The Board of Education Highlights provide updates on presentations and decisions made during the Board Meetings. For more information, please visit our District website where you can view the full agenda and video stream of the meeting: www.sd61.bc.ca/board-of-education/meetings/
Board Meeting Highlights – October 28th, 2019
Acting Secretary-Treasurer Acknowledgment
The Board of Education recognized acting Secretary-Treasurer Katrina Stride for her exceptional work filling in during the extensive and comprehensive search for a new Secretary-Treasurer. This month, the District welcomed Kim Morris as its new Secretary-Treasurer. Morris has 12 years of experience as a Secretary-Treasurer in New Westminster, Kootenay Lake, Kootenay-Columbia and Prince Rupert.
Late French Immersion Review
The Board directed the Superintendent to establish a process to review the District’s Late French Immersion Program that is in alignment with the Ministry of Education’s policy on French Immersion and involves a consultative process with relevant stakeholders in line with Policy 1163.
The District established a French Advisory Committee that began reviewing French Immersion programs in 2017, which was the first step in initiating a district-wide boundary review. Since the completion of the boundary review, a Late French Immersion review will now take place to provide equitable access amongst growing enrolment. Late French Immersion programming is currently offered at five schools across the District: Arbutus, Cedar Hill, Central, Lansdowne and Shoreline.
Living Wage, Living Hours
The Board accepted a report from the Audit Committee that included the Quarterly Financial Report and a Living Wage, Living Hours Review.
The Audit Committee reported out that all employee groups, with the exception of the contract employee who works less than 120 hours per year, exceed the Living Wage for Victoria without even considering all of the eligible non-mandatory benefits. Living wage is the hourly amount that each of two working parents with two young children must earn to meet their basic expenses (including rent, childcare, food and transportation) once government taxes, credits, deductions and subsidies are taken into account. In Victoria, the Living Wage is $19.39/ hour.