Developmental Objectives for the 2009/2010 School Year Developmental Objectives are reviewed periodically throughout the year by staff and stakeholder representatives and formally revisited annually by the Board. They are then formally adopted for the year at a Regular (Public) Board Meeting. Developmental Objectives are complementary to the ongoing mandate for the school system (OIC 1280/89), and the Board's own Philosophy and Goals and Objectives.  They provide a focus for collective learning, growth and development. In response to each objective there are several individual initiatives. Sometimes an initiative will span more than one objective. That is the case, for example, with the District's ongoing development of inclusive educational programs and services. In the spring of 2008 a broad-based Inclusion Review was conducted. That work is continuing through school and district level dialogues that will result in a range of action research projects in 2009/2010 to further develop and spread effective practices identified through the Review, and may result in some realignment of budgets and services. One significant action research project will be conducted jointly with the Richmond Teachers' Association (RTA) and the British Columbia Teachers' Association (BCTF). These projects are directly applicable to at least the Student Success and Organizational Sustainability objectives below. Student Success How can we enable all our students to do their best? Continuous improvement in student achievement is an ongoing core objective of the District.  The current developmental goals of Literacy and Social Responsibility are described in detail in the District Achievement Contract. This ongoing work will be consolidated and enhanced through collaborative development of an Assessment Policy. Although strong literacy skills and socially responsible behaviour are necessary for students to fully participate in, and benefit from their schooling, they are not sufficient. Inclusive classroom-based curriculum, a variety of pathways to graduation and a range of supplementary learning services are also required to respond to the unique interests, abilities, and needs of students. The District is actively reviewing, refining, and modifying its Continuum of Learning Services in order to most effectively and efficiently use existing resources to "enable all learners" and to expand those resources where possible. A coordinated program of action research initiatives will be conducted to learn from and institutionalize the many effective practices developed over the past two decades as well as identify promising new practices to ensure the most equitable and effective provision of Learning Services. Distributed Learning will continue to be expanded to preserve as much as possible of the breadth of secondary course options during a period of declining secondary enrolment and to provide high-quality opportunities for secondary students to experience a virtual learning environment, which is expected to become increasingly important for lifelong learning. The District is also developing an Aboriginal Enhancement Agreement pertaining to educational programs and support for its Aboriginal students and a Community Literacy Plan with both early and later literacy components. One example is a new workplace literacy program for custodial staff that will be offered in partnership with Douglas College. Organizational Sustainability How can we ensure that the challenging work done by staff is sustainable for them? In order for the District to continue to be a high-achieving organization in which students experience educational success, it must continue to provide the opportunity and support for staff to engage in continuous improvement. Additionally, however, they must have the personal resources of wellness, optimism and enthusiasm to sustain a zest for learning. Staff wellness is interpreted broadly to include not only physical health and good nutrition, but also social/emotional and mental health. The District is encouraging staff-organized wellness activities, sharing information about what works and expanding opportunities for staff to participate by opening up new ones. A district-organized and subsidized flu vaccination program has been introduced and staff can now participate in some Continuing Education virtual learning programs at a reduced rate. The District has long provided a rich array of professional learning opportunities for staff. Recently, these opportunities have been expanded to more fully incorporate support staff and a new Office Support Services department has been created to provide training and support for school secretaries. An enhanced program of pro-d and peer supports for administrative staff will continue to be developed to assist with significant succession. In addition to opportunities for ongoing learning, supportive supervision is important to a healthy organizational climate and individual success. There is a well-developed process of supervision for teachers defined in their Collective Agreement. The District is beginning implementation of a new supervision process for support staff and continuing its implementation of a new supervision process for school and district administrators. In all walks of life, and certainly in the school district, there has been an intensification of work experience as the pace and complexity of the work increases. The District will work collaboratively with its staff to seek ways to address increasing workloads. Specifically, the elementary report card will be reviewed to determine whether recent changes that abbreviated it so that staff would find it easier to prepare and parents would find it easier to understand have been effective for both parties or further work is required. The format for Individual Education Plans will be abbreviated, a focus on fewer goals will be encouraged and ways to better support meaningful implementation will be investigated. Environmental Stewardship How can we behave responsibly towards the natural world? The Richmond School District has long been a leader in the introduction of energy conservation measures and in the development of student leadership programs that promote behavioural change for environmental sustainability. The District will build on this strong foundation by creating more systemic programs for environmental stewardship. A broad-based Environmental Stewardship Committee will provide information about effective school initiatives and will develop a network of support to share and enhance environmental initiatives. A district-level Environmental Sustainability Secretariat will use this information to broaden participation in successful school-based programs and revise district services to remove barriers or provide the additional support that schools require. There will be continued attention to and investment in district-initiated programs to reduce energy and resource consumption. This will include incentives for schools to contribute through behavioural changes that are within their control. Steveston-London Secondary School is expected to be certified as the first secondary school in Canada to achieve a LEED Gold Standard for environmentally sustainable construction. All future construction will also abide by this standard. Additionally, the