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Board Meeting Highlights for April 2018

For Immediate Release
April 25, 2018

GUELPH, Ontario – The April meeting of the Upper Grand District School Board was held on April 24, 2018. The following provides highlights from the meeting.

KAIROS Blanket Exercise

Trustees and UGDSB staff participated in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise, led by the board’s Curriculum Lead for First Nations, Métis, Inuit Education, Colinda Clyne, and her son.

The Blanket Exercise is a powerful and interactive teaching tool that teaches Indigenous rights history and the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada, covering more than 500 years of history in roughly 90 minutes. During the exercise, participants take on the roles of Indigenous peoples standing on blankets that represent the land. They walk through hundreds of years of history, from pre-contact, treaty making, colonization and resistance. The exercise teaches participants about disease, treaties, residential schools, assimilation and engages participants on an intellectual and emotional level. Following the exercise, participants sat in a talking circle and discussed their experience as a group.

As part of her work in the Upper Grand, Clyne has walked many groups through the Blanket Exercise, including teachers and school administrators, sharing with them powerful lessons that many did not learn when they were in school.

IT and Broadband Modernization Project Update

Staff from the Information Technology department provided trustees with progress updates on the board’s internal wireless network upgrade project, the Broadband Modernization Project and recent network security initiatives.

In 2015, the UGDSB IT department advocated for funding to improve the internal wireless network capacity at UGDSB schools and offices. The project scope included upgrades to structured cabling and deployment of wireless access points to all teaching and administrative spaces. This project scope did not address additional internet capacity – it was focused on reliably connecting the growing number of wireless devices.

With the improvements to the internal wireless network underway, it was recognized that the board’s internet capacity would need to be significantly expanded.  The Broadband Modernization Project (BMP) began in early 2016 and included John McCormick, Associate CIO at the UGDSB. Staff conducted an assessment of Ontario school boards’ internet capacity and identified three main issues: 

  1. Lack of last mile fibre infrastructure: 31% of schools lacked fibre connectivity running from the school to the Internet Service Provider.
  2. Inadequate network capacity: More than 70% of schools did not have the capacity to transmit the large amounts of data required to use new technologies in the classroom.
  3. Outdated network design: 90% of school boards had a network designed for administrative functions, which is not adequate for the current and growing use of technology in the classroom.

The overall goal of the BMP is to provide an adequate level of broadband connectivity to all Ontario students and educators at an affordable price, and to enhance student achievement and well-being through connected, innovative learning environments.  An initial target broadband internet speed of 1Mb/s per student or educator was established.

The first wave of the project was designed to explore possible solutions that could solve the above three issues.  The first wave targeted 180 schools from roughly one half of the boards in the province.  Schools were chosen based on school need, geographic region within the province, French/English, and public/Catholic.  The UGDSB was chosen to complete all of its schools and administrative sites in order to understand the overall impact of a full school board implementation.

At the April meeting of the UGDSB, McCormick provided trustees with an update on the UGDSB’s project progress and remaining steps.

The internal wireless network upgrade project is now 95% complete – new structured cabling has been deployed and wireless access points have been added to nearly every classroom in UGDSB schools.

The overall implementation of the UGDSB BMP is approximately 70% complete. The board met the provincial target of 1Mb/s per student/educator in mid-October 2017. Board staff are now helping to roll out the solutions to all school boards in Ontario.

The BMP project at UGDSB is implementing the recommended network and security reference architectures. These architectural changes, along with other security technology changes, provide additional security capabilities to protect our students.

Preliminary Elementary and Secondary Staffing for 2018-19

Trustees approved staff recommendations regarding preliminary elementary and secondary staffing for next school year. Based on the projected enrolment and system needs, a preliminary allocation of elementary teaching staff will be set at 1400.7 FTE teachers for the 2018-19 school year. A preliminary allocation of secondary teaching staff will be set at 744.5 FTE teachers for the 2018-19 school year.

Elementary Principal/Vice-Principal Appointments and Placement

The following Principal appointment is effective May 1, 2018:

The following Vice-Principal appointments are effective May 1, 2018:

The following Vice-Principal placement is effective May 9, 2018:

Policy Updates

Trustees released the following draft policy for public consultation: Policy 501 Out of Area and Out of District Attendance. Feedback on this draft policy will be accepted until May 24, 2018.

The procedures manual for Policy 203 Video Surveillance (203-A) and Policy 307 Outdoor Play Spaces (307-A) were updated, as was Protocol P.13 Therapy Dogs in Schools. 

To view all UGDSB policies and procedures, and to provide feedback on draft policies, visit www.ugdsb.ca/policy.

The next regular monthly meeting will be held on Tues. May 22, 2018, at the Guelph Board Office, 500 Victoria Road North. Everyone is welcome to attend. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

About the Upper Grand District School Board

The Upper Grand District School Board serves approximately 34,000 students through 65 elementary schools and 11 secondary schools in the City of Guelph, County of Wellington and County of Dufferin. The UGDSB covers the ancestral and traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Six Nations of the Grand River, and Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territories. Student success is the goal of over 3,000 dedicated teaching and support staff who are aided by the contributions of caring volunteers and community partners.

Learn, Lead, Inspire…Together

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Media contact:
Heather Loney, Communications and Community Engagement Officer
Upper Grand District School Board
519-822-4420 ext.725
[email protected]

Megan Sicoli, Administrative Officer, Communications
Upper Grand District School Board
519-822-4420 ext.764
[email protected]

Categories: Media Releases • News