Grande Yellowhead Public School Division has four new officials following the October General Election. Joining returning Trustees Dale Karpluk (Jasper), Shirley Caputo (Hinton), and Fiona Fowler (Edson), are new Trustees Melodie Bobilek for the Lobstick Zone, Jocelyn Pettitt for Edson, Yvonne Oshanyk for Hinton, and Darrel Delisle for Grande Cache.
Following their October 27th swearing-in, the Board immediately passed two motions to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in response to the joint letter school boards received from the Ministers of Education and Health on October 14th, 2021 - encouraging Alberta鈥檚 School Boards require staff and adult visitors to schools share their proof of vaccination status or show evidence of a recent negative COVID 19 test.
During the discussion, new Board Chair Karpluk stated, 鈥淲e are taking this action to safeguard our staff and students. We have a responsibility to ensure we are providing safe work and learning environments.鈥� Trustee Delisle added, 鈥淲e are not health professionals and none of us ever thought we would be in this position. But in the absence of government leadership, we will make this decision in the best interest of our children.鈥� The Board also restricted school property access to individuals who live in the same household as someone who is COVID-19 positive.
The exact implementation dates for the vaccination mandate have not yet been established. The administration for GYPSD is working with a third-party organization and a legal team to ensure the platform for collecting the status information is simple, data is safe and restricted to only those in HR, and that the exemption request process is clear. Once the dates and the processes have been identified, GYPSD staff will be notified.
Members of the Board recently attended both the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) and the Public School Boards鈥� Association of Alberta (PSBAA) Fall General Meetings. The trustees heard similar challenges around rural transportation costs and the impact of sky-high insurance premiums for contract bus operators. They also heard concerns about the Draft K-6 Curriculum, and the Minister of Education鈥檚 insistence that review, edits, and implementation timelines are not flexible was also echoed by other board chairs. During ASBA鈥檚 call for resolutions, two very important motions for advocacy were presented. The first motion, put forward by Parkland School Division, calls for ASBA to advocate the province to fund the rising costs of transportation. The second motion, put forward by Edmonton Public School Division, calls for ASBA to advocate to the provincial government that stakeholder revisions to the draft curriculum be included and released in a second draft in the Spring of 2022 and that the draft be piloted, field-tested, and reviewed by stakeholder groups for two years. Both motions were approved.
Over the last month, the new Board has been touring the Division鈥檚 schools and has met with the principals from Jasper, Grande Cache, Hinton, Edson, and the Lobstick Zone to hear firsthand how each school is operating. School leaders shared their successes and opportunities for growth; they also shared the data that inform their instructional foci, and the targeted supports they have in place to address students鈥� academic, mental, and emotional needs. The Board will be submitting the Division鈥檚 3 Year Education Plan and the 2020/2021 Annual Results Review (3YEP/AERR), along with their Audited Financial Statement at the end of November. Both reports will be posted on the GYPSD website.
The Board also passed a motion at the Public Board Meeting on November 24, 2021, approving the use of an additional $1,500,000 of Undesignated Reserves towards the construction of a second gym as part of the Grand Trunk modernization project, for a total of $3,000,000. A second gym has been identified as a need by the community and provides an opportunity to support both student learning and community engagements.
Submitted by GYPSD
