Suggested high level goal: increase accountability of teaching staff, adapt curriculum to support the needs of the future.
Survey responded at our best. However, additional information is required to support the goals.
Sustainability should be an embedded item in all subjects and not separated
Sustainable programming implies learning from the past and thinking ahead - very important. Create a workplace that
attracts the best teachers and keeps them! If our educational institutions don't teach environmental responsibility, who
will? Certainly not the media, which seems to rule youth culture.
sustainable programs and environmental education is extremely important for the future. We should educate our children
about the importance of living a sustainable life, so we can all keep enjoying the beauty around us.
Teaching standards not always very high and do not always meet individual needs of children. Can this be addressed within
context of collective agreement?
That which has been most evident in our short eight years in the North Shore school environment is the lack of appropriate
instructional practices for kids who are not auditory sequential learners. Research indicates that between 30% and 40% of
all students and as high as 50% of male students are visual spatial learners and a significant proportion are also kinesthetic
learners but these are not acommodated.
The 5th goal "Dvlp & promote innovative and sustainable programs" is rather vague. What is meant by "sustainable" in
this context? Do you mean "able to continue with the program:" or does it refer to "sustainability " which references
environmental and social stewardship?
The above goals reflect the best practices emerging in university education at both undergraduate and graduate levels of
education. Argyle is behind the times.
The best education possible is the highest importance for me
The environment of a class room for learning is of utmost importance for children to be able to learn. Inspired minds will
find new ways to solve problems. And life is all about solving problems.
The goal should be to put NVSD 44 as a desired and recognized education enviroment. To have students from other
districts desire the need to attend our schools for education as well as athletics. Each school should have an important focus
that would attract and expand the needs and goals of as many dedicated students as possible.
The High level goals should include evaluation levels for teachers and performance/compensation levels for their
performance. There are some amazing teachers in our district and some that are much less than amazing. It is sad that a
high level goal does not recognize the work of the amazing and allows the less than stellar to continue to teach.
The highest goals for the district should be the education of the students that are put in their trust. My perspective on the
goals listed on the strategic plan is that they are of the highest importance if they are needed for the successful education of
our children.
The kids education and learning environment should always come first.
The main importance of the next generation is to be better at taking care of the planet. I find it extremely necessary to learn
out-of-the-box skills, curiosity and self-reliance. The next 20 years is going to be mainly about environmental issues, the
re-balancing of the male/female side of power, science and paradigms and the connection of intellectual ressources through
electronic media. We are at a point where we are connected via cellphones, social networks, knowledge bases etc - but also
to things we don't want to be part of or things we don't want to track us. The challenge will be to gain an increasing degree
of cooperation and connectedness, while maintaining integrity. The main tools in this will be self awareness, ability to
discern what information is reliable and awareness of the signals/information one releases to public domain.
The most important aspect of schooling is teaching the children. Please remember that they need to be taught the highest
level of education before sending them off to higher learning or the workforce.
The most important goal is to nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace for students because that is the foundation for all
successful endeavours.
The need for children to feel comfortable, safe and want to succeed - important for self esteem and nuturing children
(especially boys) to reach their full potential.
the outdoor school is a fantastic example of what makes this school district so special so i like the environmental education
goal very much. I also think we should keep developing great academies.
The school district should work more closely within the community and stop isolating itself otherwise the school district
will become redundant. Also truthfulness to the taxpayers should be for most in your minds.
The strategic plan should include initiatives to ensure high levels of performance by teachers - seeing as they have 2.5
months off every year, they need to be focused and work hard and care during the 9 months. This means performance
managing of the mediocre and low performing teachers - which includes termination. This makes the biggest difference
and should be #1 on the strategic plan.
The wording is lovely but it's very difficult to understand how each of these areas will translate into practice within our
schools, especially with the first two goals; these seem vague to me but I couldn't say they are not important.
Environmental stewardship should be a definite goal in a 'natural' place like North Vancouver.
There are no current 'school' teams at Keith Lynn. Teenagers would benefit from sports such as basketball, track and field,
wrestling etc where they can challenge and compete for themselves and as a member of a school. Throwing a ball into a
hoop is not the same as a team working and competing together towards a goal. This promotes pride in themselves and
helps integration with others and acceptance from the outside mainstream youth. In adddition it would be great to have a
couple of extra curricular programs for students being prepared for consolidation. If a track and field program was set up,
being able to compete with other regional schools, even the simple act of wearing the team shirt would help the integration
of these students. They would already have 'friends' or heroes they could associate with. Alternate schools have a large
number of children with difficulties and fewer opportunities for excellence or achievement, this opens up another
opportunity for them.
There must be more comunication between schools and schools districts.
There should not be growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments - get more than three people collaborating
and time is out the window - collaborating is for long thinks and less production. There is less ownership working in
groups - less focus on the learning individual, and less accountability. We are facing cutbacks in basic elementary
necessary building block courses and are wanting to enrich, etc - how do you do that? Adaptive learning environments
should be present at all times.
These are "motherhood and apple pie" points. There is no significant difference between points 2, 3 and 4. This is not a
genuine attempt to gather public input; rather, it appears to be another of SD44's cynical, specious attempts to gather vague,
irrelevant data that can be construed to justify any future Board decisions. If the Board wishes to enjoy public support it
should not patronize those it serves with fluffy, leading, half-hearted attempts at gathering public input.
These are all admirable goals and no one would ever argue there importance. The key issue is what specific programs are
you considering which support these ideals? If there are no specifics then these ideals become lost in a nebulous, mishmash
of idealogy.
These are all goals worthy of the highest importance rating. They are very broad and far-reaching, hence open to various
interpretations. It is difficult to rate them without knowing what the specific impacts would be.
these are all process statements and are not measurable. I can support the second one...the rest are all but meaningless.
These are pretty vague goals.
These are very vague and it is hard to know what they mean
These are way too 'high level' to give a clear indication of what goals are important to me. I would hope that we do them
all! As a teacher I have a bit of an idea what you are talking about but the average parent has no idea what "growth of
collaborative and adaptive learning environment" looks like. Ah, when I go into the next page, it explains it better. So why
have this page first and confuse the heck out of everyone?
These goals appear to me to be more about process. I feel the school board should be focused on outcomes at this high
level. For example, "Ensure graduates are properly equipped to enter the workforce". None of these goals actually fit what
I would define as "Strategic Goals". they will lead to interesting programs where the ultimate direction is unclear.
These goals are all well and good but i personally feel that focusing on the basics would serve all stakeholders better, in my
opinion improving the quality of teaching, ensuring that each school has a dedicatd gym teacher to provide vital physical
education and making sure everyone has a text book and ensuring that children can attend schools in their area should be at
the top of the list before we get this complicated would be the way to go.
These goals have a lot of buzz words, could be more plainly stated to ensure that all have a common understanding.
These goals seem to be more focused on teachers than students? What about an inspiring and healthy learning
environment?
These terms are so vague. How will my child experience "sustainable programs" & "collaborative environment" ? How is
an enriched curriculum different from what is available now? How would you encourage teachers to used enriched
curriculum on a continual basis?
They all seem great ... do they all have to happen together or will you be looking to phase them in? Your comments want
me to say yes to it all but is that unrealistic?
This is a waste of your time, my time and the money that the school board has less and less to spend or actual education of
our children in and outside the classroom walls.
This is all written in pr bafflegab. Many of them cross over too much to tell them apart. What's the difference between
"collaborative and adaptive learning environments" and "best instructional practices and enriched curriculum"? In addition,
I'm guessing that they supposted to be listed sequentially - as in relative to each other - but this wasn't spelled out, and I
can't list them from one to six. (Maybe I'm being particularly stupid today, but this doesn't make much sense to me.)
This is the first time I've heard of the Strategic Planning process. While I was able to find the documents on the website, it
might be a good idea next time to provide a link.
This language is completely foreign to most parents! I am a university graduate and have virtually NO idea what the heck
you are asking in this question... Without some examples for each goal the question is useless...
To take both staff and students into account, I think Goal #1 would read better as 'Nurture an inspiring, enriching and
healthy place of learning and work'. I have scored these to the best of my ability but my main comment is that most of
these Goals sound great, but the broad language used means that I can interpret a number of the goals in a number of
different ways and as a result I'm not exactly sure what quite a few of the goals are really trying to achieve. For example: it
is not exactly clear to me what 'sustainable programs' means in Goal #2; I am not exactly sure what 'collaborative and
adaptive learning environments' in Goal #3 would look like - does this relate to teachers or students?; it is not exactly clear
to me what 'best instructional practices' means in Goal #5. Perhaps some of these answers will become clearer as I move
through the survey, but it currently won't allow me to do that.
To whom it may concern. The language in this survey is confusing for someone not familiar with these type of educational
activities. I have five children and four of them have either completed or are in the process of completing school. The
major problem with school is that there are very few opportunities for children to get outside and play. I am not impressed
with how the local environment is linked into school activities. For example, why can't a lesson on biology in elementary
school be linked to a visit to the woods or to the beach. Programs like TREK in Vancouver and equivalent programs in
N. Van. should not be limited to one year. The Canadian Government physical activity guidelines now suggest that
kids get a hour of physical activity a day. Schools should be responsible for helping to parents in meeting this guideline.
In boys regular physical activity has been shown to increase their attention spans. Rather than drugging them we should be
engaging them in regular exercise that is fun and links them to their environment.
Traditional models of 1 to 30 (prof to students) education must be revisited with tech savvy students in mind. Enhanced
learning opportunities are being lost.
Very broad goals, a few comments: - kids need to leave the school grounds with class at least once a week to see
something first hand - kids need more attention to their individual learning plans (math, creative, sports, etc.) - schools
need to interact with parents more (email, websites, blogs)
Very wordy descriptions. No real definition of what each value is. If the average person is unable to clearly understand
each "value" then results of this survey will be, well.... crap.
We are afecting to much the Earth, so enviromental education and sustainability practices are important for a better living
for the future generations.
We can't live day-to-day without sound environmental practices at the forefront. The time to, not just teach, but embed
such practices is from birth. It quite simply MUST become THE social norm.
We need to meet individual children's needs. We need to offer specialized programs like IB. We can see with the
enrolment increase in Capilano that IB is a definate need in this district. Let's capitalize on that.
We want the best for our children.
What about goals of achieving greater student engagement, greater student autonomy and decision-making?
what do you mean by sustainable? I think the number 1 goal should be the kids education.
What does any of this mean in plain English, and how much will it cost me?
What does Strengthen and Expand reciprocal community relations mean?
What does sustainability have to do with this? You have been caught up in the buzz, stop it! goals - what about long term
funding, ensuring the best and brightest of the teaching force be promoted and retained
Where are the fundamental goal of teaching the children the basics, show them how to learn and accquire new skills, stear
them towards curiosity and interest for continuous learning, and foster communication, teamwork and cooperation. I find
the goals in the draft plan rather abstract and very much secondary.
Which one of those goals improves my childs English or Math skills?
While I agree these are all lofty goals, I have no confidence in the NVSD's commitment to them... rather I see this
bureaucracy as continuing the same old top down method of learning where parents and students (and teachers) are kept in
the dark and the mandarins and politicos continue to make decisions and foist these on the populace and make token
attempts at consultation without paying any serious attention (or lip service at best) to the so-called High Level goals.
without any information on where the district stands on these areas today, what challenges these goals aim to address or
why these were selected over other potential goals it is very hard to assess their importance.
words with unclear meanings
'Workplace' directly as it relates to students, not teachers. 'Programs' that are aimed towards students, not teachers. Since
it is NVPAC asking the questions, please ensure all goals & programs are directed towards the students best interest.
workplace for children and teachers, the emphasis heavily on the children.
would like to see creativity encouraged in all these areas
Yikes. "innovative and sustainable programs" adaptive learning environments, reciprocal community relations.... Question:
Does ANYONE on the committee live in the REAL world? ... your goals should broad but must be focused and clear,
understandable... if you even THINK about using the word sustainable... Let me be clear... nobody reading these will have
a clue what they mean... please improve these. Focus: Facilities. Instruction. Curriculum. Money. Learning Outcomes. We
are trying to have kids compete in the world. You will not do this with this load of fuzzy words.
You have 6 points and only 5 categories...innovation and sustainability remains important as well
Comments on Question 2: Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive learning
environments
"Expand Tribes training to all schools" - What does TRIBES mean? Less focus on the First Nations; stop identifying
them by their ethnicity and treat them like regular people.
"Tribes" training is not a term I am familiar with and should have been explained.
Again as I've mentioned, the professional learning community has to stop isolating itself and recognize and work with the
community at large.
Again the language being used is vague and non descript. What are Tribes? What is and Ambassador toolkit? Where are
your plans to teach reading' writing and mathematics to our children. When are you going to resume the teaching of
grammar and spelling along with your English programs... What does increase parental engagement mean? I am already at
the school volunteering when I can, plus working. My husband and I are also on the PAC, volunteer for soccer and
baseball. Yet we still need to get our children tutoring to support basic learning that the provincial curriculum is not
providing. We do not need a hockey program we need an educational program.
Again...waste of time and money
Again: where is the focus on base-line academic skills. My child's teacher is not able to give me standardized assessments
that show where he is in relation to other children. Teachers' marking varies widely within schools and even more between
schools. A focus on baseline achievement indicators is completely lacking in the school district.
Allow for creativity
another objective you should add is "strengthen and enhance flexible career-focused programs for secondary students.
As long as "personalised learning" covers the basic needs of education it is a wonderful expansion of the regular system.
We just need to ensure students get what they need to graduate and go on to further education while allowing
someflexibility in the learning paths students take.
As stated in question 1, children need to be treated as individuals and not categorized or lumped together. What 15
children may understand in a brief one-sentence description may take 5 other children to learn in three sentences. Teachers
need to understand this important fact and be willing to teach the children according to their ability to understand.
As the parent of an out of the box kid ( I have two in the box as well) the current public school education system
completely failed to engage him. We looked to private schools but it was too late to get him to go and also they have their
own elitist issues. Unfortunately, both funding issues in the public school system and the complete lack of accountability
to stakeholders that remains in public schools - parents and the kids themselves, is a huge problem. As a college educator I
am evaluated by my students and program coordinator, as a nurse by my peers and manager. Public school teachers are the
last bastion of professionals who are basically unaccountable to those they serve - even doctors are now evaluated and their
conduct accessible to the public. The system only serves those who are able to conform and comply. Dissent is openly
discouraged and even censored. The efforts to engage pay only lip service to collaborating with community - for instance
parent teacher interviews are inadequate to meet the demand at Argyle and principals don't feel the need to actually
respond to written concerns.
at the grade school level individualized learning is inappropriate, all children need to have the same eduction until they
reach high school where they interests then can be nurtured - career path oriented education -
Belonging and connection should be balanced with diversity and individuality. Being a leader is better than being a
follower.
Clearly a sense of belonging is fundamental to any educational environment - it should not drop off the map, but when
resources are scarce, creating cooperative and enabled learners will still support the goal of belonging - these children will
believe they belong in the school because they are respected for their differences and given unique opportunities. Children
who feel welcomed by their learning method feel welcomed by their school, and then want others to share in the joy of
learning. Happy learning children have less time to worry about who isn't fitting in and being unwelcoming - EVERYONE
is unique and by extension, all are more warmly welcomed.
Collaboration Opportunities lends to teaching excellence and workplace morale which transfers to the CLASSROOMS.
Sense of belonging at early ages is crucial for any student to feel school education/graduation is not an option but a
necessity and outweighs any other hardships as a positive. Personalized learning in conjunction with parental engagement
should be available for those "at risk" to not graduate. Excellence and academic type programs however should be given
equal weight. Individual specialized needs cannot outweigh the "general population". Not sure what personalized learning
refers to: specific special needs students or all students. Families with needs appear to have more resources than parents of
average students or those "flying under the radar".
Define Tribes training?
Develop Courses and Staff to educate People with Disabilities
diverse range of courses is a nice thing to have, but the core needs to be strengthened. For example, it is good to learn to
work with a computer, but it is a skill that is easily learned, while basic math skills are much more difficult to learn and be
comfortable with - this also applies to difficult to learn/practice critical thinking skills
Do not need to create the wheel look what is working well in other school districts and see if we can incorporate into our
school - ie Look at West Van SD and share success/failure to try to improve both
Educators need to have more focus on education, not propoganda workshops that are relavent to very few students. Focus
should be placed on what is working not on what might work.
Enhanced opportunities, fine but no more pro de days for this purpose
Enhancing collaboration opportunities for educators is a grand idea, however, I think the strong educators are already
choosing to collaborate and share best practices. The weaker teachers are simply falling through the cracks and into their
protective union net. They repeatedly choose NOT to learn, develop, and enhance their abilities. (Yes, I have a specific
teacher in mind.) Don't professional days already follow this format -- attending workshops, sharing best practices, etc.?
As for the increased opportunities for personalized learning, I agree with some of your points, but not all.
Even now, education in public schools is still largely a "cookie cutter" experience. From what I've observed, very little is
implemented in the classroom to facilitate differenciated learning at the elementary level.
Every child should have an opportunity to receive an education and graduate from high school with their peers. The way
the current curriculuum is set out only those kids who can conform to the norm can graduate, others struggle with the
content with very little support from the schools. Please be mindful that all children learn differently. A self directed
package with answers on the blackboard is not education.
expand learning through internet community of schools
extra support for students who need it with social & emotional learning is a great priority
Finally some acknowledgemnt that not all the bright children shine in the current academic environment. Some requrie
parallel structures and accommodations (test anxiety, more verbal as opposed to written testing, longer time to take tests
