Good News Items
- Trustees commended the outstanding performances at school Christmas concerts in December. Board Chair Karen Packard expressed gratitude to the staff and volunteers who invest time and talents to create these meaningful opportunities for students.
- Trustee Mandi Skogen praised Cold Lake Outreach School's Night of Sparkle family connection evening, which provided students and families with an opportunity to tour the school, connect with staff, and participate in a group bus ride through the Hearts for Healthcare Sparkle in the Park event, which featured a display created by the school.
- Trustee Cheryl Edwards joined Bonnyville Outreach students and staff at their Winter Wonderland family connection evening at Pontiac Park and commended the staff for their innovative and fun ways to engage families.
- Trustees Blair Norton, Debra Lozinski and Lois Phillips all attended the Lac La Biche Outreach School turkey dinner and appreciated the opportunity to connect with students during the holiday season.
- Trustee Lozinski applauded J.A. Williams High School for their impressive production of The Outsiders.
- Trustee Roy Ripkens celebrated Bonnyville Centralized High School’s annual Santa’s Elves project, which prepared approximately 2,400 gifts for 193 families through a well-organized community wrapping event.
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Nicole Garner, Communications and Public Relations Manager, presented highlights from schools throughout the division. The complete Good News presentation is available on the NLPS website: Good News - January 15, 2025.
Canadian Natural Donation
The Board expressed its gratitude to Kim Foisy, Stakeholder Relations Advisor with Canadian Natural, for an $8,000 donation to support the division’s food security programs. This funding will play a vital role in ensuring students have access to the nutrition they need to succeed.
Transportation Accountability Report
Matt Richter provided an update on student transportation operations, emphasizing both successes and challenges:
- Funding from Alberta Education increased slightly this year, by approximately $25,000, which is still being confirmed. A total of 4,604 students were eligible for funding this year.
- The longest ride time, to one of the more remote areas of the division, has been reduced to 102 minutes, from first pick up to first school drop off.
- This year the division is operating 11 of the 92 bus routes, with contract bus operators responsible for the others.
- Ridership includes 2,705 students classified as rural and 1,359 classified as urban.
- This is second year the division has operated with new distance eligibility limits established by Alberta Education - 1.0 kilometre for students in grades 1 to 6 and 2.0 kilometres for grades 7 to 12.
- There were three days of extreme temperatures that led to bus routes being cancelled across the division last winter.
- 23% of buses on division routes, including all buses operated directly by NLPS, are equipped with cameras that can record vehicle flybys. Division routes are averaging 3 to 5 flybys per week.
One challenge for next year will be a new change the provincial government has announced to distance eligibility limits for students. After reducing the limits to 1.0 kilometres for Grades 1 to 6 and 2.0 kilometres for grades 7 to 12 two years ago, the government announced in December 2024 that effective September 1, 2025, the new distance eligibility criteria for grades 1 to 6 will be 1.6 kilometres. This means that students that were funded for transportation services this year and live between 1.0 and 1.6 kilometres of their designated school will no longer qualify for funding next year. Richter estimated this change will result in a $100,000 reduction in transportation funding next year and impact approximately 100 students who are currently funded to ride the bus. The government has committed to providing transition funding for the 2025-2026 school year but has not provided details yet about what that will look like.
Richter reported that while the strain of the bus driver shortage has eased somewhat, there remains a shortage of spare bus drivers, making it difficult to find replacement drivers when regular route drivers are ill or otherwise unavailable. A driver training grant provided by the provincial government has helped with recruiting drivers, but has not helped with retention. The NLPS driving school continues to train drivers for the division's routes as well as other jurisdictions, provide training to staff so they can transport students on white buses for extracurricular activities, and piloted the province's new post-competency training program to existing drivers last year. A total of 14 drivers completed the full Class 2/S course last year, with 28 completing the S Course.
The newest addition to the NLPS Driving School is Class 5 driver training offered in partnership with Woods Driving School. The long-term goal of the program is to improve accessibility to this training to NLPS students and potentially reduce their costs. Not being able to get a driver's license due to lack of training opportunities is a barrier students have identified that is preventing them from participating in work experience, registered apprenticeship program, and other programming opportunities. Superintendent Rick Cusson noted there is the potential for this service to eventually generate revenue by providing training to individuals outside of NLPS, but the process to establish the training program takes some time.
The Board discussed further opportunities for advocacy related to reducing flybys, including asking the government to provide funding to equip all buses with cameras that can record offenses.
The Board will also continue to advocate for increased funding for transportation as the funding provided does not come close to covering the cost of operating a route. Richter noted that costs continue to increase for drivers including the costs of new equipment, parts and insurance. A fuel subsidy has been appreciated by CBO's, but has not addressed other inflationary costs. Richter noted that urban students are funded at $557 per student, while rural students, some of whom are just blocks away in subdivisions from urban centres receive almost twice as much. In urban areas it takes 73 funded students to cover the costs of operating a route with a 70-passenger bus. In some instances, buses are doing double runs to increase profitability, but that isn't possible in most locations due to the distance buses have to travel, picking up both rural and urban students, and the impact that has on extending the times the schools are open.
