Regular Board Meeting Highlights - March 2, 2021

The Board of Trustees is pleased to share with all education stakeholders the highlights of our recent Board meeting held virtually on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. The adopted minutes will be available on our website following the next Regular Board meeting.

Update:

• The Board recognized Danielle Bechard from Connections for Learning, Megan King from Greystone Centennial Middle School, and Taygan Lystang from Ecole Broxton Park School, as the three Parkland School Division Edwin Parr nominees. And further, the Board will submit Danielle Bechard's nomination to the Alberta School Boards Association Zone 2/3 Edwin Parr Selection Committee. Each year the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) honours six outstanding first-year teachers, one from each of the six zones identified by ASBA, with the Edwin Parr Teacher Award. School boards may nominate any first-year K-12 teacher who has taught in an Alberta school jurisdiction which is a member of the ASBA.
• The Board approved the revised Board Policy 2: Role of the Board.
• The Board approved the revised Board Policy 3: Role of the Trustee.
• The Board approved the 2021-2022 School Calendar.
• The Board approved the recommendation to write a letter to the Minister of Health and Chief Medical Officer to request that all school-based staff and contractors in regular contact with students, be considered essential service frontline employees and be given high priority to receive Phase 2 COVID-19 vaccinations. Further, that the letter be shared with the Premier, Minister of Education, and MLA's Searle Turton, Shane Getson and Mark Smith, as well as Lori Jess, President of the Alberta School Boards Association.
• The Board deferred the recommendations on Transportation Fee Scenarios as well as the 2021-2022 Fees and Allowances to a future (TBD) Special Board Meeting.
• The Board approved the Three Year Capital Plan for 2022-2025. Each year, school jurisdictions submit facility needs for the next three years and await funding and approval from the province.
  • 2022-2023 - Year One
    Priority One (Option A): Modernization and expand (to a capacity of 1,900) Spruce Grove Composite High School at a cost of $60-65 million dollars.
    Priority One (Option B): Replace Spruce Grove Composite High School with a new High School (Capacity 1,900) at a cost of $71 million dollar.
    Priority Two - Modernization of Tomahawk School at a cost of $2-3 million dollars.
  • 2023-2024 - Year Two
    Priority One - Modernization and preservation of Brookwood School at a cost of $12-14 million dollars.
    Priority Two - Modernization and preservation of Forest Green School at a cost of $12-16 million dollars.
  • 2024-2025 - Year Three
    Priority One - Replacement of Parkland Village School with a new 300 student capacity school at a cost of $14-18 million dollars.
• The Board received as information the Parkland School Division Financial Reporting Profile 2015-16 to 2019-2020 providing a historical comparison of the Division to other divisions within the province.
• The Board received as information a Stakeholder Engagement Event Feedback report. In addition, a video summary on the February 10th virtual event can be found here.
• The Board received the 2020-2021 Infrastructure Maintenance Renewal (IMR) Expenditure Plan. There was a carry forward from the 2019-2020 program year of $778,058 resulting in a balance of $4,033,079 available to spend on IMR projects. (A net increase of $19,021 from 2019-2020.)
• The Board received as information the School Resource Officer (SRO) Report. Constable Gord Marshall joined the virtual meeting to provide some highlights of the ninth year of the SRO Program in the Division. Constable Marshall is in his fourth year in the position. The funding for the program has been shared between Parkland School Division, the City of Spruce Grove, and Town of Stony Plain.

Next Regular Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 6:00 p.m., Centre for Education (Board meetings will be hosted virtually until further notice.)