etc).
financial education should be integrated into the school system, perhaps it would make the kids see more of a connection
between what they are learning in math and the real world.
Frankly, it seems to me that teachers should be able to do a lot of this stuff themselves. They're professionals. They surely
know how to learn. They can network on their own. Perhaps they should just be EXPECTED to do this kind of thing and
have to report on their related activities. I don't think the School Board should have to spoon feed them, using valuable
resources to do so.
Given these three objectives....why are you closing Windsor House. You should be highlighting it as an example of how
NVSB reaches these objectives in education.
glad to see this included - but implementing all of these on paper does not mean that it becomes a reality in a school - as
said there is already plans implemented for such things as personal educational plans and sense of belonging ... but one
workshop & a binder on a shelf does not make ideas into realities
help guide children through the learning process, stop trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole
Hold teachers accountable for the success of their students.
How can an average parent say anything abou this? - expand Tribes training: what is this? - extent social emotional
learning activities: what are these? - ambassador toolkit, 'comprehensive multi-year in-service calendar',... If you would
like to receive input, you would need to take into account that most of what you write, for most people, doesn't mean much,
if anything. These are all concepts that parents aren't familiar with.
I am struggling with understand the terminology, and how some of the child points tie to summary item. eg: * What is
"Tribes Training"? * "Standardized processes" seems incompatible with personalized learning. * I fully support "Expand
student leadership opportunities at the school and district level" but not other items.
I don't think there should be too many pathways to graduation - I think it would take too many resources and the learning at
all levels would be mediocre. Individual students who need more attention should get it, but too many programs is not the
way to go. In university or college, students won't have the option of personalized learning - they should all learn together
during their elementary and high school education unless there are disabilities or other extenuating circumstances that
require them to have more personalized attention.
I have a son in the IB program at Capiilano and I see the difference it makes when teachers work collaboratively and have
new opportunities for learning which they bring back to their classrooms. I also feel that we try to fit all learners into ine
box (i.e. teach to the lowest common denominator) - I would like to see us personalize learning through innovative
programs ((i.e. have parents with expertise (engineering, medicine) come into the classroom and teach how, for example,
the math skills the children are learning, fit into the work the parents are doing.
I have been experiencing how NVSD uses budget crunch hysteria to "rationalize" cuts to vibrant school programs and does
not listen to students and what they want. No confidence whatsoever that this will change.
I still don't know what the outcomes of this strategy are? What will you have achieved in 5 years by implementing these
strategies? How will you be measuring progress and success?
I tend to get the impression you go round and round with these plans all the time. But really this ends up just creating
meeting after meeting after meeting. I have had kids in the school system now for 19 years - and all this corporate language
never improved anything at all at the level of the learning student. They still struggle with students falling through the
cracks and you still have educators in the system that should never be in the schools. I have not seen any improvement in
educating our children, they still require a lot of help from home and all you cater to are the straight A kids - the rest of
them they are encouraged to take fewer courses, they are encouraged to get less education post secondary. My children
were constantly told they would never go to university etc. Instead of these questions - you should be asking very different
questions.
I think at this point we are learning enough about Aboriginal and Tribes training.
I think more individual time between teacher and students would be beneficial. Too often a systemic misunderstanding by
a student is not recognized during class or when homework is reviewed. Common mistakes in homework do not seem to be
sufficiently discussed.
I think this survey would have been better served if it provided a ranking system, ie assign points to what is most
important. Otherwise it becomes an all you can eat buffet instead of being a menu. We cannot have it all. If we all mark
"highest importance", it's meaningless. We need to focus on the few things that are truly doable as "highest importance"
and focus on those over the next 10 years. I also believe that teachers should do their own learning on mostly their own
time and not shut the classes down during the school year. A couple of summer weeks could be used for training.
I will assume that the educators are using best practices to identify the areas of focus. On first glance, I think that we are
being optimistic with the number of tactics that have been suggested.
I would expect that teachers do collaborate without allowing more teaching time to be taken up in collaboration.
I'd like to see the District strive higher and celebrate high performance more.
I'm a math tutor working in the Handsworth area. I think it's vital that math students be given the ability to investigate
those topics that are of interest and use them as a springboard to learn other math topics (ex. a student interested in
geometry could use the study of triangles to learn addition/perimeters, multiplication/area, trig, algebra, and so on.
I'm glad these are being addressed as they are ALL of high importance. I do hope something is implemented sooner rather
than later.
I'm not sure how you define "personalized" learning. One thing I notice is that there is a huge discrepency between
families that have greater resources (ie. to help their learner at home and with extra help etc. if needed) and those that dont.
Some parents in our community do not have the resources (financial, emotional or social) to be "engaged" and therefore I
see the level platform for public education needs to happen during school hours.
Incorporate into the curriculum not only a range of courses that would meet student interest, but also important
courses/topics that will inevitably be "put to the the test" once they graduate, like: - long-term financial planning/investing
- building and sustaining effective communication skills within a partner relationship
Increased support for autism awareness, integration, training and collaboration
Increasing parental engagement is one of the ways we can support more personalized learning and one-on-one time, which
is often needed.
Introduce community resource teams, that include both parents, teachers and support staff, to support students with IEPs
Is this survey for parents or professional educators? This is all too jargon-y. What the heck is a "sharing and touch back"
session?
It all sounds great - but what does it mean. There seem to be a lot of ideas / programs that have some deeper meaning or
need to be clarified/ defined before I can accurately comment on the above. Educators seem to spend a great deal of our
children's time in meetings and PD days - surely they are already geting ample time to collaborate with other educators.
It is difficult to rate these because I don't know what many of the terms you are using mean, for example, 'multi-year in-
service calendar', 'tribes', 'the second Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement'. I'm sure many other parents will
also not know what these mean, probably lowering the validity responses to this survey. My responses reflect what I
understand the meaning to be of the overall draft objective.
It is of the highest importance that the children attending NVSD be educated. The needs of individual students and group
learning are all part of the process of education.
It is vital that the "support staff" in a school are recognized as educators and are part of the process. It is not enough to
have the teachers following these plans, often first contact is with clerical/support staff and they need to be part of the
process.
It looks like the personalized learning section is directed to kids who are struggling in school. This once again leaves high
capability students left out. The most attractive schools on the north shore (Capilano, Westbay) are attracting the top
families not because they are known for alternate programs, Aboriginal enhancement, or multiple pathways to graduation.
In fact, although it's not politically correct to say so, these kinds of programs make parents of competent high achieving
students want to go elsewhere to avoid the kinds of kids who are often in these programs. Just being honest. Look to West
Van, many North Van kids are going there. What are their schools known for?
It would help to have the definitions of some of the programs referenced i.e. 'Tribes training', 'Welcoming Schools' 'Action
Research', 'Collegial Conferencing' etc.
Learning is already personalized as each child's parents are doing the teaching introducing different styles of instruction
and learning.
Learning needs to be tailored to individual students with different learning styles - this should be the focus rather than
getting too carried away with inclusiveness and celebrating diversity. There are quite a few pro-development days for the
teachers. These resources can be used better for collaborative efforts among educators.
Let's support teachers and give them the tools to be inclusive. Let's also know that students are more than capable of being
inclusive and supportive of each other at any age, but they often need to be taught how.
May children are still being bullied at school. Despite verbal objectives and missions written in school...no much is really
being done. Many children are unable to learn as they are threatened and feeling uncomfortable going to school. This is not
being addressed until it becomes a crisis. Children learn differently and many teachers teach differently. Additional
resources need to be applied to catch the children that are slipping through. This can not be done by a teacher with 29 kids
in their class...additional help is required.
My child learns differently, and for him/her to have as many opportunities to feel succesful and included is very important
My concern with the "belonging and connection for all learners" is that currently ESL and some highly special needs
students are monopolizing teacher and class time, even with classroom aids. This diminishes the learning rights of all
students, puts immense anxiety on the teacher and is actively reflected by the chaotic classes.
NV High schools are far too big. Other school districts employ middle schools with great success. Too many of our kids
are not connected to their schools and treated VERY poorly by their teachers. A few of my sons friends have dropped out
of school because of the way that they were treated at your large secondary schools...
Personalized learning is SO important- otherwise we don't ever get them any where near their potential.
Personalized learning is very important as all children learn different.
Personalized learning seems geared at children who have diffculties in the school system. Shouldn't there also be
personalized learning for kids who do very well and would benefit from advanced courses?
Programs that cater to Boys, physical learners...active learning as opposed to passive!
Promoting inclusion via. equal oppertunity and funding for programs, or famillies in need or low income. ie/strings is soo
expensive
Provide an alternative for the need of private tutoring at $30.00 per hour. LAC is not sufficient.
Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning: It seems we continually talk about Aboriginal Education
Enhancements, which definitely requires attention. However, there are other segments within the school population that
require attention this would be children with slight learning disabilities which are also at risk in our society. An example is
ADD/ADHA children; the US actually recognizes this disability providing additional support. However, our school system
in Canada totally ignores this group, as it ignores other disabilities, which I am less familiar with. This group is known to
fall through cracks as the learning disability is silent as opposed to obvious. I believe the teachers in the school system
lack the knowledge and education to handle children in this segment and perhaps "Enhanced Learning Opportunities"
mentioned above would include learning in this area. Continuing to ignore the needs within the group of children puts
them at risk feeling unworthy, under confident, unsupported by the school and teachers. There are many buckets that
require attention, but I continue to see the political agenda receiving attention first. After my personal experience I am not
convenient the school system has the correct processes in place for children hindered with slight learning disabilities. My
opinion is, the onion needs to be peeled back to expose what is not working; goals and objectives should be set to make
improvements or enhancement is this area which is far more reaching than concentration in a select group, culture or
nationality.
Regarding the personalized learning goal and the aim to "increase the capacity to provide a diverse range of courses to
meet student interest," a diverse language curriculum would be very welcome and, some might argue, very necessary to
ensure N. Vancouver students preparedness post-graduation. In particular, a Mandarin Chinese program would be
outstanding. Many schools in Vancouver and charter schools in the US have long included Mandarin as part of their
curriculum offering. Many, many more are leaping at the opportunity to include it. With China becoming the second
largest economic power in 2010, this would benefit our students immeasurably.
Regarding the second goal, It seems at high school the focus is on preparing students for University. More should be done
to prepare and guide the remaining 80% of the graduating students. I feel the first goal is a high priority but I do not
agree with most of the sample strategies. For example, we do not need to provide more leadership opportunities in high
school, the target audience is small and generally these are kids who will seek challenges elsewhere. More inclusive
activities such as recreational lunch time sports is much better way to strengthen a sense of belonging for all learners.
Research, innovation and best practices in developing personalized learning opportunities is top priority.
smaller classroom sizes!!
Speaking as a parent who has two children in the education system, I would say that whoever put this survey together is
somewhat removed from the parental community at large, I would challenge anyone to engage a parent in this type of a
conversation. Most parents I know are looking for a straightforward, hands on approach to education with a focus on the
basics, maths, english, science and physical education. Having read the above narrative I am at a loss to know how to
contribute to this survey- could we have not simpified the process? made it more user friendly, geared towards your
audience perhaps? I do work in a field where obtaining input is important in order to make decisions and this survey reads
to me very much like an insiders document - not something that the average parent can really understand - food for thought
perhaps?
Strengthen a sense of achievement and success for all students
Suggest providing more information about the draft objectives and short-term strategies. There's not enough information
here to assess what these mean.
Support services have been eroded to the point that teachers and professionals in support roles are frustrated and more and
more often recommending private services to families. At the core of supporting all learners, you have a significant
breakdown.
Support Workers must be included in this as well, they are educators also. Having them be included in training and
increasing thier hours to support colaboration and educating is very important.
Teachers need time to collaborate - action research, planning, working with SEA's, pro-d with release time, Teachers in
support rolese.g. Learning Support, Learning Assistance - need to have appropriate training, manageable caseloads and
supervision from district staff to ensure high quality service. Increase training for classroom teachers around diversity e.g
continue differentiated learning pro-d to build a true culture of iclusion of students with diverse needs.
The format above should have been used to expand on the 6 high level goals on previous screen
The opportunities for continued learning, research etc. are wonderful in a professional persons life but I think it would be
good to somehow measure the value of taking courses/workshops/undertaking research. One way of doing this is for
professional staff/school teams to formally 'share' their learnings after workshops/research and to provide indications of
how they plan to apply their learning in their professional setting.
The participation of tutors in the learning process often seems to be overlooked. It would be great to see that aspect be
more inclusive of tutors
The students don't connect as learners in school.
There appears to be an invisible but great gap for those students who are high achievers within our schools. We flag and
intervene for those children who may be strugglers (and so we should) and yet our high achievers are for the most part
invisible in their classrooms. There seems to be a feeling that because they are "meeting expectations" they are often not
considered. These kids are thirsty for more knowledge and capable of being enriched within their classroom. The attitude
of now that you have finished your work well and early have some "free" time is not a reward or acceptable. They need to
be nurtured in the same way that our strugglers are. If they need more than what the grade level offers it would seem to me
only logical to provide these students with the apprporiate curriculum for their ability- like we do for children in LAC.
There are so few resources for Gifted Learners - more roadblocks than opportunities, really. 2 hours once a week in a pull
out class doesn't support these learners on a day to day basis.
These are focused on being "fair" and "all things to all people". I'd prefer a program of study that ensures the average to
brightest students are given an opportunity to excel without being held back by the slower children [I realize this is not
politically correct, but that's the system I went through and it seemed to work 30 years ago]
These objectives and examples should have been given before I had to judge the higher level goals.
These statements are not very useful as they are not easily understood -- they are too vague!
This is difficult as your stated objectives sound great and yet in your effort to provide increased opportunities for
personalized learning the example of developing a consolidated alternate program is given. You closed the ONLY
program that offers a true opportunity for personalized learning to do this. How to support a great goal within a school
district that does the exact opposite of those stated goals?
This is the start of a slippery slope. Individual Learning Plans are of a concern to me.
This makes more sense.
To achieve any of the above noted objectives, need to ensure obtainable goals. Limit the amount of teachers sharing
private information of children's past years - children change from year to year - next year's teacher should make up own
opinion of child along with the best teaching style for the current year. Fairness should apply to all children not just the
one's whos parents are on the PAC and/ help out.
Umm.... How about you teach my children how to read and write and perform mathematics. Also please teach them
world geography and some basic unbiased political education woud be very useful for them. If you really wanted to
prepare my children for the real world, then you could educate them about the different religious systems and the
relationship between religion and politics. Also please teach them about the three basic scientific disciplines and how to
critically assess information that is presented to them without sufficient justification or information that is substantiated
with statistics. You can arrange "sharing and touch back sessions" if you like, but only if they support my children
learning what they need to understand the real world.
Using wording like "Tribes training" and "Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement" is not appropriate, as it is not
reasonable to expect people completing this survey will have a real understanding of what these terms mean. The
objectives should be defined in such a manner that they can more easily be understood, such as "Encourage education
which is inclusive of the specific edcuational needs of aboriginal Canadians, and is respectful and celebrates aboriginal
heritage, through implementation of... - and they add details like specific agreements or training styles, with a more
complete description of these. Similarly, the "ambassador toolkit" and "welcoming schools initiative" need to be
similarly framed and explained in terms of actual objectives.
We are facing a rapidly changing work environment. We are needing to do more with less. Personalized learning is far
more costly than group learning - what is the benefit? There are many Pro-D days, etc., opportunities for educator
collaboration - why more? Inclusion as a group - but with assistance for those with learning challenges should be
followed.
We can no longer provide a single program that meets all learners' needs. We need to be creative and adapt to the changing
times. Our schools need to keep up with the technology and the different styles of learning.
We think that continuing ed. is important for both faculty as well as the students as learning maintains excitment, interest
and increased awareness. Having a diverse learning environment hightens the value of each student no matter their ability.
What are 'social emotional activities'? Don't know what 'Tribes training' is... What are the current social responisibility
performance standards? Whats the purpose of an 'Ambassador toolkit' and what would it consist of? Student transitions
from what to where? More information is required for ALL of these matters before the average parent could possibly
provide any intelligent input...
What is a Tribe? Can you address bullying specifically? My child is harassed all the time and there are no real world
consequences for the bullies. Along with teaching "social responsibility", can "consequence of social irresponsibility" be
addressed? What is a Welcoming School? As for Professional Learning, start with the already allotted days teachers get
with Pro-D days. Make Professional Days transparent. Parents would be furious with some events planned - like
snowshoeing (which was cancelled this month due to poor weather). NVTA should report to the NPAC how this money is
spent.
what is Tribes training? don't use jargon or acronyms when talking to the public!
when talking about collaboration, what about collaboration amongst students or between families and the teachers.
when you feel a belonging/conncection you can work better and be happier at your job and will be present for the students
progress.
Why do you have these listed in a different order than how they are listed above?
Yikes it gets WORSE! Objective are written to be measured. Fuzzy objectives like "extend social emotional learning
activities: CANNOT be measured. Nothing on this page can be measured. You are wasting your time.
Comments on Question 3: Expand the availability of best instructional practices and enriched
curriculum
? Instructional Intelligence Institute? If this is a body that is being funded by the District so there is a centre for teacher
education? Can this not be sourced from some other provider? Continue the FSA's as a methodology in evaluating
curriculum coverage and identifying schools and teachers that are failing to adequately cover the curriculum. These schools
should then be monitored by the Province.