The Board also discussed the potential benefits of operating a joint transportation system with other jurisdictions and whether or not there would be any efficiencies as a result. Richter noted that the only benefits would be to a few remote routes in the division. The majority of routes would not experience any changes as NLPS buses are currently full and students would still be picked up based on the school they are attending to increase efficiency and reduce ride times by reducing the number of drop offs at schools.
Inclusive Education Accountability Report
Larissa Langevin, Director of Learning - Inclusive Education, provided an overview of Inclusive Education programming and services provided to students in 2023-2024 and updates on initiatives currently underway in the division.
There has been an increase in the number of students with Individualized Program Plans (IPPs) or Individual Support Plan (ISP) from 1,613 in 2021-2022 to 1,928 for the 2024-2025 school year. This includes an increase in the number of students with severe disabilities (330 in 2021-2022 to 526 in 2024-2025) and mild/moderate disabilities (614 in 2021-2022 to 819 in 2024-2025). The number of students who are not coded by require an ISP has decreased from 666 in 2021-2022 to 582 in 2024-2025.
The division has been working with school teams to intentionally and proactively provide resources and training to address students needs, ensure staffing is allocated in an equitable manner, and explore additional supports and services to address classroom complexity. For instance, Langevin noted that this year many schools opted to purchase alternative seating options and classroom sound systems.
Over the last two years, the division has been developing sensory rooms at schools, with seven already completed, and four more expected to be completed later this year. The division's occupational therapy team completed an inventory of sensory items last spring, identified and ordered new resources, and also created sensory-on-the-go bins for schools that were distributed at the beginning of the school year. The occupational therapy team also provided training to division staff in relation to sensory needs.
NLPS has continued its focus on building capacity and providing training for its educational assistants. After completing the Educational Assistant Pilot Program last spring, the division introduced its Educational Assistant Specialized Training and Enhancement Pathway (EA-STEP) program in September. Each sessions provides 20-25 educational assistants with on-the-job training, coaching, and collaboration opportunities.
Through the Classroom Complexity Grant provided by Alberta Education, the division was able to provide additional educational assistant support for students last year, as well as a division EA Coach to support the delivery of the division's EA-STEP program. This program provides educational assistants with training, mentorship and collaboration opportunities for EA's enrolled in the program. The division is also continuing its partnership with Dr. Chandra Lebenhagen, a Learning and Inclusion Specialist. Dr. Lebenhagen is providing support to three school teams, helping to identify and address barriers to learning, and building staff capacity to design intentional learning tasks that promote student motivation, achievement and engagement.
The Board discussed the need to continue to advocate for predictable, sustainable funding for inclusive education. Some programming and staffing is currently provided through grants, which creates uncertainty and makes it difficult to ensure consistent supports are available to all students. Trustees expressed frustration at the number of supports and services that used to be provided by other government departments and agencies that are now expected to be delivered by school jurisdictions without adequate funding to provide those services. This has placed increased stress on staff, students and parents truing to access the services needed to support students in the classroom.
Occupational Health and Safety Accountability Report
Paula Elock, Secretary-Treasurer, provided the Board with an update on the progress the division is making towards meeting its goals in relation to occupational health and safety. Through implementation of Hour Zero and Public School Works, staff are completing a variety of different safety training programs. Changes have also been made to improve injury reporting, establish benchmarks for the division, and identify areas for improvement. The division is currently in a discount position with the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) and is working on achieving a Certificate of Recognition (COR).
Trustees thanked administration for their efforts in this area and being at the forefront of pursuing COR compliance, which is not a requirement for the education sector. Elock noted that compliance at all levels has improved over the last couple of years and that has helped to mitigate issues and put the division in a better position when it has had to pursue insurance claims.
Vera M. Welsh Elementary School Replacement Project Update
The Board reviewed the latest design for the new Vera M. Welsh Elementary School which will be built on land adjacent to the Bold Centre in Lac La Biche. The division is waiting for approval from Alberta Education to move to the construction phase of the project. Paula Elock, Secretary-Treasurer, said she is hopeful that approval will come as part of the government's budget announcement this spring, or over the summer months.
The design features centralized gathering spaces - gymnasium, music room, learning commons, gathering area and servery - to enhance parent and community involvement in the school and allow for established programming to continue at the new site. The new school will feature 11 classrooms, with the possibility of adding on four portables in the future if enrolment increases.
The exterior features a dedicated bus drop off area that is separate from the parent drop off area, space for a playground, and a separate staff parking lot that is shared with the Bold Centre as overflow parking for the new pool. The parking lot will include the infrastructure to add six EV charging stations in the future when there is a demand for that service.