District will promote with students and parents the advantages of attending, and walking or biking to, their neighbourhood elementary or secondary school whenever possible in order to reduce traffic and the consequent environmental costs. Communication How can we communicate in a clear, timely and inclusive manner? Communication can always be improved by ensuring that staff, students, and parents have timely access to the information they need and are not overloaded by information they do not require. In addition, the District's Foundations commitment to working in a partnership between teacher, student, and parent requires effective communication between home and school. Therefore, the District will improve its web site, introduce common standards for school web sites and provide the software and support necessary for schools to convert their existing web site to this new standard. RichNet will also be weeded to eliminate unused conferences and restructured to make it easier to find the extensive information it contains. In collaboration with community partners, the District will support the Richmond District Parents' Association in providing a weekly parent seminar about district and community services, and will continue to develop its new Settlement Workers in Schools service to improve communication with immigrant parents and encourage their full involvement in school life. Complementary Objectives for 2009/2010 Complementary Objectives, while they are important and sometimes urgent, do not have the same priority because they are either episodic or simply beyond the capacity of the district to support in as complete a manner as the Developmental Objectives. Some of the most prominent of these objectives are the following (which is not a complete list of current projects and initiatives). These objectives are prepared by staff for Board information but are not officially endorsed by resolution. Fine Arts The traditional focus in our community on preparation for university entrance and the current provincial focus on aspects of the curriculum for which numerical achievement data is more easily generated may tend to narrow our focus and thus impair our ability to support the full range of student interests and needs. The Strengthening Fine Arts Committee works with an Area Superintendent to ensure that Fine Arts will continue to be a prominent part of the educational program in Richmond. Health Promotion Schools will continue implementation of new Food and Beverage Guidelines and the new provincial requirement for daily physical activity at all grade levels. Support will be provided through a RichNet conference and a joint implementation group with the Health Department. At the elementary level, daily physical activity will be achieved through the Action Schools program. At the secondary level support will be provided to encourage students beyond Grade 9 lead an active lifestyle and they will be required to record data that demonstrates how they have done so. Staff wellness is also an important part of health promotion in schools, which is incorporated within the Developmental Objective for Organizational Sustainability. Technology and Communication Services Plan To ensure the efficient and effective use of technology across all areas in the school district, a comprehensive Technology and Communications Plan for instructional and administrative uses has been developed. This plan is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure goals are being met and reflect current and future objectives. There are regular opportunities for stakeholder groups to meet with the Director of Technology and Communications Services to ensure that technology resources are being used effectively and directed towards areas of significant need or potential. This has enabled the school district to provide good access to reliable services in the area of technology and communications services. With the ever-increasing dependency on technology to provide and produce information, the need for timely access to technical support and repair services as well as for increasing access to technology continues to put strains on available services and budgets. With an established strong technical infrastructure in place, more attention is now being focused to exploiting the potential for instructional and administrative applications of technology that enhance student learning and enable it to support and sustain inclusive educational programs. Richmond Virtual School, our distributed learning (DL) program, offers students an alternative learning method. District Curriculum Coordinators and Consultants work to support use of technology across curricular areas to support learning for all students. Specific support for the use of technology to assist students K-12 with special needs is coordinated by the Learning Services Department and supported through an Assistive Technology Lab. Wireless access has been deployed at all schools to anticipate the exponential growth of wireless devices used to access Internet-based resources. Administrative Software The District is mid-way in a multi-year implementation of the BC Electronic Student Information System (BCeSIS), which is school administration software that the Ministry of Education has asked all school districts to use. This involves replacing all administrative systems in schools and requires extensive technical support and training for administrators and school secretaries. Under BCeSIS, teachers enter attendance data, which requires additional computer hardware for teachers and training in data entry procedures. The central elements of a new Business Information System are now fully operational at the district level, but a great deal remains to be done to integrate other administrative software with the system and to develop user interfaces that will enable administrators and staff at all levels to full utilize the potential of the system for improved data management and decision support. Olympic and Paralympic Preparations The District is working with the Richmond Olympic Business Office to provide opportunities for students to benefit from the Olympic experience and specifically from the fact that Richmond is a host city. Specifically, the District is working with the City to provide Fine Arts performance opportunities for students within the O-Zone celebration site. A network of school contacts has been established and a RichNet conference created to act as a clearinghouse for information and resources. All students will have the opportunity to skate on the ice at the Oval before the Olympics. Many schools have hosted Olympic athletes and some are developing connections with teams from other countries. This kind of opportunity is expected to expand greatly as the countdown to the Olympics continues. In the spring of 2008 the District managed a provincial project to develop lesson starters and school activity ideas related to the Olympics and Paralympics. These materials are now posted at http://www.sharingthedream.gov.bc.ca/search.php in both English and French. A tutorial video has been produced to assist teachers in accessing resources available through the Vancouver 2010 /edu site and a resource person is available to schools that request an introduction to these resources. End