A way of reviewing teachers based on what the students have to report. This for all levels of instruction K-12
Access - with release time - to high quality pro d MUST be a priority for the district in order to keep teachers current and
working collaboratively towards common goals. Past successes such as Reading 44 show what can be accomplished when
initiatives are started with teachers and implemented systematically across the district.
Again, PAC should focus it's efforts on the students not the teachers.
Again, does the average parent know what an IEP is????
Again, see my comments for *2. I assume this will be an issue for the entire survey - unexplained jargon makes it very
hard to give valid feedback. It is very important that programs be tailored for individual learners, with more individual
support, much more than they are now.
again, some of the child items seem contradictory to the parent item: * support local development... seems in conflict with
'reporting to ministry performance standards'
Again, what is IEP, Rubric Central, etc. gibberish
All of this seems directed at administration and someone with a teaching background. As a professional outside of the
teaching arena this has very little importance to me, nor do I see its value to my children.
Although assessing each student is important, the box that the child must fit in must change. There are many boxes and I
don't feel that the assessment methods used reflect the childs full potential. However, professional development is
imperative so that problems can be detected properly, as there is so much variation inside each "box". Probably a lot to
ask. Understanding is most important though.
although i'm not a teacher, it seems that cutbacks have eroded their access to professional development, and this will have a
direct impact on the quality of education that our children receive, so I see this to be of highest importance.
Any professional development requirements of teachers should be made public online: what they need yearly and whether
that have completed it.
Are parents able to have input on assessments?
As a common parent, I have no idea what any of these Agreements, Plans, or Standards are.. How many parents know
what you mean when asked about the "Rubric Central"?? What does the IEP Central even mean?? How can a parent give
you an educated answer here?
As a parent I definitely want our educators to continue their professional development, however, this should not be done
during the regular school period as the number of PD days, holidays and vacation days is already very difficult to manage
in households where both parents work full time. Additional training opportunities should be provided in the summer.
As well as continuing to provide quality in-service and professional development, annual performance reviews should be
performed on the staff. There are many excellent teachers, but there are also a few that need to either pull up their socks or
retire!!!
Do not know what Rubric is
Don't know what Rubric Central, IEP Central or Report Central are, so can't comment on that.
Don't know what the first one means, don't know what an Instructional Intelligence Institute is.
ECE teachers must do this on their own time...so should the teachers in the school system...there are many opportunities to
educate oneself without this survey! waste of time and money
Enhanced? - it seems that the basics have been downgraded. How about focus on quality maintenance of the basic
universal core courses that are necessary for continuing on in life - with a view to prepare a child for continuing on in high
school and then post-secondary - whether it be trade focused or academic focus. People are needing to change careers
multiple times in their lifetime now. With globalization of the working world - supply and demand for any career work is
up and down. It is extremely shortsighted to hyperfocus at a young age - need to be versatile and get the basic building
blocks - work to find different ways for those with learning disabilities to pick up as much of these as possible. (eg. high
incidence ADHD/Dyslexia, etc., etc.) switch around teaching techniques - with different approaches - auditory, visual,
kinetic, etc. Prepare our children to have a more pleasant change from school to working when they are older.
Enough with Barrie Bennett already. Not enough local support ensured that this initiative was widely ignored after the first
workshops. Principals need to assume the role of leader and inspirer. They appear to be an uninspiring and unmotivating
group more in charge of liability issues than grass roots learning for the average range ablilitied student. Then time
provided for local, collegial planning would ensure opportunities for leader growth (teachers/principals). It seems many
principals have never been properly trained to work with motiviating human beings.
Ensuring that IEPs even for gifted students are created and followed in a timely manner. Both of my children (gifted) have
not been given an IEP for this year yet, and that means that neither have been given appropriate enhanced instruction.
With cuts to Vicky's program, we have had minimal support in this area
Focus needs to be on the students and their learning - not just metrics and other assessment methodologies and "flavour of
the month" initiatives
Focus on the kids more; less on programs, practices.
Get some more math training for elementary teachers - what I have seen is unacceptable and will have to be corrected in
higher grades. Better communication between Secondary and Elementary math programs and teachers. (kids go into
Secondary math with extremely different elementary experiences. For example, some kids have spent tons of time doing
geometry in Grade 7, which does little to prepare them for secondary algebra. Is this because their Grade 7 teacher likes
geometry, or because the learning expectations are unclear in how much time should be spent on each topic? The
elementary teachers need way more guidance in math, to get our kids ready for grade 8.
How about leverage technology to accelerate education - give teachers and students access to the tools required to leverage
learning through technology? Again, your objectives really aren't that measurable Make it simple and measurable
How about performance evaluation and recognition as is used in most industries.
I am an untrained teacher as are most parents. We are doing the teaching because you have defacto outsourced the heavy
lifting to us. The report card is an assessment of how well we have done. So not sure how professional development
opportunities will tackle the essential problem here.
I am not an educator so I cannot speak to these questions
I am not familiar with the Instructional Intelligence Institute
I am shocked to see how many "professional" days that teacher's already have. As long as they do not take more
instructional days so that my child is not out of class they can have all the development that they want. Prefer to have
teacher's during their 2 month's off in the summer.
I do not have enough information to give an accurate response to supporting local development ...
I do not understand this goal even after reading the above
I don't know what the Instructional Intelligence Institute is, but I am apprehensive about institutes and standard
measurements. Perhaps too much time is spent analyzing results and not enough in connecting with children and families.
I don't think the assessment methods for primary students should be to technical. This was a turn off for us in the U.S.
I don't understand this.
I have never heard of some of the things referred to in these objectives, so it's hard to assess their importance
I have no idea what this initiatives mean and am ill equipped to rank them. Again a customized approach to learning that
embraced technology is highest importance.
I support improved training for teachers, but this needs to be tied to improved performance in the classroom, anyone can
take a course but those skills need to be deployed in the classroom after all the goal of teacher education should ultimately
be to help the children learn more effectively
I taught at university and I cannot understand your second point. These are written very poorly.
I think adapting a tribes philosophy would be more collectively successful. I believe in voluntary participation and the right
to pass at any age or level. I would love to see a more post modern philosophy emerging, and less testing because how can
you get at the essence of a learner by testing and evaluating.
If professional development inservices are manadatory their might be some possibility to improve practice of some of the
teachers (My children have had a few excellent teachers and many no so good). Professionals have to have a desire to
improve and sadly many don't (again true of all professionals not wanting to single out teachers). There also needs to be
some evaluative process to ensure that what is provided in professional development is being implemented.
If the question in this section is 'Do I support the the FSA process' ? Yes!
If this means even more Pro D days, then forget it - I want the teachers in school teaching the children. As a professional
myself, continuing education is my problem and I satisfy my association's requirements on my own time.
In-service is no longer offered during school time due to the high cost of TOCs. Many teachers are unable to attend after
school and weekend in-service. In -service is an absolutely critical component to good quality teaching practice. Please
provide in-service DURING the school day in order to assure that the greatest number of teachers attend.
It would be a good idea to define the terms that are used in this questionnaire. Questions are nebulous and poorly worded.
It would be important to be consistent with the assessment methods so that all students can be assessed and trends can be
established. The assessment methods could be drafted in a way to include all students rather than trying to "label" them. It
would be nice to have the information for establishing trends in order to work on the areas that require work.
I've never heard of the instructional intelligence institute so have no idea whether it is aligned with best practices or not.
One of my children participated in the "gifted" program in grade 4 and 5 (we have since removed him from the program).
He had a horrific experience in the program when his teacher decided to use the topic of "forensics" to help develop
cognitive abilities. Given that "gifted" children are often more sensitive, I don't know why she would have selected
"forensics" as a topic. They had a field trip to the police museum on the last day of the program and heard all about serial
killers in the province, saw weapons of destruction (including an ax that still had the blood and a hair of it's victim on it),
etc. Two years later my son is still struggling with what he was exposed to. This was extremely irresponsible of the
education system. Why would you expose 10 year old children to that? Why would you want to? We are having to
explore opportunities for support such as counseling to help my child deal with that traumatic event in his life.
Keep teachers in the classroom with students where they belong, instead of taking away from instructional time.
Professional development should be done on their own time. Teachers should already be qualified to do their jobs well
when they are hired, or they shouldn't be hired.
Make in service training more hands on and practical.
Ministry information gathering should be available from the ongoing efforts of teachers and school administration. Please
do not include objectives for parents to evaluate that are over burdened with obtuse ministry or school board jargon
"Implement Rubric Central" ? What is Rubric Central and how I expected to know what it is?
My son has an IEP since kindergarten and it has never been discussed with me by his teachers for grade one and grade two.
I have no idea what the IEP is even for.
No idea what the instructional intelligence institute is. Background info or some explanation would be helpful here. An
objective related to mentoring younger teachers and supporting them in meaningful ways would be good here. As would
developing strategies to recognize and reward excellence in teaching.
no idea what these are Review and implement Rubric Central Revise IEP Central and Report Central
Not enough information has been provided to answer these questions - what is the Instructional Intelligence Institute,
Rubric Central, IEP Central? These terms need to be defined within the context of the question.
Not enough information to assess these draft objectives and strategies. For example, what is "Rubic Central", what is
"Report Central", and what is "the Instructional Intelligence Institute?" I do support measuring and reporting on student
progress. I do support investigating and testing instructional techniques that have proven more successful than existing
approaches. For example, see the Morningside Academy for information about a very successful learning approach for
students with learning disabilities. http://www.morningsideacademy.org/about/indepth.php I
Not familiar with these programs
Not sure what all these acronyms mean, but if it means holding the teachers accountable for student results, I am all for it
and it should be highest importance.
Not sure what Instructional Intelligence Institute is other than assuming this is continuing Ed/professional develpment for
teachers. This is how my importance rating was derived.
Once again, I think this survey is using a lot of terms that most of us really don't know about. What the heck is the
Instructional Intelligence Institute, Rubric Central, etc? (I think there's a formatting problem in the first one - I think there
are actually four points?)
Once again, these are in a different order than above.... I also wonder how you are determining parent feedback as opposed
to teacher feedback... I would imagine that the bias would be obviously different if now opposing.
once you have people engaged they are more accountable and will be present for both parties.
Perhaps I'm showing my ignorance, but some explaination of terms here would help. How does assessment relate to
"Ministry Performance Standards"? Is it to keep my kids on their toes, or is it to keep government bureaucrat busy
producing performance tables? Does an experienced teacher really need an assessment to show who is falling behind and
who is ahead?
Perhaps you could tell us what the Instructional Intelligence Institute is before asking what we think of it.
Please see previous message.
Professional development might best served by having educators work in the community to see what is actually happening.
provide gifted (as well as learning disabled) with in classroom support
Provided the assessment methods aren't used by the likes of the Fraser Institute to skew the true picture of how schools are
doing, I'd agree to this. I believe it is important, but only if used for the correct purposes.
Providing more education opportunities to all is great, but what is missing here is any evaluation of teachers, and the
opportunity to review performance and provide targeted support where needs are identified.
Really, how many parents do you think know what "rubric central", IEP central, and Report central are? You need to use
plain language if you want parents to feel engaged in your decision making.
Rubric Central , Revise IEP Central and Report Central, What are these items?
see previous comments
Sorry, I don't know anything about Rubric Central or IEP and therefore I do not know, as well, when it comes to standards,
I suppose it makes it easier to establish some kind of a grading system, however, the standards that exist at school are very
different from what exists in the world.
Staff development and professional upgrading is hugely important. I am not certain that it should just be "district"
developed and personalized. How do they compare to teachers across Canada and world wide? What is the necessary
upgrading professionally for our teachers? In some cases I would say that teachers are not covering the curriculum and
there is no accountability for them to do so. Many of them are still teaching the way they did 30 years ago. It is alarming.
Standardized testing is a political tool that uses children and disrupts learning. The curricula are standard, humans are not.
Teacher are professionals and should do some of their own continuing education also outside of school hours (ie. the
summer)
Teachers need to be made aware of and encouraged to not only do workshops but pursue masters level degree work
through UBC--isn't there an MEd degree program in place that supports the instructional intelligence initiative? It has been
highly recommended by teachers who have taken it in the past.
Teachers need to be valuated by the students even in high school!
Teachers need to continue to develop and expand their training and learn new techiques other professions have professional
development points that they must do each year to keep a breast of new technology and teaching techiques.
teachers need to get more professional development on the how children with different learning styles can be taught in the
same classroom....remember all children matter not just the children at that the top of the bell
Terms such as Rubric Central and IEP Central don't mean anything to me (or other general public) so I'm not able to
comment on this.
The "instructional intelligence institute" is a strategy. This needs to be removed from the objective. There may be better or
more suitable strategies for providing or encouraging professional development for teachers. Also, local development is
not necessary. We want the best curriculum possible, not matter where it is from.
The IEP program is extremely valuable for children with needs. Revising the system to improve it is a valuable objective
however it should not be done at the expense of the even more valuable resource provide by the Learning Support
Teachers. A quality LST provides a vital link between the family, child, teacher, SEA and principal. A face to face
resource is so important when dealing with our children, it can not be replaced by technology, telephone calls or emails.
The key is simply providing enough opportunities for students to learn in a style that supports how they learn.
There above are made of a lot of words and phrases that, unless you are an educator or you have previously been involved
in this process, are meaningless. (I have an MA) Therefore, soliciting comments on this without being able to know what it
means is probably worse than not asking at all.
there might be confusion in some answers because your info and question order are mixed up( inverted)
There needs to be some measure of participation and success of these professional development opportunities. If they
aren't successful they should be changed. More important than the results of the assessment methods is what is the district
doing to help schools with low or average performance?
these are both 'inputs' rather than 'outputs' ..... let's see some measurement which ensures the kids feel the impact of this
work
These must all be high level goals if they are necessary for the successful education of our children.
These system improvements are important, but I thought it would be more about the availablity of educational programs
across the district (overlap with previous goal's objectives)
This is a very unclear pair of objectives. Does you mean you are suggesting you can 'support' an enhanced curriculum BY
THE ACT of simply enhancing the reporting on your curriculum? Are you expecting learners will become more engaged
because you are reporting on them better? You really need an editor here. Try to set goals that are measurable in some
way - what does a supported learner look like? What is the measurement of "active participation" in the III? One course a
year per teacher? Does that represent an improvement in some way? What if 35% of staff demonstrate a huge increase in
participation, but the services do not meet the needs of 60% and 5% just don't care? How do you measure success in this
area? Have the instructors requested this support - if so, that should be explained in the survey, as I am much more likely to
support something the teachers are asking for vs something an administrator or the Campbell government THINKS is a
good idea for teachers. I am not knowledgeable enough in this area to make an informed decision and you should be
providing clearer definitions and measurements of where we are now and what success looks like with these goals.
This is filled with so much bafflegab and reference to documents not included or explained (e.g. Rubric Central, IEP
Central) that it's virtually meaningless. If you mean "Give the teachers and other staff a chance to get more training" then
say so. Use your English skills to make the questions readily understandable or don't give it to the general public. I am
appalled.
This would be a huge area that teachers and support workers should be trained and work together in. Assesment and ways
to apply this are carried out by both and should be up to date and cutting edge.
Trust that many teacher's are life long learner's - I don't support endless days of Professional development where the
teacher's, who are already overworked, have to sit through and participate in day long development sessions. Let the
teacher's direct their own development!
Until teachers and administrators are evaluated by students and parents best practices will remain a dream.
What is Instructional Intelligence? What are the terms of the District Achievement Contract? How is a Rubric Central
different from a Rubric Cube? This survey is so full of jargon that I'm not sure this survey was written by the NPAC. It
must have been given to you by the NVTA which makes me wonder...we are just supposed to accept or reject what they
want but not add in our goals for our children's education.
What is the Instr. Intell. Institute? Pro. D. should be offered by any professional that has a skill/passion for the needs of a
given group of teachers. Pro. D. could be going to a music buisness to learn about music and technology and how they
work in the real world. Students in schools alone won't ever learn about these PLO's as it's too expensive to get the gear.
What a shame! I took my gr. 6/7's to Creativ Music Centre and they covered PLO's I wouldn't be able to due to rapidly
changing gear and lack of district funding. Pro. D. should be driven by the teachers needs and growth plans.
What is the Instructional Intelligence Institute? Is this a private or public organization? I am concerned that all
professional development opportunities are linked to this organization. I would suggest adding "fostering dialogue and
discussion with other districts to broaden the professional development opportunities of north van district, including
partnering with other districts in their professional development initiatives". What are the District Achievement
Contract and Literacy Plan? What is Rubric Central, IEP Central and Report Central? I am concerned that "supporting
local development" is framed with reference to reviewing student sucess, and reporting on it, rather than seeking out and
developing an enhanced curriculum after such review/report process has been completed.
what's Rubric Central, IEP Central and Report Central
When teachers attend in-service programs, it should be clarified how the participation in these in-services will positively
and directly impact student outcomes
While continued professional dvlpment for staff is important we also need to be able to identify teachers who are not
providing an effective learning environment and either retrain them or help them into another career. No one tolerates
failure in business, why should we accept it from our teachers. In the second point here you slip into education
jargon/lingo, what is "Rubric Central" & "IEP Central"?
Who is Rubric?
Why the emphasis on local content? are there not wonderful resources that are being created elsewhere to teach many
subjects which are not localized? I support the goal of providing quality in-service and professional development
opportunities for staff, but do not know enough about the Instructional Intelligence Inst. to know if this is the specific
implementation to support.
You still have a lot of terminology that non-educators are likely to not understand. BTW, what exactly is the Instructional
Intelligence Institute?
Comments on Question 4: Develop and promote innovative and sustainable programs
*** Make descriptions match, in order, the response sequence!

