Horizon School Board Jan. 23 briefs

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Vauxhall Advance

By Ian Croft

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

news@tabertimes.com

The following are a selection of briefs from the Jan. 23 Horizon School Board meeting.

Substitute Support Staff Policy

The alterations made to the policy make it so the Human Resources Department is required to keep a list of all substitute support staff and make it clear that support staff requiring a substitute are required to inform the principal or designate of the school who will arrange for the substitute, and that they might hire substitute support staff from the currently approved list. Additionally, it is required the supervisor of the substitute support staff is required to provide all necessary materials to them, and the substitute support staff is required to follow all regular duties and responsibilities of the staff member unless otherwise specified by the supervisor.

School Day Policy

Alteration to this policy clarified what criteria a principal will take into consideration when establishing a school day. The following criteria are provincial requirements, division, calendar, transportation, limitations, school, learning needs, and well-being, overall learning environment, program, delivery, and school council feedback. Additionally, clarification was made that all calendars must be submitted to the superintendent or designated for approval.

Locally Developed Courses Policy

This policy was altered to clarify that the board motion needs to be passed to approve developed/acquired courses and that senior high locally developed courses must be approved by Alberta Education. Additionally, the renewal process had been expanded after the end of a three-year term, the associate superintendent of learning services or designate must apply for approval and if approval fails, the course must be withdrawn at the end of term. Other clarifications were put in place stating that board approval must be obtained before the implementation of any of these courses, and they should commence until third reading. Responsibilities for the associate superintendent of learning services, or their designate, were also outlined in the alteration to this policy, which states that they are responsible for coordinating lead development and acquisition of these courses, monitoring the courses, and ensuring that everything proceeds and develops along the timeline with the provincial policy.

Planning for Instruction Policy

Alterations to this policy add that design learning activity in planning should reflect the program of studies, long-range plans need to be completed and filed with the principal by the end of the second week of September for year-long courses and courses in the first semester, and in February for courses in the second semester. Another alteration required that the course outline should be available for students and parents at the start of the course, and that teachers should supply a planning document upon the principles request.

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