ST. PAUL - St. Paul Education Regional Division has requested funds from the province to begin planning for a new school in the community of Mallaig.
A letter, signed by Doug Fedoruk, director of facilities and transportation with SPERD, was sent to the provincial government in late November. The letter was discussed briefly during the Dec. 11 St. Paul Education board meeting.
The letter requests planning funds for the division’s number one capital plan priority – Mallaig School.
“As you are most likely aware, an in-depth Value Management exercise was completed in 2018 that identified several valid facility options and a site readiness checklist has recently been submitted,” wrote Fedoruk in the letter.
“The next natural planning steps would be to undergo a geotechnical site assessment and hazardous building materials assessment of the existing school. As such, our request is for $35,000 to conduct this work.”
A letter of support for the project from the County of St. Paul accompanied the letter from SPERD.
While the approval of the construction of a new school is unpredictable, doing the site work early ensures the area is ready if a project is announced.
2020/21 calendar
The board looked over a draft of the 2020/21 school calendar during it’s meeting on Dec. 11. Although the calendar still had to go before school councils, superintendent Glen Brodziak said he hadn’t heard any feedback yet from schools.
One of the main items that can be noted is the fact that Labour Day long weekend isn’t until Sept. 7, so school will have to start ahead of that weekend. The first day of classes, according to the draft, is Tuesday, Sept. 2.
Also, Remembrance Day will fall on a Wednesday, followed by teacher days on the Thursday, Friday and Monday, making for a mini fall break.
The last day of class ahead of Christmas break will be Dec. 18, which means school will resume shortly after the New Year on Jan. 4
“It makes January a long month,” acknowledged Brodziak.
For spring break, the last day of class will be March 26, and classes will resume April 6 since April 5 is Easter Monday.
The last day of classes for the year will be June 24, 2021.
The calendar allows for 177 instructional days. The draft will be shared with school councils ahead of being approved in 2020.
Drives Training
St. Paul Education will be partnering with St. Paul Driving School to offer driver’s training courses to youth. Sessions will begin in January and go until about May. Normally, the cost for the program is over $800, said Brodziak, but through the partnership the course will be offered to families for $350.
The course is being offered in this way on a one-time basis, for now. But, the division is very excited to be part of the partnership, said Brodziak.
Courses will take place on scheduled PD days with road training being done on weekends. Students can sign up for any dates, at any of the schools. They will earn three credits for completing the locally developed course.
Kindergarten entrance
Information is being sent out and shared with parents who have children near the kindergarten age. New requirements have set the kindergarten entrance the same across the province.
Students must be five years old by Dec. 31 to be registered in kindergarten. Children born between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 2015 can register for kindergarten in the 2020/21 school year.
Advanced registrations will be held, beginning Jan. 6, 2020, in all St. Paul Education schools.
Visit with Education Minister
Brodziak, Starosielski and board vice-chair Justin Anderson, had a meeting with the Minister of Education on Dec. 5, in Edmonton. The visit offered St. Paul Education an opportunity to sit down with Minister Adriana LaGrange and tell her about the school division.
Starosielski described it as a “get to know you opportunity,” adding, “It was a great visit.”
Conference schedule
Starosielski recommended the board take a bigger look at conferences and how attendance at the conferences affect the division’s “bottom line.” Due to budgetary constraints, she recommended the board not commit to any conferences until it begins its budget process in January.
She noted that a number of conferences were coming up in early 2020. Many of the conferences are very worthy to attend, and she noted it is difficult to say no to attending.