A variety of career programs should be offered to students -- may be even better linked to job shadow opportunities -- like
they do at Van Tech.
Academies are very important.
Academy programs - how about sound basic programs? - again the environment is changing - adapt to the future working
market to prepare children for launching their lives as adults. Having a ton of bilingual children in French is not going to
help much in BC as other core languages now are Chinese, Indo-Asian, Farsi and even Native North American. We have
less resources, lets refine them do the best with core courses. Maintain and keep our Arts and Music programs - they are
imporant - make sure they are good but we don't need to expand them. Don't underestimate delivering English/Writing
courses with public speaking in them so that this skill that is also used on stage, or as a leader in blue collar trades or
white collar managerial/analyst work.
Again, this SOUNDS good, but no confidence this will actually happen as long as $ reign and actual progress twds these
goals is lip service.
All of this needs support at the ground level from teachers and counsellors
Also, consider putting the questions in the same order as their explanatory notes.
Any expansion of these offerings should be free to students. Parents should not be expected to subsidize their children's
public school education - Cut back on teachers' salaries if you need to cut back.
Arygyle is one of the best high schools in BC. Why has the IB program never been part of Argyle's cirriculum?
As I come from a primary school, my bias in answering this is due to the fact that I do not have children in secondary
school. I also have a child that is benefitting from an Academy program at the moment.
At this level of education the focus of education should be to provide the students with the ability to learn and understand
what the learn for when then move on to post secondary or into work place. Time at this level should not be given to teach
the students a trade or a discipline but give them the tools to be able to study and learn.
Awareness and diversity of opportunity is essential for a successful educational program, therefore all the goals are of the
highest priority.
By becoming more involved in the community the school district will become more aware as to how to achieve these
objectives.
Careers should include trades as well as professions. Trades are often rewarding, good paying jobs but are often promoted
as something to be done only if a child is not dong well academically.
Carson Graham still has to learn a lot from other IB schools. This school doesn't have enough qualified teachers for this
program!!The teachers laso have to be open minded and should know the curriculum of the IB program in order to prepare
the students better for the final exam
Close Seymour Heights Elementary
Consider charging extra fees for parents who choose IB, French Immersion, and other programs that are more expensive to
offer than conventional learning.
Consider the Advanced Placement programme for students with strong academic backgrounds. Advanced Placement may
be preferable to the IB programme since it allows students to choose one or two areas of strength to study at an advanced
level.
Customized education to meet the needs of your clients, the children, is key. Separating kids into different locations and
classrooms isn't the answer. Tech is advanced enough that this shouldn't be required.
Difficult to rate objectively as these are all important depending on where your children's interests and abilities lie. A well-
rounded education that includes a bit of everything is important at a junior level to help children discover what they like,
and programs that can help to provide at least some direction for the future are important at the senior level.
Difficult to rate objectives without more detail on Distributed Learning, Academy programs, etc. What do these involve?
Also, why are the rating selections not in the order of the objectives written above? This is confusing...
Distrubted learning is something we can't do!!
Do not know what the Academy program is, not explained to anyone not aware of it who is currently answering this
questionnaire.
Do the basics right, then expand your offerings. Why dilute the effort to cover a wide range of courses, rather than
concentrate on the fundamentals. Expanding course offering may result in quite easy courses with high grades, but leave
them unprepared for the real world. Basics provide a greater foundation for learning diverse skills than an intro course into
those diverse areas. Clearly will not be able to go into depth if the students do not have strong basic skills!
Does an "Academy program" mean academics, or something else? how does the "equitable" access issue tie in with
building specialized programs at different schools? I would highly support different schools specializing (and being very
good) at different things, vs "we are all the same" What does "distributed learning" mean?
Don't know what Academy programs are...
Education is about arousing natural curiosity - perhaps leveraging outside guest educators may be a good way to achieve
new courses?
Educators are trying to balance consistency with opportunity, but those can quickly turn into dogma and fractures. I bristle
at "career program" because it stirs thoughts of an Orwellian destiny for individuals. In contrast, the idea of collaboration
with community is enticing, but the ways that is pursued need to be carefully planned measured for effectiveness,
otherwise they are an aesthetic end that can fracture an education experience by the paradox of too many choices.
encourage students to stay in their catchment so we can reduce the numbers of parents driving their kids be more flexible
and offer more of a community atmosphere this will instill a stronger sense of community in not only the kids, but parents
as well
Enhance or bring back "trades" programs. Exposing the various trades in the secondary years could help bring focus and
obtainable career goals, that otherwise might not be an option.
equitable access for students -yes and the development of school cumminity hubs and low cost activities
examples would be music, arts, programs
Expanding the IB program would be absolutely amazing!! There is a need and a want for the primary years program.
Having the expansion of this program can only benefit our distict, our communities and most importantly, our learners.
Expansion of the IB program included a note about feasibility study for program expansion including French Immersion.
Slow down...be sure that you are able to provide quality to the programs that exist. We are already noticing a shortage of
qualified French Immersion teachers, so unless your study includes locating and securing quality teachers, I don't think
expansion is the wisest move.
Exploring expansion of IB programme for increased and equitable access: not sure how French Immersion should be a
priority for "dual" specialized programme access. Either we choose french immersion for the language component or we
choose IB or perhaps AP (Advanced Placement) as a separate academic matter. Fine and Performing arts or Sports
Academies would never be offered IB within the same programmes. Due to the lack of distinction between exploring IB
access and French Immersion/IB I rated this as average importance. Would training/certification for both of these be fairly
weighted in a financial budget between number of students in French Immersion having IB available vs. English program
having access to IB? All ready French Immersion was "available to a select few". Why split a specialized program in two
yet again? The IB as an academic program is what we as parents would be interested in. Has Advanced Placement been
offered in NVSD?
financial literacy seems to be lacking in the Int. (4-7) and even high school grades
Fine and performming arts are a huge area that kids are pulled out for private education. If this was offered maybe more
would stay.
Fine Arts - Creative expression is so important - as much or more so than traditional academic subjects in my opinion. It
is going to take a lot of creativity, courage and passion to solve the major problems of our nation and world - we need to
develop the creativity and passion of our children more than anything else in my opinion. The world will not be changed
and transformed by people who can simply follow instruction quietly and passively, and find the "right" answer to a
textbook math, science or english question.
Fine Arts programs such as drama need to be strong in secondary schools i.e. Carson Graham, to round out the school. It
already has a strong sports program. Their music program should be as strong as it is in Argyle. Academic students lean
towards these programs. Why don't feeder elementary schools to Carson offer strings programs ??? Parents are very
savvy; elementary parents are looking closely at the reputation of secondary schools and are leaning towards West Van
Secondary and Sentinel due to their reputations and programs as they cannot cross boundary their kids to overfull schools
such as Handsworth and Argyle. Carson has had a bad reputation academically - whether true or not - this is the view of
most elementary school parents. Carson needs to move away from being a "trades" school associated with VCC. Carson
needs to be revamped to be seen as an academic school of choice. Don't expand IB at the secondary level - there is space at
Carson - if other secondary schools start offering MYP and DP this will detract numbers from Carson. Handsworth and
Argyle are overcrowded as they already have good reputations; Windsor is now offering French Immersion. Suggestion -
rename Carson once the new school is built - offer everything academic students want. Make sure that Carson has at least
as many clubs as are offered in Sentinel e.g. drama club, chess club etc etc. It seems lacking in clubs. Marketing is very
important - make sure that Carson has a great website highlighting clubs, music and drama programs, academic successes (
IB ) as well as its great sports reputation. It needs to be competing with the West Van secondaries as the westside parents
in North Van ( Pemberton Heights, Delbrook, Norgate ) have no problem getting their children to West Van - close
geographically.
Focus on the core 3 r's. This is your job.
GIve as many opprtunities as possible to students.
Having great programs is only the first step - you have to "market" and "pitch" these to the appropriate audiance (within
district, outside of district and International). Creating programs is one thing .. but are we clear why our North Van kids
are moving to other locations (public and others) or why West Van is getting far more International students (per capita)
than North Van ??
how much of this do we do today, why do we need more and what would this come at the expense of?
I am a huge fan of the IB PYP and was happy to move to Pemberton Heights to get it. However, I am not a fan of the idea
of each school offering a different program and children being driven around the North Shore to a school of choice. I think
that this has very negative impacts on local communities as well as the environment.
I am all in favour of developing and promoting higher level learning with an emphasis on academics in contrast to sports
and artistic pursuits. For those children who are academically inclined or gifted, there is not really much the public system
offers to keep those students challenged and engaged.
I am not sure what Distributed Learning is
I am wondering why more AP programs are not being implemented. Although IB is an enriching experience, it is a costly
and comprehensive program that limits student enrolment due to its "large program" format. AP allows schools to develop
enrichment that maximizes use of staff expertise and is responsive to the particular needs of a school and preferences of the
parents. IB is fabulous, but is it sustainable? If we are considering a personalized learning approach, AP is much more
flexible in terms of course offerings and opportunities for students.
I believe that all of these programs are the backbone of the District and that planning, implementing and maintaining these
programs is of utmost importance.
I believe that this is edging into where the parents have to assume a greater degree of responsability... yes to the School
providing the framework but unless the parent(s) go all in then the rate of success (from my perspective) is less likely.
I can't answer questions about Distributed Learning or district Academy programs as I have no idea what they are. These
terms need to be defined!
I completely support fine and performing arts in schools, but I believe the district is doing a good job providing
opportunities for students in this area.
I don't want expansion of programs or additional course offerings to mean that smaller schools are closed. I think local
neighbourhood schools are important.
I for one do not believe that the IB programing is for all children. It does not support all learning needs nor all learning
styles. These initiatives seem directed at High School and College aged people. How will you plan to survey the children
from ages 5-14 yrs to assess their needs and how relevant are their wants to their educational needs.
I think all of these should be investigated because we are losing many students in this district to West Vancouver and
private schools because they have such programs. Keep programs such as Band and Strings.
I would agree with strengthening academy programs not necessarily expanding them. Fine and Performing Arts are
extremely strong in our district and within the community. Looking at strengthening it across the district would be good but
I would not be in favour of an academy. The prorgram in each of our schools are strong. Marketing and increase visibility
of each of the programs offered on the web and in printed form is of utmost importance. Staff education ie/counsellors
knowledge of programs needs to be increased and those employees need to promote the programs throughout the district
not just within their own schools.
IB should be at all elementary schools and offered at all high schools.
IB should be offered in the East of Seymour area. Teachers should also have enough time to learn about and do IB! The IB
program at Balmoral is a joke compared to other schools. Union members seem to rule what they want to do in this school
district. More Career Programs offered throughout the school district not just at one school.
I'd rather spend the $ on getting teachers based on meritocracy and not seniority.
If there is too much choice, it will end up watering down all the other programs, by trying to expand you will become
weaker. Everyone needs to have a core of the same education. Do not over expand. Do not cater to the squeaky wheels
that only benefit thier children (i.e., cantonese programs) - give everyone a solid foundation. Public education should be
for the greater good - become an expert at the essentials! Too much choice also makes it harder for kids to choose - beware
of that fact (read the "paradox of choice")
Included in "Increase the awareness" should be newspaper ads. WV's ads are an example. These are seen by not only
parents of public school kids but ALL parents (even those who have chosen private for whatever reason) and also by the
community as a whole. Improving the image of individual schools and the public school system of NV as a whole should
be a priority and ads for the public to see is part of that. I'm finding personally that my daughter's highschool is not able to
provide the level of music she needs - she's taking outside courses instead to get what she needs - this is sad in that she is
not getting the social aspect of school as thoroughly as she should through music, and also is not eligible for
scholarships/honour roll because she's taking 6 subjects onsite and getting external credits. Also, when this kind of
arrangement is made, it needs to be made clear to the parent exactly what repercussions follow (i.e. no scholarships or
honour roll with less than 7 onsite subjects). Distributed Learning - you miss a lot by not doing things with others - only
courses I've heard about that kids have taken were way too easy in comparison to the course offered at school. Career
programs - does this mean industrial? tech? etc? or does it include more academic or arts careers too. The definition isn't
clear to me.
Increase the awareness of program opportunities available to students throughout the School District - if this is NOT being
done now - it is a SIGNIFICANT weakness in the current District. Why would we EXPAND everything. There are better
outcomes to be achieved by good quality - not increased quantity since we don't know how to improve the quality.
Increasing awareness of program opportunities is a big one.
Introduce Mandarin as a language option for secondary students
It is difficult for parents to comment on many of these objectives without first understanding what is currently available.
That has to be the first priority!
It is hard for students to move schools in grade 11 if the IB or other program is not offered. Students need to opportunity to
do some advance planning and have the information to do this in grade 7.
Keep the "awareness of program opportunities" at the school level.
Might be an idea to introduce something about age here. "Distributed learning" probably shouldn't apply to my children,
both under the age of seven - they need to get their basics. However, I'm all for older children having the opportunity to get
trades skills. I'd suggest promoting some employment-related non-academic outcomes.
More than anything we need to make sure that the students are excited to attend. School is supposed to be fun, educational
and a place that children look forward to attending.
More time outside for students!
Much better - this approach is focused on teaching and nurturing skills and abilities. I do note an absence of physical
education - more of that would be better.
My biggest concern is that West Van has created innovative programs that have lured NV students to their jurisdiction. I
have read the number is several hundred. This leads to the closing of NV schools and erosion of education quality. NV has
to offer innovative programs that will lure these students back and keep the ones that are already there. No innovation is
too much. NV is playing catch up.
My 'grey area' kids, (gifted, learning disabled) are completely unserved by current program offerings, so much so that I
have often considered moving to the private system
Not necessarily expand and enhance in all cases. Enhance what is there already. Fewer good programs rather than many
that can't be sustained.
Note: the tick-boxes are not in the same order as the above descriptions. I caught it but wonder if others might not and
answers will not correspond to correct items??
Opportunities that enhance or expand students ability to learn is very important.
Other languages should be available for specialized programs. French immersion should remain just that. International
Baccalaureate should be supported on it's own as an option. The career program should already be there. It is an
embarrassment that it is not. The awareness of program opportunities is very important if there were no resrictions due to
catchments,elitism and favoritism.
our district needs to learn to be proud of all their programs, not just the programs that send kids to univeristy, but even to
kids who learn differently....
Perhaps you could tell us what an Academy program is.
Please see comments above re: IB program. I feel we need to better connect the learning in the classroom to the real world
of work. Objective: Have people with direct work related skills (e.g. someone form Microsoft/EA) come into the classroom
to teach, especialy at the high school level.
Please support the Music curriculum.
preparing the students for their transition from school life to getting ready for their future independent life as an adult is
vital to show them what opportunities are available to them and what they need to do to work towards their goals
Programs that strengthen and extend academics are totally absent in this list! Challenge programs are only available for
"gifted students" and from what I hear those are infrequent and limited.
Re the IB program (it doesn't have 'me' at the end of it in Canada) - I would suggest ensuring that the current IB offerings
are well-established and meeting international criteria before expanding it to other schools. Word on the street is that they
are currently weak.
Recognizing the importance of extra curricular activities that are not academic in nature. The opportunity for those students
that may excel in other areas to have a school supported outlet for these areas, drama, band, choir, art. etc.
Since I don't know what SD Academy and Distributed Learning are you may want to promote them (especially if they are
tailored to individual success and achievement)
Students from Windsor that are going there for French immersion should be able to toggle with Seycove for music
experiences. We should be allowing for fluid movement so students choose, guide and direct their learning. This would
allow for the french, musical child to not have to choose one school over the other and the kids would network and make
more friends!
Survey students to determine interest and need for course offerings at different levels - maybe there needs to be some sort
of information given to students first - rather than what do you want - & specifics of what this looks like How does the
above line up with your survey - * Support the implementation of International Baccalaureate at all levels (PYP, MYP,
DP) * Complete a feasibility study for program expansion including French Immersion - what are we suppose to check
off that aligns with this? -
The Academies need to be more than "sports," academies. I am a supporter of sports but having grown up in the US
system where sports seem to be the only thing emphasied at school, I think it is important for students and parents to value,
reward and show an interest in more academic and social achievements.
The IB program is a great success and needs to be expanded. The Sports high schools need to be expanded-it has been
proven that a cobination of sports and education (ie Sentinal) has show that students do better. I am a firm beleiver of the
sports programs mixed with schools as long as a minimum grade must be maintained to keep in the program. The District
needs to expand beyond just Windsor (this school is way to far for people to travel) and Hockey.
The more choice, the greater the chance of success of ALL students, not just the ones who get good grades and shine at
awards nights.
The responses should be listed in the same order as the description -- you will get inaccurate survey results!!
The school system can't be everything to everyone by offering academy and baccalaureate programs. The former can be
supported by the schools via a super achiever program (reduced course load) with experienced organization (not part of the
school) providing the academy. For example Windsor should not be paying for a teacher to babysit the hockey academy.
By offering these programs including French Immersion it puts a strain on the core system where there are not enough
resources available. And more resources won't be enough, for example, where there may have been 1 or 2 students in a
class with behaviour problems, now there 4-5 per class because students with behaviour problems or learning disabilities
are not typically in an academy, Baccalaureate, or French Immersion program. Not fair to these teachers and students.
As stated before, we need to do more to guide students after high school. Scrap the portfolio and have career information
sessions combined with post secondary training paths. eg. trades, justice, health care, computer industry, journalism...
Schools should focus on core subjects so students have as many options available to them as possible. We should avoid
streamlining students in one direction and I think by offering more course options we do that.
The wording of this goal does not convey the important programs that it is related to.
There is the identification of lots of growth. This is confusing given the ongoing issues related to budget restrictions.
What about evaluation of these programs? Is the assumption that additional demand means that a program should be
expanded?
There's a demonstrated trend toward private education. Study what those schools are doing, ask parents if that's what they
want, and if yes, copy it.
These sound like great objectives. Each of these would help prevent the socioeconomic and "brain drain" occurring in
many N. Van schools.
This is typical pie in the sky strategic planning. Hey let's set a lot of fuzzy non measurable statements that nobody can
understand and THEN try to find the money. How many times have you used the word EXPAND here. No mention of
money. You DO NOT plan this way.
We need to capitalize on the popularity of the IB program. Take a look at West Vancouver and individualize learning and
use best practice in the classroom. We no longer can deliver a superior program through worksheets in the elementary
levels. Children need to inquire and be inspired in school.
What about having more programs for kids involved in sports such as the hockey program at Windsor, but with other
sports such as basketball or golf. It is difficult to have the time to participate in a sport at a high level and keep up with a
regular day of school.
What are Academy programs & Distributed Learning?
What are Distributed Learning and Academy programs???
Why not keep sustaining and improving the current curriculumn/instruction to keep its education results strong and high
relative to the rest of the world instead of expanding the IB program?
With our increasingly global economy, IB certainly seems to be the future. Canada and BC need to ensure our students are
prepared for this new world. We have a high level of cultural diversity in the greater Vancouver population and expanding
the IB program would reflect that.
Would really like to see the Gifted student programming expanded into Upper Lynn, without the need to drive students to a
separate location each day. This is not a viable option for parents who work full-time.
You are losing students to West Van public because they get the message out their and are willing to offer things that North
Van has not. West Van offers stability in the schools - no closures and no teacher layoffs so teacher stability within the
school and programs of choice. North Van must do a better job at keeping North Van students in North Van schools and
new school facilities are not doing this.
You are so far behind the rest of the world on developing Distributed Learning, you would likely save money and benefit
better by partnering with an existing and proven program, rather than throwing heaps of $$ at this trying to play catch up.
Direct District referrals that generate a kick-back to our funding pool etc. I.e., if a District 44 student registers through their
own website for a partnered program, the referral can be tracked and success monitored. (Caution - the Vancouver School
Board's VLP is terribly out of date for it's distance learning materials. Look elsewhere.) Yes, increasing awareness of your
programs is a good idea and a quick fix, but not a huge problem-solver. Do it, but with minimal expense. Yes - Fine Arts
and Academies and IB Programs! Be THE destination for particular programs. BUT that is still not the only new
programing to offer. You need to provide a project-based environment to fill that gap between the highly focused "I know
what I want to be for sure" student and the intelligent creative student who still needs the opportunity to explore and
develop new ideas and new learning paths. Career programing is again something you have fallen too far behind on to play
effective catch up in the near future. Again, look for partnerships with existing institutions - be less afraid of "off -site"
work, and embrace the resources that already exist in these areas. Expand your thinking to SFU and Emily Carr, as both of
these institutions have strong views on education that makes them natural partners for your goals.
You are speaking to teachers in this survey. The language used is not feasible for parents. Don't know what any of this
means. The questions perhaps should be posed as high level results we would like to see, and not survey on the details of
how to get there, which we don't understand.
You should have the questions in the same order as the objectives are listed. With all these options available do we risk
diluting the real reason for education, to learn? It's nice to choose what we learn, but let's be real, everyone needs to cover a
certain amount of basic information to have a well rounded education.
Your six objectives are not listed in the same order as the levels of importance below, therefore your results will be flawed.
In other words reading first objective on Academy programs, people assume first level of importance will be for Academy
when in fact it's for carrer program
Comments for Question 5: Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace
- if money was spent where it needed to we would be building schools not closing them. - my goodness why not provide a
decent education material "stuff" should not be needed. - they are recognized EVERYDAY already - the staff should
already be suppor
"Establish and implement ongoing personal and professional growth plans" I do not want my tax money going to teacher's
personal growth. This is terrible!
A healthy, facility that is attractive and well-lit contributes to learning, as does beautiful outdoor space for the children to
play in.
Ability to retrain or release instructors who are below standard
Again descriptions above do not match the check list below. Totally different orders. Is this intention, appears very
suspicious.
again, speak English! What does all this mean to the end results of how it effects student learning - which is the ONLY
goal in the strategic plan. Our students are falling behind globally, and it is what should primarily be addressed. The rest is
just fluff - as much as it may support that goal, let's address getting quality curriculums and quality education so that our
nation can remain innovative and competitive. Let's move away from being addicted to mediocrity and political
correctness.
Along with the "attract, recruit" point should be ways of getting rid of teachers that do NOT perform well. And I think
teachers should get report cards from parents - well, maybe not, but I know I have had times when I wanted to complain
about the way a teacher was dealing with a class or situation or how they were teaching their course but haven't wanted to
complain/approach the teacher or principal because of possible resentment against my child by the teacher. (My daughter is
an A student and has had no problems. I'm generally pleased with everything! But some teachers DO have problems in
being clear about their expectations for an assignment, covering curriculum adequately, poor time management etc.)
Although I think an attractive facility enhances learning/ health/safety etc. I do not think heritage restoration should be part
of the school district mandate, rather the city or district responsibility.
although you are dealing with budget cuts - do not dispose of land if at all possible. these assets should be retained for
future expansion of the population. Renting out schools to other organizations should be considered whenever possible.
Am not familiar with your strategic plan re retention & disposition of land
As a former member of the BCTF, I believe it is crucial that poor teachers be let go.
Attracting exceptional staff is a laudable goal; however, what will be done to address staff that is anything but exceptional?
What will you do to address sub-standard teachers/staff? How will they be held accountable?
But do not make these a make work project for district principals. Survey teaching staff for ideas on what makes an
excellent teacher and what would inspire them to work towards exceptional. Have students and parents offer
input/feedback at the end of each school year regarding their ten months in the classroom. What made it work, what was
great, and what wasn't.
Consider reviewing the seniority policy with the local union. I think it is damaging the pupils' learning environment if they
are forced to accept teachers simply on the fact thet they have worked in the district for a long time rather than base their
continued employment on their ability to teach effectively and embrace modern teaching methods. There are excellent
young teachers in the K-12 sector who are being held back simply because they are new and our children are sometimes
forced to accept inferior teachers simply due to seniority. This does not apply to all senior teachers and many are excellent
teachers with many years of experience, but the younger teachers should not be discouraged. Also the policy of "bumping"
where more senior staff can "bump" less senior staff out of a job or out of a school is ridiculous. All teachers should have
their employment based entirely on merit.
Continue the implementation of the strategic plan for the retention and disposition of land - depends on who much you
intend to sell ? If selling lots then no as sell more for family housing estates increases the population of children and then
these kids need somewhere to go to school, so then we will be trying to by land to build a school on !
Continue the implementation of the strategic plan for the retention and disposition of land!!!!!!!????????? The question is
not clear? do you mean to sell school lands to developers for quick money? do not even think about it.
Continue to recognize the value and contributions of our staff. As opposed to no longer continuing
develop a teacher assesment tool available to students/staff/parents and administrators that is tangible and publicly
available, promote and champion the better educators based on real time results of assesments not seniority.
Develop specific training and credentialling/qualifications of Special Education Assistants around common learning
disabilities (e.g. autism, Downs, dyslexia). Provide sufficient SEA support to each school that is very flexible as needs
change and shift within and between school years. Assign teaching positions based on merit not seniority.
Disagree with selling of public school land
Do not dispose of land or lease out. If you are leasing out to private schools you are creating a two tiered educational
system. The wealthy children can have the private schools and demand what they want The public school children have to
travel farther, be overcrowded, and face cutbacks for little pockets of "improved" Academy type schools. Good for the few
in the intake area but terrible for working class parents squeezed for time that have to drive out to a further destination or
worry about their children having to bus or walk long distances to the next school. Not everyone in an intake area wants
an Academy school or is buying into this.
DO NOT dispose of land. We will never be able to afford to purchase land in the future and in 100 years there will be
higher density of population. Build schools with adequate meeting rooms, places for students to work with teacher aides,
speech therapists, etc. Every school complains about a lack of storage. Look at what you are designing. New schools
have very poor acoustics and do not look at the needs of space for students (foyers are huge and there are no cloakrooms to
store jackets, backpacks and band instruments). With large classes, more space per child in the classrooms would be
healthier and make it easier for teachers and parents helping in the classrooms to work with small groups of students on
specific skills. The new buildings are lacking upon completion.
don't know what's in the strategic plan!!
Enhance learning and teaching environment and provide a welcoming apprearance...needs to be more than just verbal and
"pretend". This requires real content and by in by staff. All too often it is just some retoric...but not genuine.
Ensure a safe, non-bullying classroom and school environment (through zero tolerance policies).
Environment (physical) has a significant impact on both the students and staff.
Figure out a better way to make a cash grab than closing neighbourhood schools. The SB should be required to have
business training. Only imbeciles would continue to close small educationally attractive facilities in order to build glossy
megaplexes which depersonalize students.
Focus the very limited resources on materials (such as decent textbooks) and human resources to foster learning, starting
with the most basic elements. Be sure when staff take students on costly field trips that the students are prepared in advance
for what they will be experiencing and discuss afterwards what they saw. Cut out all but a few purely recreational field
trips!
For question 1 I don't agree with being modern but do being safe for our kids. As for Queen Mary it is a shame that we are
going to loose our award winning library for the price of going modern.
Get rid of teachers who do not make the grade. I do not understand why the very people who GRADE OUR CHILDREN
do not understand the value of APPRAISALS for themselves, and who fight against standardised testing for researching
how our schools are doing. As long as the unions strangle education, we will continue to produce mediocre results, while
being fed the eroneous notion that our children are getting the Best Education in the World. They are not.
Give teachers positive feedback when they are doing well. Give them the resources necessary to do a great job. I see this a
healthy mentally for teachers. I am not sure what the first objective is saying. Is it referring to giving support workers to
classrooms to help with special needs students? The 4th objective is saying 5 different things of which I think 1 is highest
importance (improve health and safety conditions). The rest are average importance. I am not sure how the retention and
disposition of land in obj. 6 has to do with an inspiring or healthy workplace.
Hiring and keeping exceptional staff is of most importance as I have scene complacency and poor teaching in our public
system for far too long. The private schools hold each and every teacher accountable and are let go if not performing to a
acceptable(higher) standard. The public schools system should be similar and weed out the the weak and complacent
teachers and let the real teachers TEACH!
I am not sure 'pride in the school district' is the objective. High performance with a positive impact on students is the
objective.
I believe the District should sell land, or make a lot of money on it. Don't just leave it sitting, or rent it out when the
District NEEDS the money. It's a waste of space if you've closed a school and there isn't any plan to build another school
there - SELL IT!
I disagree with the plan i think schools should keep land and not sell off to developers - unless it would provide affordable
accommodation for families on the north shore.
I do not support disposition of school lands; I do not want mega-schools. I do believe that more on-site after school care
would be good and support partnering with the community in this regard. Please also ensure that a two week spring break
does not become the norm - it is very expensive and inconvenient for the parents and I believe the parents' costs outweighs
any cost savings by the school district.
i don't see the land use strategy as consistent with the higher level objective. The objectives seem to be quite aspirational
but not necessarily linked to specific outcomes.
I don't think the district should sell off land. rent lease yes
I find the disposition of land completely stupid and short-sighted.
I like the number of projects going on in the school district. Very good leadership here. Treat teachers well and give them
MORE PREP time and monitor use through the collective agreement. Teachers can have professional days but I want to
know what they are doing with them. This knowledge should be made public West Van also gets our best teachers
because they are not shrinking.
I think a missing objective is that THIS objective should include more of a student focus as well: an inspiring and healthy
workplace... if BOTH educators and students were included more in this framework, the rest wouldn't be necessary and
then only one objective would be necessary - thus simplifying the whole approach.
I think it is more about the people than the facilities - I would put more money into teacher training as well as encouraging
some teachers to retire and bring in teachers with new energy, and expertise. Objective: Enhanced Employee Engagement
and exit planning for retiring teachers.
I think our school district already does a pretty good job of recognition but I support more efforts there. Every one of these
is of the highest importance - it's probably beyond the ability of our own district, but public education needs to be a career
area that more people aspire to - it needs to be the top priority for this Province.
I think there should be some type of accountability or review of teachers. My kids have had a number of really
bad/incompetent teachers who can't be fired...they just get shuffled to somewhere else. In the real world, if you can't do
your job properly, a different job is found or your are let go. Not so with teachers...and it is only doing our children a
disservice and wasting their time at school when they have an instructor who can't teach.
I totally disagree with school district land being used for anything for other than public education. I think it is an absolute
tragedy that Fromme Elementary is being leased out to a private school. This policy will ruin communities.
If it was possible to comment on the individual objectives as they relate to the high level goal, I would grade the third
bullet under "support meaningful ways to recognize..." as high importance and the other three as low importance
If land is going to be rented, leased or sold it should never be to a private school. The land is being poorly organized and
money is clearly not a priority or the land would have been managed in a better way. Land is being sold as a whole.
Fromme road school had land to spare without closing it's doors. There will be more and more families moving to North
Vancouver with all the condos going up and we will have a problem in the future due to lack of space in schools.
If you can achieve any of these goals would be a miracle as the local High Schools tend to attract their past graduates as
teachers which only creates an old boy network that in no way ensures the best teacher or education for the students. Also
don't rush into the sale of properties as you can't always build like at Sutherland and require pre-existing facilities to house
the student during renovations or total build. Just look at Surrey.
I'm unclear on the first point - "develop and implement"....hate to sound negative, but after all these years....you dont have
a "human resource program" ????? I think if you attract, recruit and retain the exceptional staff and you continue to do
what you do now ... should this not be the ticket. Just to be clear on my answer for 4th point " modern" facilities ... I do
not agree that a facility needs to be modern. Having restored a turn of the century home, MODERN, does not fit at
all....attractive, efficient I would totally agree with. But NEW / MODERN are not necessary. Parents are not looking for
NEW - that would be like saying the academic achievements from Sutherland have "statistically risen" due to having NEW
and according to the Fraser institute it does not appear they have. I would fully support "welcoming appearance" ... I'd
like to address the 5 th point .."strategic plan for retention and disposition of land".. To date, from my perspective, there has
not been enough transperency in the Board's plans. I was shocked to learn that the original price on the table for land
behind Braemar was $x and the board agreed to pay a significant lesser amount $y and it just seemed to "happen" without a
whole lot of notice. Knowing the developer .. .he's got the deal not the Board. I would like to see more transparency in
these decisions that affect the bigger population - the communites and tax payers in the neighbourhoods being impacted.
I'm sure the Real Estate Board would weigh in....they sell ... "walking distance to good schools" all the time.
It all comes down to engaged people.
It almost seems that you have driven North Van students away so you can sell the land and close the schools. Parents want
stability within the school - therefore, they want the school to remain open during the years their child will be attending.
North Van many years ago had an article in the North Shore News about the Matrix report and targeted many schools to
maybe close over the years. This report kepts students and parents away. Stop doing negative publicity. You might has
well drive the students to West Van schools yourself with that type of negative publicity.
It is imperative that our School District be able to attract and retain the brightest and most motivated educators otherwise
we will continue to lose students to the private school system.
It is important that staff have good moral for them to be able to teach our children to the best of their abilities
It is important that this goal remember that community schools are important at the elementary and secondary school level.
This community environment is very important to nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace. For example, a high school
with an enourmous student population does not foster a nuturing and inspiring workplace for many reasons such as
students becoming more anonymous.
it is of the highest importance that any disposition of lands be conducted in an open market with a closed bidding process
and that 100% of the proceeds be returned directly to the school board and not placed in general revenue of the
municipalities...schools and children have to be put first ahead of municipal shortfalls in other areas of the budget
It is unfair when one school is modern, attractive, enhanced learning etc when other schools are so dilapitated. It takes too
long for this to be done fairly. The school board needs to evaluate which schools need to be closed due to declining and
projected declining enrollment and to see what schools are close by and stick to their guns and keep it closed rather than
fold to public pressure like a parent caves to a spoilt child. It seems financially unresponsible to keep a school open with
all their teachers and administrators janitors etc when enrollment is down and another school could absorb the pupils.
Why should human resources develop a program to increase teachers ability to support student learning, is that not what
pro d days are for? Teachers should be enthusiastic about teaching the children already, why does $$ need to be spent on a
program to help teachers do this? Obviously during the initerview process the system should be hiring exceptional staff
and fostering staff engagement involves strong leadership. Principals and the superintendents are to provide effective
leadership which is to foster employee engagement. This should already be in place! More information needs to be
provided regarding the strategic plan and what is involved with the retention and disposition of land before the question
can be answered.
It is vital that "staff members" include all District employees, not just teaching staff. Current standards are low for
atrtracting new clerical staff. Best practices for the school based operations end of the District are very hit and miss and
need to be enhanced and addressed at all sites.
it would be great is the district would learn to deal with staff that cannot support children....stop being afraid of grievance
and start protecting children not workers
Keeping good teachers is very important and also cleaning house of teachers and staff that are not working to their best
ablility. Land that is disposed of can never get back - must look closely to OCP for both City and District - they have now
changed density so area that had no growth before may now start showing growth in the future.
Land should not be sold, it should be rented to independent schools. Selling is short sighted!
Learning is important, education is imperative. I have ranked these identified goals to be of the highest importance,
necessary to help our children be successfully educated.
less portables as classrooms.
Make better use of the land in place ie/cumminity hubs dispersion rather than overcrowding/closures Educated empathetic
loving staff who are highly respected and rewarded in many ways Saftey yes is important, but I don't think the money
would be best prioritized with modernizing everthing, as long as comfort accessability is prioritized, and need is
considered over esthetics
mixed up order again....confusing
'Modern facilities' should include computer carts (laptops) at all schools as well as Smartboards (similar to Surrey School
District) in all NV schools, not just those where PAC's are able to fundraise to purchase these items. As for rest of the
question - 'Welcoming Appearance' - again, depends how much the PAC can fundraise to purchase these items. Sure
would be great if NVSD supported the purchase of items to enhance & create a welcoming appearance but as mentioned,
items such as these are mainly left up to PAC's to fundraise for or apply for grants to purchase. As for the 'teaching
environment', (and as with most questions so far) NVPAC appears to be more concerned with the teachers than the
students???
Need to focus on budget realities and how best to spend limited funding - more (and better textbooks would be a good
start). Ridiculous that students must share textbooks!
need to use fewer " technical words "in the information above, we are not privy to the exact inside meaning of these
words.....in other words, " keep it simple ", these questions are far too technical and not easily understood by those of us
not on the " inside "........................
Nice job throwing in the selling off of land in here. Huh. Quick fix - long-term disaster. This is too vague to truly answer,
as you do not define your terms. More editing or a desire to be clear and transparent is needed here.
No sales or long term leases of land! The SD has amply demonstrated that it does not have the demographic or statistical
analysis capabilities (nor is it able to count on those abilities among consultants) to optimize long term capital planning
with demographic shifts. Have you checked how blatantly wrong the Matrix numbers are against current figures?
No 'surplus' lands should be sold, ever! These properties are a legacy left from previous generations for us to use for our
children. They were never provided to us for sell. Adequate funding from the province should be in place.
None of this means anything... Do you have any understanding about how meaningless writing "continue the
implementation of the strategic plan and the retention and disposition of land is" and following it up with the completely
non measurable two comments below?
Not really seeing the relevance to the reading, writing and basic education that I feel is lacking. In times of financial
restraint, these are wish lists not necessities. Also my children are in a five year old school which was built with no
storage, no undercover area to support their comfort for outdoor play in poor weather. Their was poor facilities and narrow
hallways and stairs which do not support the numbers within the school nor any child with a disability. Their is no stage for
them to showcase their performances nor to provide an area for performers to come in and teach the kids. There is no
storage for sports equipment, basic classroom material nor for emergency supplies. If you are going to do something do it
properly not half way. Plan for the future not for the past and plan with a vision !
Not sure how the strategic plan relates back to the high level goal, but it is an important aspect of the district for moving
forward. Develop modern, attractive and efficient facilities is also a positive and lofty goal, but at what cost? Parent
subsidies are increasing every year.
NVSD had an amazing cohort, FAME from UBC, for 10 years--less than half of those preservice teachers were hired by
the district. A wonderful opportunity to replenish teacher staffing in the district was lost.
Overall the schools are in very poor shape and generally unclean. Something as simple as increasing janitorial support
would improve the appearance and quality of facilities.
Provide support for teachers who have big class sizes and cannot meet the needs of all students!!!!!!!!!!
Re: Atract, recruit and retain teachers, the missing part of this is the removal of ineffective, unproductive staff. This is of
high importance.
Recognition of staff and teachers that go beyond the expected and required commitment is essential. Too much attention is
given to the few (and I believe it is only a small number) of teachers in particular who are not effective. I know of many
teachers who give so much and are not recognized.
see previous comments
Some of the schools are a disaster! Rebuild Handworth school with a turf field. Ensure safe earthquake ready buildings
for our kids.
Staff hired should already have the skills to foster employee engagement in schools. That's why they were hired.
STOP SELLING OFF SCHOOL LAND!!!!!!!! WE'LL NEED IT SOONER THAN YOU THINK!
Students should also have a stronger voice. Some teachers are rather demotivating!!
Teacher growth and personal knowledge should be acknowledged and rewarded but not financed by the school system.
Neither in paid leave or time off, this adds to cost, these programs should only be offered in school vacation times, or out
of school hours. However if a teacher takes and passes courses it should have a merit system attached to it a bit like
coaching levels, you can be rated low or high but your coaching skills are what get you results and jobs. In fact teachers
should not be paid in vacation time other than that earned by length of service, only if they are attending advanced learning
courses should they be paid during summer months. Banish professional days altogether and put them at the pre or post
school year level. Instead offer out of hours, unpaid programs for self development, and vacation time pay only if they
upgrade themselves during that time.
Teachers are your most important resource. Make sure you spend the money on them. Yes, the schools need to be safe and
the NVSD should pursue efficiencies when possible, but the quality of instruction is paramount.
Teachers need more support.
The "old guard" union environment when it emerges is interfering with excellence, creativity, flexibility and oustanding
student achievement. I don't want any more union-based "info" leaflets coming home nor do I want to see any more sick
days and substituts during report card prep time. We must make a better environment and that starts wtih every teacher
whether or not they are "putting in time". I'm frustrated with the crap shoot of apathy in the classroom - great teacher one
year and sad situation the next. The annual fear of which teacher is upsetting to parents and not great for kids. It's broken
and needs fixing (not with every teacher but often the good ones have no seniority and get bumped). Outstanding teachers
who have been at it many years are a gift and truely appreciated - I feel lucky that one of my students has had a couple of
those rare and amazing teachers.
The buildings don't attract parents e.g. Westview, Lynn Valley elementary - the programs do. Support the innovative
programs that exceptional teachers are doing ; attract great music and drama teachers to secondary schools. If one high
school is so much better than another in one area, look at why and strengthen the weaker school. Compare why some
secondary school students have way more scholarships in one school as opposed to another - why ? Parents pay attention
to this when choosing schools. Highlight academic achievements in schools.
The constant movement of staff due to an inflexible collective agreement is resulting in a high level of dissatisfaction with
parents of school age children. Schools are losing any sort of educational identity with the constant changes in staff due to
restrictive seniority clauses. If PLC's are important to the district, constancy of staff is an essential prerequisite for their
development and success.
The curriculum could be streamlined to focus on the 3 r's. I'm sure that's why the teachers chose the teaching profession.
The development of leadership skills is critical to the success of the future within education. Being a terrific educator does
not necessarily translate into being a successful and/or skilled leader.
The first three things are very much the same. If I answer high importance for the fourth item, this gives you license to sell
off school board land and then blame me for your short sighted decisions. You have also thrown in a double-edged sword
with the fifth item; instead of asking if we want you to retain or dispose, you ask if both are important. This seems
unnecessarily ambiguous and is a sneaky way to get the answers you want to hear.
The morale of staff in the district has declined over the past few years significantly. Staff retention is critical to the long
term success of exisiting district programs and services. With the ability to port seniority (10 years), teachers have new
found flexibility to move to a district that is offering better working conditions and atmosphere. Significant work needs to
be done with teachers to rebuild both trust and a feeling of being valued. The talent is here - we need to work much harder
to let that talent shine and keep it shining on the north shore for years to come.
The most important of all is the support of students to learn and to want to do so. Learning of course, can only be made
enjoyable by those who truly want to be teachers for the sake of teaching, to whom teaching is a partnership with their
students and other staff members as well as others within the teaching community including the parents of students
The objectives to "attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff..." and to "develop modern, attractive and efficient facilities"
are both very well worded and extremely important objectives. The objectives of retention and disposition of land need to
be separated. I would support the renting and leasing of surplus lands but not sales of surplus land.
the problem with making resources available to teaching staff is that it sounds "opt in". My experience is that there are
many awesome teachers who will reach out for these resources and some that are just there for the paycheck. How do any
of these plans ensure we are managing latter group. I don't trust the BCTF to do it. The Disposition of Lands sounds like
a catch all here that ranges from leasing to selling property. My perception is that it is too easy to sell the land rather than
create more innovative programs/partnerships for using the space. Once the facilities are gone, the demand created by
innovative programs will have no where to be channelled.
The schools in the district need significant capital expenditure to upgrade the facilities.
The second goal I rate very high but do not see enough strategies to support it. Teachers make a huge difference, both
good and bad, in influencing students. Respectful and inspiring teachers motivate kids to listen and learn and maybe even
do their homework. The appearance of a school affects the way students and teachers feel - it just does. For example
the new cafeteria in Windsor was a huge improvement and the location of it allowed for school spirit to develop.
The single initiative that would provide for improved instruction would be to eliminate the pay scale for teachers based on
senority. Disposition of land is a very short sighted response. Better utilization of key schools though after hours
community leasing programs, based on the real costs of having the facility open for use by other service clubs and groups,
could provide a stable, alternative revenue stream.
The strategic plan around the disposition of land is of utmost importance if the district wants to be able to invest into
education currently and also retain some properties for future needs. Holding onto properties 'just because we may need it'
is not good business. As parents we would be better off lobbying our municipal councils to really look at affordable
housing options so families with school age children can move into NV. The upkeep of the exterior of buildings has not
been the best over the past number of years,now that the district is building new schools provisions should be taken to
ensure that we have the qualified staff and monies available to maintain these buildings and grounds so they remain
welcoming.
There is not enough public information about "disposition of land". The school district seems to have a plan already to
change the current community school model in favor of newer fewer schools, however there seems to be much going on
behind the scenes and very little effort to make the public aware. They are very manipulative in the public consultation -
they do not make much effort to announce the agenda of such topics when having a public consultation and try to fly it
under the radar so they can say after that there was public consultation.
There should also be a bullet point that addresses the need to weed out teachers and staff who do not contribute to the
vitality of a school.
These goals all sound good but with a union in place I am not sure how well they can be implemented! I am a highly
trained IB PYP teacher who can't even get a job as a sub in this district.
too long of a survey - you probably lost many because of its length Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster
employee engagement and pride in the School District - just so it doesn't become a witch hunt maybe there should be more
emphasis on fostering excellence in all teachers and principals - again wording of some questions gives me concern what
exactly does "Continue the implementation of the strategic plan for the retention and disposition of land' does that mean
'disposition of public land for the development of affordable housing" or our you interested in protecting the land for future
generation of students and for green space for this generation some schools like Cleveland are in great need of developing
a modern, attractive and efficient facilities that enhance the learning and teaching environment, improve health and safety
conditions, and provide a welcoming appearance where those in schools that are brand new would not see this as a need -
but if this a survey where numbers get results then this situation would seem less than fair
Unless facilities are not meeting basic health or safety standards, programs, resources, recognition and CLASSROOM
conditions/environments are more important for positive workplaces. Attractiveness of facilities and land management
are not priorities for time and money resources regarding education to parents. Students, staff, and CLASSROOMS should
be the top consideration for resources (time and money) used in a 10 yr plan. As I understand from news items, fostering
positive education programs and maximizing students enrolled in public schools is the best way to increase funding. Not
real estate/business type deals that can't be reversed and are beyond the scope for comprehending or navigating effectively
by educators or public trustees. All energies should be directed to EDUCATION in the classrooms and direct impact on
students. These are the constants that will remain for decades to come and affect our communities by the type of citizens
the education system produces. Facilities and lands have been entrusted to be cared for appropriately long term. These
should not be considered priority for education, but merely a necessity to be managed efficiently as possible as a separate
matter.
Unless the teacher's union supports merit based compensation and recruiting/retention, I don't see how schools can attract
and foster the best possible staffing.
Very wordy. Difficult to implement in days of cutbacks and powerful unions.
We may want to have and keep great teachers, but there are many that are in our schools which are not motivated and
inspiring to our children. They sit on their seniority and coast until they retire. If the students and the parents are
complaining, it would be nice if we could actually be heard so that something could be done. Some complaints are valid
and it discourages most families in the schools when they hear that some families were brave enough to complain, but the
problems still persist because nothing is being done. Don't dismiss our complaints because that is the reason why numbers
are declining in North Vancouver schools, but are rising in private or West Vancouver schools.
what staff? More administrators to administrate the above stuff/ fogetdabout it
when you have happy ,supported employees you have an engaged workforce who enjoys coming to work and in turn
teaches and does a job to the best of their abilities.(sometimes even going out of their way)
When you look at a student holistically, the education system lacks nurturing the child's Soul and they often don't get that
at church for one reason or another. I'm developing metaphysics / basic self growth classes for children. See
www.soulflow.ca. Enjoy.
Where is "Stop bullying" in all of this lingo? Where is foster cultural or lifestyle differences?
Without money what can you actually do?
you have "attract, recruit, and retain" staff. What about finding a mechanism to move non-performing staff out. Please
don't ignore this as it is as equally important. We need to find a way. Every organization does, and ignoring it does not
help. some of these are ridiculous. Who would not support "a comprehensive plan". The plan however is what scares
people as it rarely matches up well with what most would see the plan as.
You must have a means of performance managing teachers....this needn't be a negative process. In business performance
management is the means by which all staff get positive feedback about how much they are valued and also
'developmental' feedback on where and how they can improve. For problem staff this process manages them 'up or out'.
Your strategic plan for disposition of land is unpalatable. Short term leases and rentals are acceptable. Sales are
irresponsible and unacceptable. The Matrix report and the Barager demographics studies on which it depends have proven
to be flawed, and you cannot pass blame to the Province for your decisions to sell land which is a community asset.
Comments on Question 6: Provide leadership in environmental education and sustainability
practices
"Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices" - this is a great concept but let's be honest it all comes down
to what can be afforded by the budget.
Am not familiar with curriculum of ODS
Aren't we already integrating environmental education and sustainability into the curriculum?
As long as it isn't preaching.
As per my first comment
at what cost to other issues would need to be addressed - yes ideal - but....
Back to the basics please - they need to know how to read, write and do arithmetic first and sustainability can come along
as part of it but the only way they will be successful as adults is if they have a core educational background and are literate.
Being environmentally conscious is very important. However when environmental and sustainability issues are taught I
think it is important to teach some real science and not just the current fashionable trend. A lot of informaiton in the media
for example is senstaionalized and it is important to learn to question and draw your own conclusions.
Best practices coming out of the universities demand this. How are teachers held accountable for best practices? All three
of my kids were/are bored stiff by 75-90% of their teachers (one is now at Queen's and was a top scholar and is on the
Dean's list at Queen's; another is an honorable mention currently at Argyle; the third- in between the others -was never
engaged, no one really seemed to care about him in spite of being creative and a good critical thinker). How are teachers
held accountable for what they do?
continue to embrace the positive learning that arises for all NV students who visit Outdoor school. This is a gem to our
district and provided lifelong memories for all North Shore students.
Don't forget fun.
Dump the Outdoor School: run programs closer to the schools. Rather than an intense few days at the Outdoor School,
integrate the concepts into classroom curriculum on an ongoing basis.
Encouraging competitive sport in schools is very important to promote health and fitness and teach the pupils about
teamwork and achieving success in later life. Sustainability and environmental initiatives are very important to encourage
the pupils to embrace best practice and practise this in their communities. It also prepares them for later life and save the
school district money that can be reinvested. There are many organizations that can support you with this and I would be
interested in working on any committee that is to be established for this purpose.
Excellent idea (Outdoor School) Others are important too. Other than the Outdoor School aspect, I don't think the rest of it
should require an undue amount of resources (financial or otherwise) so why not!? Important, but not as important as
education of the student in the schools.
Focus on teaching and learning and good ACADEMIC programs for our students. Of course environmentalism is
important, but look at the waste produced in schools, and the lack of cleaning and hygiene. Please focus on the learning
conditions for students and the need for them to have strong skills to compete in the future job markets.
Good to integrate environmental stewardship into the curriculum, but don't make this a loss-leader. Students have many
environmental education opportunities.
Great ideas about the Outdoor School! Just don't reduce access to this faciltiy for North Van District students.
I agree that environmental education should be woven into the curriculum. I think that children see caring for the
environment as an obvious choice and that money and energy is better spent on adults in the community.
I believe the NV Outdoor School is already recognized as a Centre of Excellence for learning about the environment and
taking care of our natural spaces. We are very fortunate to have this facility that we can share with others.
I believe the the correct naming is the North Shore Credit Union Outdoor School, and that is always how it should be
referred.
I believe these points are obvious given a global perspective.... your earlier points taken... "think globally, act locally".
I do not need my children indoctrinated into the Church of Environmentalism. Environmentalism should not be a primary
focus of our curriculum. Stick to teaching tour children how to be good, productive and responsible citizens of Canada and
that really is enough.
I like some of the Outdoor school stuff. Comments are still unmeasurable and poorly written. Can the sustainable crap.
Nobody understands this. This stuff is like the self esteem BS from the 80's
I love the outdoor school. It was a highlight of my early education and I remember everything I learned there both with the
enviroment and commradery of my fellow students. I lived at the outdoor school when I was a toddler (my dad was the
field manager at the time) and I don't have enough information of what is planned for the outdoor school to make a choice
in the matter.
I really agree with all these statements. This would be great to see these type of activities implemented in N. Van.
I smell another rat trying to mess with Outdoor School. Leave it alone. We have all seen how the district's money making
schemes end up shafting our students. How about integrating some consistency in the business practices. The worst thing
about this district is the constant onslaught of instability. My kids' school careers have been peppered with school closures
and construction. I am happy to say that we will be ending it next year when they will be attending schools in STABLE
West Vancouver.
I suppose by picking education over practice its saying "do as I say, not as I do" but if we're going to teach sustainability it
has to be every day
I think it is very important to teach children awareness and a sense of responsible stewardship toward our host: the earth.
I think the North Van Outdoor School is a great opportunity for students so not sure if the statement regarding
Transforming North Van Outdoor School into a Centre of Excellence means that students would no longer get that
opportunity.
I thought it was understood that NVOS was a centre of excellence I am surprised this is an objective.
If the outdoor school can not support it self as its own entity it may be wise to look at other alternative. The outdoor school
is a wonderful bonus to the North Van School board but if we are looking at be substainable in the future we may need to
look hard on the funds spent on renovating the Outdoor school and if it would be cheaper for the school board to go to an
established camp like Keats instead for the same experience and learning about First Nations.
I'll beleive it when I see it...
I'm not convinced there is value for the cost of running the outdoor school. I think a centre of excellence for environmental
education and stewardship is outside the school district's education mandate. Perhaps it could be leased out. It goes
without saying we should be doing what we can to minimize waste and be more efficient.
I'm not sure transformation is needed, but yes I aggree with making the outdoor program accessable to all and a big part of
the curriculum. I value usablity in a natural setting over esthetics
important part of the curriculum. But at the end of the day....the kids need an overall education. They need to feel
comfortable in the school environment. The school needs to be accessable and feel like it is part of the community. Not the
"it's not my job" after 3pm attitude.
In an environment of such limited resources, I am not so concerned with the Outdoor School becoming a Centre of
Excellence unless it secures its funding to do so from a source other than the our taxes. Every corporate member of the
community (larger ones) are focused on sustainability - the fund raising to create this Centre should be focused on that
sector.
In terms of relative importance, I feel that it is more important to use resources to keep community elementary and
secondary schools open for it is these enviroments in which students and staff spend the majority of their time. It is the
school environment where students "live" during their most formative years.
Integrate environmental education and sustainability into the curriculum: Do you have the skills to do this well or will you
simply feed the children green kool aid? Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices: Quantify the cost
and benefits of individual actions, then implement those actions where the benefit is greater than the cost.
It is of the highest importance to ensure that the foundations of the implemented learning system are sustainable. This
foundation ensures the stability of the learning process of our children as they are being educated.
It would really help this survey if the order of the description of the objectives at top where in the same order as the rating
section below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
keep the outdoor school
Leave the outdoor school as it is, maintain it but do not beautify it, then it's charm and appeal would not be lost. Open it up
to others to generate an income but not to overload the facility where upgrades are needed nor for the facility to get so
booked up with outside venues that the North Van kids would miss out on this great resource.
Looks at ways to encourage and support holistic and integrated communities that include all ages, demographics and a
variety of programs including healthy bodies, minds, spirits and community. Develop and walk clear values for inclusion,
connectivity and integration. Work with health and seniors to build bridges and appreciate were we came from and where
we are going through care and stewardship
Many teachers, especially in elementary classrooms, are already succeeding at integrating env.ed. and sustainability in their
curriculum. Most students already know more about this than their parents!
Maybe something to suggest that we face a future of dwindling natural resources, and that sustainability and conservation
can be related to core business practices.
Most schools are already very environmentally aware - talking to the converted.
My children have and will have an amazing experience at outdoor school. A real gem for our school district.
North Vancouver Outdoor School offers a unique experience to all our students and staff. Some of our students, especially
International, have no former knowledge of such opportunities. It is a learning and teaching experience for both student and
staff. We fortunate to have something established and deeply rooted in our community history to show off
Not clear what the "transformation" of the NVOS would look like, but this program has been in place for so many years
and has been and EXCEPTIONAL AMAZING experience for anyone who has had the privilege of attending. PLEASE
keep this programming running.
Not only do you need to think about sustainability, but also resiliency. the school district must be able to adapt to
larger/smaller populations. Make yourself unique and people will come back from private schools. Have strong teachers,
supported and focused on children's education (get rid of the dead wood or move the bad teachers out of the way - work
with the Union to do this if possible). reward teachers that provide the best and most rich environment (why dont you
create a teacher of the year award for schools, catchments, etc. and create a campaign where parents/administrators vote).
We have a wonderful thing with a public school system, it just feels like it is being eroded away. People are going to
private schools which results in secularism, isolation. We need to do whatever is necessary for the public school system to
be seen as amazing!
Now this is awesome and truely INSPIRING ... I love the first goal ... the NV outdoor school !!!! Build it and they will
come !!! Great idea !! Now we just need a Middle School or Junior High on the North Shore and we'll have it all....."the
jewels in the crown of North Shore education " ... I truely believe..."build it and they will come" if it is unique, not being
done anywhere else, and well MARKETED !!!!
NVOS should become a revenue generator for SD44 by making it available at a cost to other school districts, embracing
corporate sponsorship, and offering its resources to the general public at a fee.
Outdoor school can be called a different name, but should never be changed. It's left thousands of children with fantastic
experiences.
Outdoor school can be improved and generate funds for you if you use private sponsorship and charge other school
districts to use it.
Outdoor school is a must ..it is a unique enviromental education opportunity that no other District has in the
LowerMainland (other Districts covet it). The above noted objectives will help sustain this special learning place and
improve on it's current programs. Highest Importance!
Outdoor school is a wonderful experience. I was able to attend 5 times in elementary school, and it is some of my best
memories. Keep facility up, but it's supposed to be a camp.
Outdoor school is lovely and nice - but is only a very small part of a child's life at school. Environmentalism is highly
touted and a very opined subject. Careful - Support environmental awarements but not any political opinions - hydro
electric (water) clean power replaced by mercury and arsenic lights because is uses less "clean" power. (Rainforest burned
down for corn fields for ethynol because it is deemed less dirty). Is a controversial subject - good if all sides are debated
logically. If you mean recycling and using less paper - yes
Physical education is a higher priority for students and N.V. community than the outdoor school focused on environmental
education
Quit procrastinating and looking for ways to avoid focusing on the 3 r's. THIS IS MY EXPECTATION OF YOU.
Re: Outdoor School, interested in transforming it however not at the expense of students no longer attending. Students
should definitely continue attending & experiencing this wonderful opportunity.
Remove all paper based communication to parents
stay out of life choices. They are important, but best dealt with in the home. Please stay focused on core learning which
we find a difficult time getting enough time/money to support. ie: science, math, social studies.
Students and education first. I fully support environmental education but I also feel that we can't turn a blind eye to what is
not currently working while we establish these new programs.
Sustainability as it relates to business practices must be a long term plan...
Sustainability is "average" importance because it should already be a standard part of business practices. If you are looking
for something deeper and more meaningful, say so. Otherwise, this is just common lip-service that everyone is spouting off
these days so that they sound politically correct. Again with a program that sets the District apart and attracts parents to
bring their little ones into your schools - nothing beats Outdoor School. More adults can repeat what they learned in that
three-day high-engagement experience than they could tell you about three whole years of elementary school. Project-
based, hands-on, out-of-the-box learning... who knew??
Sustainability is very politically correct & it is important. However, it is one among a great many challenges the human
species is facing. I do not support a dramatic increase in expenditures in order to frighten or brainwash our children about
environmental collape. Perhaps providing some focus on principles of sustainability and stewardship, and then maybe
enhancing awareness of career opportunities or directions in the field would be good. But when I see grandiose words like
"transformation" I get nervous.
Sustainability should be a concern but not the first priority
The current outdoor school program seems to be meeting its objectives which I would already consider to include
environmental education and stewardship. This is already there. The teachers of my daughter's grade 7 French immersion
class at Cleveland told the parents at the beginning of the year that they would struggle to cover the curriculum as set out
by the Ministry. I don't feel the district should be determining other additions to the curriculum when the basics are just
getting covered.
The last objective is a bit of a motherhood and apple pie type of objective... why would anyone disagree with it (in
principle), however, in tough financial times, this objective, while admirable, may not be of the highest priority. This
objective should only be supported if it creates financial savings, that translates into more resources to the students.
The North Vancouver Outdoor school already is a leader in Outdoor Education and enviornmental stewardship
The North Vancouver Outdoor School has been an invaluable facility since its inception - I know, because I was a student
in its second year of operation. Continuing to promote the environment to our local children is invaluable, I'm just not sure
that we need to create a competition for enrollment by opening the facility to international students. Just a thought.
The outdoor school is a fabulous unique opportunity for our students here. To enhance the program through upgrading and
expanding the program would be wonderful.
The outdoor school is a great program. Its good balance between teaching and adventure should be keep.
The Outdoor School is a magical experience for all young students and should be maintained as is. To create a center
maybe involve Metro Vancouver Parks such as at the salmon hatchery and co-finance a center there, it would be closer to
home and easily accessible all year round.
The outdoor school is an important program for many reasons, it should be supported and improved but not wholesale
changed. I am concerned about the word 'transform'.
The outdoor school program through the years has and continues to be an amazing program with good access &
availability to all students. Any "transformations" deserve commmunity involvement with community approval prior to
any permanent changes being made.
The term "sustainability" may be too broad and need more definition.
These are great goals, but due to limited funding, I think we need to ensure that our academic goals are being met first.
These goals are not a priority for children who are struggling to achieve basic education by staying in school unless the
child finds this an area of interest. The teachers and staff should implement these practices on a high level explaining as
they do it to their students. Learn by example not a program. The devoted learning time would better be spent on arts or
sports or a reason to stay in school.
This high level goal is more consistent with what i would expect a strategic goal to be and the objectives seem reasonable
and actionable.
This is an area that almost everyone would support. the only reason for placing average importance is that I'm struggling
with seeing how ALL things can be rated as "high importance" - yet it is difficult NOT to rate everything as highly
important. Relative to meeting other education needs (academic, social, emotional....)perhaps sustainability isn't as high.
This was done Years ago...not sure why it stopped...it is easy to do...just do the job and do it well and stop wasting
peoples time and money with surveys and and and and
"Transform the North Vancouver Outdoor School into a Centre of Excellence for environmental education and stewardship
- only if North Van schools continue to get priority. Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices
Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices -
child can learn this elsewhere, let's not overload them in school and just get the basics right before we worry about things
that can be taught at home -"
Transforming Outdoor School sounds like a good way to use existing facility to offer programme within curriculum while
receiving Government support to fund and designate the facility. Sounds as if this could generate revenue as well in the
future if a quality programme and facility were offered outside of NV school use.
Transforming the Outdoor School is a just a way to waste paper and change the letterhead. It is already a Centre of
Excellence for environmental education and stewardship. It already has a great repution. Why waste money changing a
name again? The above is already being done. It is a process that we are all learning. The students and teachers are doing a
great job. This should have already been recognized.
Vancouver is a very green city and North Vancouver. in particular, is a pristine environment. We have the opportunity to
lead the way with solid environmental practices.
We believe Outdoor School is an integral part of Elementary School learning. It is such an amazing facility for the
students to engage in Outdoor activities and to have a chance to show their independence and for some children it may be
their first/only opportunity to explore the Outdoors in such an environment. Outdoor School is a fabulous place for
students!!
We understand that sometimes teachers can be limmited in as far as what can be taught within a year, we think that all of
the points mentioned above are of outmost importance. It would be interesting to also do studies of the finite resources of
the planet, an actual break down of what all of humanity needs to live well and how the planet's resources could be
distributed, as well studies of alternative energy sources and how they could replace the established sources - what kind of
changes would the replacement cause, recycling, reuse, use of used plastic products, off gasing, ect...
WOW I love these. Are we doing this already? Or are we just thinking about it. Talk about setting an example to other
districts! Our outdoor school is amazing but could be so much more.
Yes it all sounds good, but at what cost? The school district has been trying to close Outdoor School for many years, and
now this? We need more information about what it will cost to the students (i.e closed for a period of time or less visits -
what?) I don't trust that it will all be fine and dandy like what is illustrated above.
Yes to the 3rd obj if the cost is not too high. Our budget is so low.
Comments Question 7 Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations
Include SFU and UBC - significantly more diverse career offering through these other institutions.
a collaboration and all working together would benefit all.
Again descriptions are in a different order to check list, seems very odd?!
again this was all done years ago...sad that teachers and school can't do their jobs... forget technology and actually talk to
people...have a normal conversation. WHAT? Schools are community services...they do beniefit the children, families and
the entire world at large already!!!!
Again, focus the limited resources on education and learning in the schools -- that's what we're paying taxes for! Too many
outreach, technology or "seamless" programs divert resources and attention from the fundamentals of learning!
Again, goal 2 needs to not drive kids into careers at tender ages.
All excellent ideas and worth putting time and money into. Some may also be revenue generating too. And all are good for
community building. I'm hoping that faith institutions (churches etc) would also be considered as cooperative partners for
some programs which they already run.
all questions need to know at what cost to other programs.... because this is a long survey many people's engery and
dedication would go into answering questions in the beginning which could bias the answers
any of the communications objectives should be practiced in a way that is green and is not frivolous, communications
budgets are a very deep hole prone to careless and untargeted spending that is often unaccountable, proper methods for
measuring success of the communication programs should be built into the methodology.
As I have said previously, you will say it, give lip service to input and then make your decisions based on your own silos.
True collaboration does not exist in the hierarchical system and I do not believe it will exist in the near or medium distance
future.
Basic Technology is completely lacking in the school. Most teachers grasp of technology is very limited. They need
training and they need to get on with it. The world runs on technology. If you are not capable of using it you get left
behind. School websites are an example of how the lack of technology. Communications with parents is another example
of the limited use of technology. Emailing,scanning, electronic documents is what should be used instead of all the paper.
before developing schools as community service hubs ensure that you are not reinventing the wheel and look at what local
community centres are already doing for the community. No need to waste tax payers money if these services are already
occuring in local community centres. Perhaps there could be more of a connection between community centres and schools
i.e. incorporate a program for the elderly and the young together as our community as a expanding aging population and
many of the elderly feel isolated and alone. Push for a-dopt a grandparent with school children for example.
Calgary schools use some of their newer buildings as community hubs. But they have designed the buildings with this in
mind. You would need to seriously rethink how you are building your new schools to make the most use of the facilities
on evenings and weekends. Look at Edgemont Elementary in Calgary. This is the gold standard. This facility has
separated the classrooms from the gym for ease of after hours access and use. It is separately managed. It has a separate
gym, attractive multi-purpose rooms and a restaurant-style kitchen, for small weddings and other community social events,
before and after care, pre-school, evening sports practice.
Can it be done efficiently and without a huge amount of costly red tape?
Capilano Elementary should be added to this list!
Capilano, BCIT, and VCC are not the institutions that many families expect their children to attend upon graduation. Why
focus on these schools? I do think it's important to look at this transition, I just question the specific focus on these
institutions.
Coordinated services are important. Too complicated for parents to know and access all the resources that are out there. I
understand teachers are filling the parent role in many cases but I'm not sure making them a hub is the answer. Could
distract from their main responsibility which is to educate children. Not sure it is the role of the schools.
Don't isolate a school within it's neighbourhood when attempting to achieve these goals. Instead have all school's work
with First Nations, or Handsworth work with North Shore Neighbourhood House, etc. This way each neighbourhood will
better understand the next and possibly respect them as well.
Encourage and support creativity of students.
ensure that all children leave school with skills that make them employable and able to have quality of life
Focus on the kids and families... you be spending less than 10% of your time as community hubs
give the children the tools to be savvy with technology and media - will be needed in their working lives. Keep the focus
on what is important - the children - remember working with others often means negotiating a compromise and the
education system has ben compromised enough already. Get is great - but what more give-ups should the quality of
children's education have to deal with? You don't get without give. be very careful on this extremely slippery slope.
Given the number of families with 2 working parents, school use should be expanded to included before/after school care.
The placement of the Strong Start program at Boundary Elementary is a great example of utilizing the school for a
community purpose. Years ago the Church was the center of the community, now we build our communities around malls,
our goal should be to shift this focus to include the schools. Consider the fact that our residential communities are only as
healthy as the schools around them: families with young children will often select the neighbourhood to live in based on its
proximity to a good school.
Good idea to talk with Translink!
I am amazed that there are no strategic goals to around ensuring special needs kids (autistic etc) are properly catered for
which is not the case now. There is a huge requirement and it is simply being ignored at a strategic level.
I am not sure what you mean as seamless. I am a little concerned about grade inflation, but this seems to be a provincial
problem and not just N. Van. You also need more and better programs to promote health -- e.g. mental, physical and
sexual health -- and better links with the Van. Coastal Health Authority.
I don't believe in putting extra stress on high school students to push them for tertiary education. The teen suicide rate is
high enough and not all students want to go on with their formal education after high school.
I don't know what number three really means, or why it needs to be an objective. This is not at all at the same level as the
other ones. It is more operational.
I don't understand the selection of this high level goal and I'm not sure how the goal nor the objectives will enhance the
qualioty of education for our children.
I like the idea of developing community service hubs but what happens if we do this and the school closes? We need better
sports facilities at some of our schools - I know we're doing that but should keep at it across the whole district. This is
something we should do in partnership with the District and the City - maybe we are already?
I love the first goal....but why are we limiting to these schools....all schools should offer before/after school care ... look at
the research about what happens to kids (of all ages) between the hours of 3 and 6 in working families. Regarding point
#2 - you are missing the Universities on your list: SFU, UBC , UVic .....why?
I think a 5 year strategic plan would be more practical(large companies consider a 5 year strategic plan these days) thank
you Radfar
I understand that the Ridgeway, Queen Mary, Westview, Norgate, etc... schools are important, but it's time to recognize
that EVERY school is important. In each school there are MANY students who could benefit from community support and
other such endeavors. However, time after time, they are left out because of which school they go to or their parents socio-
economic situation.
I would love to see our schools as service hubs, but it seems this board has a very different objective in mind.
In order to develop schools as community service hubs etc. they have to be welcoming, open and inclusive spaces. They
are simply not and with the way that lawyers and liability issues win over all else these days I'd say that this objective is
not attainable in any meaningful way.
Increase the college and university entrance rates from North Van high schools. ( not just VCC and Cap U ) - BCIT yes,
but how about linking with UBC and SFU ??? Amalgamate the WVSD and NVSD rather than competing with each other
for students which impacts the funding for the schools. Track the number of NV students crossing boundary to go to WV
schools - this has only been increasing year by year - it is a serious and chronic problem.
Increased availability of after school care would be a wonderful wonderful thing.
Introduce regular, intensive physical education and health awareness in schools. This could be one of the greatest benefits
to Canadian society in the long term
Jeeze, just use plain language and people will start to trust you again.
Lets focus on our schools being a place to teach kids vs community services hubs.
Love the community atmosphere; it's a good grounding for students. The world is our home - our kids will move...
Maybe we could look at joining the existing school boards on the North Shore and eliminating the waste in dollars. That
way we could truly focus on education on the North Shore and not the politics of multiple areas doing multiple things and
paying for them. The salaries alone would go along way to maintaining or starting some amazing and needed projects.
My High School had a community center attached to it and this helped create a strong community support. I beleive that
our schools are cold and unwelcoming. Parents are being locked out of school and felt like inturders in our own schools,
even when we are droping off warm lunches for our children. But because the school do not have enough funding by
government the school are more then willing to take as much money from the parents through the PAC as they can. Our
school for the past three years have spent more than $35,000 per year on computers, klin, laptops, pianos and playgrounds.
If you want us to pay than at least make us feel more welcome in the school that we are paying for. Why not allow parents
to establish programs afterschool to promote a community in the schools (ie Mad Science, homework group, arts & crafts).
My main concern is for my children to receive an education that is appropriate to take them to the next level. I am a
practical person and realise funds are not unlimited, therefore I think one needs to be cautious when implementing new
ideas. The basic education of our children should be the number one concern. Schools need to run more efficiently, small
schools running at half capacity should be closed. Everything costs money and if money is going to be used to implement
new initiatives that are not necessary then the education of children will suffer.
My overall comments are - let's very simply focus on academics first. Once we have concurred that, we can move on to the
periphial topics otherwise all efforts will be diluted and we will not do anything well.
Objective #1 should be done in context with existing service providers and community centres. The school is a part of the
community, and while it is an important part, it is only one part. It's only when the school is fully connected and integrated
with the other resources in the community, do efficiencies and excellence occur.
One area that seems to always be overlooked is the connection between seniors and school children. Done properly this
seems to be a group that could be brought together. So many families are no longer connected, due to distance, divorce,
etc., and seniors have a prospective, wisdom and life experience that could really benefit the students. Seniors are often
isolated and made to feel unappreciated in present day culture. Their numbers are growing and students numbers dropping,
there might be some very good opportunity for mutual programs that could benefit both.
Optimize space requirements for community programs by partnering with the North Vancouver Recreation Commission.
Run their programs in NVSD facilities and vice-versa where supply and demand exist in order to facilitate the greatest
possible use of facilities and the inclusion of the majority of students in school or community programs.
partnerships with SFU & UBC are not discussed? why not?
People thrive best when they belong to a community. There is a huge increase in depression in our culture and I wonder
how much of that is due to the loss of the physical communities people used to be a part of. With TV, internet - we are
increasingly isolated and staying in our homes. The centre of the community used to be "the church" - now that that is
mostly gone, I think schools are the ideal centre for community - it takes a village to raise a child - but it also often takes a
child to inspire a village - we will all "come out" for the sake of a child, though often not for ourselves, or other adults.
RE broader community, I would also encourage working more closely with the North Shore Multicultural Society who
have several programs for you that help native Canadians better understand the needs and challenges of immigrants, and
help immigrants feel more welcome in the community (and schools). An example is the 'safe harbour' program for North
Shore organizations.
Seems as if developing schools as community service hubs duplicates services offered all ready by NV Rec and Health
Authorities and existing community centres. Why be hubs but not continue relationships and channel education resources
more into purely education. Reciprocal communications using technology is the best way to get more input from parents,
students. Don't see how spending time and resources for joint use and transportation connections or sharing admin.
services would be beneficial when school budgets are tight now. Translink normally does their own "user feasibility
studies" and I don't see how schools which are attended by residents/catchment rules would lend to necessity of this.
Students who travel outside of their local communities for school presently do so by choice of individual families, with
respect to specific programmes such as French Immersion, or Private schools or Academies.
Support the "Free The Trees" ongoing environmental sustainability program at Cleveland Elementary School should be
developed as a separate objective in relation to encouraging environmental education and sustainability. This innovative
and unique program should be used as a guide in developing similar programs at other schools, and be held out as the
standard in engaging North Vancouver children in environmental education.
Technology - look into non -proprietary software to save the district money - Operating systems too - RedHat, Ubuntu for
example. Open Source software/OS's are now industry standard - these should be looked at as viable options for our
school district. One can look at Kamloops School District as a great example.
the current transportation options available to our students puts them at immediate risk and forces parents to drive -
completely counter to any plans for sustainability - whereas a network of decent public transportation options (via
Translink or privately operated) would immediately cut this activity
The development of schools as community service hubs would direct monies away from course developement. This is
definitely a slippery slope and the district should stick with trying to recover the education we have before expanding out.
Most of the above has been done already and again, the focus should be on the education. This is where we are lacking
and need to improve our name. This will follow with pride and others reaching out to us.
There are fewer and fewer face to face transactions. I would like to see a shift back to more intimate interaction. I feel
technology is numbing our emotions and contributing social irresponsibility.
These goals are of the highest importance to the education of our children because they allow for the community to help
and be accessible in the learning process. It ensures that the students are part of the community.
This assumes teachers will WANT to communicate more closely with parents, students, and the wider community. Our
school is a very 'closed' atmosphere thanks to the collective agreement and site politics.
This page won't load. This survey is crazy long. Most people will find the volume overwhelming. Who designed it?
To expand such programs to other schools, not just the ones considered 'inner city'. All students and parents should be able
to benefit from ALL programs.
Too little, too late. The district didn't listen to the community when they began closing schools. Transportation of students
to their 'new' schools kilometers away was left to the cost and inconvenience of the parents. The broader community of
which they speak starts in the individual neighbourhoods which the School Board destroyed by carelessly closing schools.
I find talk of benefiting students and communities contrary to their past and currentactions.
Try giving the older media students the lions share of the 'reciprocal communications' work - they will have fresh ideas and
know how to reach out.
Use of our schools with partners in the community is an effective way to help our weakest and most vulnerable. For
example, in the new Carson Graham, is there an area for community services to meet and provide outside agency support?
Use technology as a teaching tool. Our classrooms do not have interactive whiteboards and we do not have teachers who
even know how to use current technologies to teach. The kids can outshine the teachers and that is not something that you
are addressing. Community organizations have their place, but we need to focus on teaching and learning. Mandatory
teacher in-service and upgrading is crucial. If teachers don't have skills then they cannot teach them to the children.
Teachers in most places need on-going educational credits. Why don't ours? As a District you need to focus your attention
on teaching and student achievement and not try to do everything for the whole community. There are other service groups
to tackle those other areas of the community. Our children need to be the priority as does current, relevant teaching and
strong academic, athletic and fine arts programs for all students.
We now have a university in our backyard: let's take advantage! Build more links with more Capilano university programs:
get the children to events, workshops (art, music, sports, for example) at the University.
What about special needs? There seems to be an absence of services for this group of children.
When developing schools as "community service hubs," stress that income earned can be a vital revenue stream to support
education.
Why is the Neighborhood Learning Centre predominantly in the Carson catchment? Regarding the seamless transition
from school onward, use the European model where the less academic are placed in non-academic settings where they
learn a trade at a younger age.
Why the short list of universities/colleges for partnership?
Work with our municipal partners, other school districts and service agencies to benefit our students and the broader
community????!!!!!!!!! If this means a permit to sell lands to municipal partners it is very dangerous.
Would like to see our schools utilized to 90% capacity from 8am - 10pm DAILY. For all types of learning and lectures
and gathering.
Wouldn't it be nice to work towards ALL the above mentioned survey goals? But, as you know, finances determine the
choices made. Please choose wisely.
Yes community hubs!! Look at Switzelands school system and model after that.

DRAFT NVPAC Report - SP Objectives Consultation PDF Prep

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

DRAFT NVPAC Report - SP Objectives Consultation PDF Prep

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

February 25, 2011

NVPAC President’s Council Report

Part I - Parent Survey

Overall Results Brief

Question # 1 High Level Goals

N VSD Stra te g ic Pla n H ig h Le v e l Go a ls

Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations 3.35

Provide leadership in environmental education and

Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace 3.95

Develop and promote innovative and sustainable

Expand the availability of best instructional practices and

Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Question # 2 Encourage the growth of collaborative and adaptive learning environments

Enhance opportunities for collaboration among all

Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning 4.21

Strengthen a sense of belonging and connection for all

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Overall category rating 4.06 or 2nd

Go a l #2 - Exp a nd the a v a ila b ility o f b e s t ins truc tio na l p ra c tic e s a nd e nric he d

Support local development of enhanced curriculum and

Provide quality in-service and professional development

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Overall category rating 4.52 Ranked 1st

Question # 4 Develop and promote innovative and sustainable programs

Increase the awareness of program opportunities available to

Expand and enhance career program opportunities for

Explore the expansion of the International Baccalaureate

Expand Fine and Performing Arts program opportunities for

Expand course offerings provided through Distributed

Continue to strengthen and expand school district Academy

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Overall Category score 3.94 ranked 4th

Question # 5 Nurture an inspiring and healthy workplace

Continue the implementation of the strategic plan for the retention

Develop modern, attractive and efficient facilities that enhance the

Support meaningful ways to recognize the value and contributions

Attract, recruit and retain exceptional staff and foster employee

Develop and implement a comprehensive human resource

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Category Score 3.96 ranked 3rd

Question # 6 Provide leadership in environmental education and sustainability practices

Go a l 5 - Pro v id e le a d e rs hip in e nv iro nme nta l e d uc a tio n a nd s us ta ina b ility

Integrate sustainability as a priority in all business practices 3.65

Integrate environmental education and sustainability into

Transform the North Vancouver Outdoor School into a

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Category Score 3.59 ranked 5th

● Aren't we already integrating environmental education and sustainability into the

Question # 7 Strengthen and expand reciprocal community relations

Work with our municipal partners, other school districts and

Enhance reciprocal communications with the broad community

Provide seamless transition for students to careers and post-

Develop schools as community services hubs for the mutual

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Score 3.35 Ranked Last (6th place)

Part II - NVPAC workshop

The group assigned to this item divided it into two parts:

Engagement and pride:

● PAC activities to appreciate and celebrate

● Percent of teachers certified

1. Challenge (different for each student)

Item # 3 Provide increased opportunities for personalized learning.