Pursuant to Section 12(a) of the British Columbia policy on half-masting, flags will be flown at half-mast at the legislature in Victoria and on all British Columbia government buildings in the City of Vancouver from sunrise to sunset on Sunday, April 26, 2026, to mark the one-year anniversary of the tragic deaths that occurred as a result of the attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on April 26, 2025. Where a Canadian flag and a British Columbia flag fly near to one other, both flags should be lowered to half-mast. Whereas April 26 is on a weekend, if there are no maintenance staff working that day it is acceptable to lower flags to half-mast at the end of the day on Friday and return them to full mast on Monday morning. The B.C. policy on half-masting protocols is provided in case school districts wish to follow a similar approach.
Friday April 24, 2026
Deputy Minister of Education and Child Care
250-880-3451
Kaye.Krishna@gov.bc.ca
Happy last Friday in April to you. It’s hard to believe how close we are to the end of the 25-26 school year. This week I’m sharing some important items of note including a half-masting notice to honour the one-year anniversary of the tragic deaths at the Lapu Lapu Festival last April; a reminder about the upcoming Indigenous Education Council Chairs’ Gathering on May 13; a report update for the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning; and information about a new secure browser for assessments that will become mandatory to use next Fall.
Have a great weekend.
Kaye
For Action
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Register for the Analytics Engagement and Information Sharing Session on April 30
Please join us on April 30 at 3 pm PT for the sixth Analytics Engagement and Information Sharing Session of the 2025-26 school year with an overview of the Transition to Post-Secondary Power BI report and Student Enrolment Forecast.
See the poster for more information and the registration link. Please contact Educ.ReportingUnit@gov.bc.ca if you have any questions.
A recording of this session will be available on the BC K-12 Education Data Portal, under the Communications tab.
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Reminder: Share Registration for May 13 Indigenous Education Council Chairs’ Gathering
Due May 6, 2026: A reminder to share registration information with your IEC Chair for the first annual Indigenous Education Council (IEC) Chairs’ Gathering. The IEC Chairs’ Gathering will be held on May 13 from 9 am – 3 pm at the Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport in Richmond. Each IEC may send their IEC Chair to attend the meeting.
This will be an opportunity to come together to discuss effective implementation of IECs to support improved outcomes and attendance for First Nations students in B.C. public schools, in alignment with the School Act Amendments and Ministerial Order.
Hotel room reservations can be made on the Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport website and Monday, April 27, 2026, is the final day discounted hotel room rates are available. If additional nights are needed, please call 604-279-8384 and reference the Indigenous Education Council Chairs’ Gathering on May 13, 2026.
Please see the invitation for further details. The agenda will be provided closer to the date.
For Information
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Framework for Enhancing Student Learning: Report Update
Thank you for the feedback on the 2025 templates for the Enhancing Student Learning Report (ESLR) and Interim Progress Report. Work is underway with the ESLR Template Working Group to adjust both templates to respond to your feedback. These updates will focus on enhancing clarity of instructions and adjusting the Interim Progress Report to create a lighter touch while still maintaining overall consistency with the 2025 templates.
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Revised Operating Grants for the 2025-26 School Year
Updated Operating Grant tables are available on the 2025-26 Interim Operating Grants web page based on actual enrolment data from February 2026, including Continuing Education, Online Learning, inclusive education enrolment growth and newcomer refugees. Please contact Educ.FundingandAllocationUnit@gov.bc.ca if you have any questions.
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Assessment Lock: A New Secure Browser for Graduation Assessments
To strengthen assessment security, the ministry is introducing Assessment Lock, a new secure browser for graduation assessments. Assessment Lock will replace the current Safe Exam Browser (SEB) and Kiosk browser and will become mandatory starting with the November 2026 graduation assessment administration session. For the April and June 2026 sessions, Assessment Lock will be optional; schools may continue to use either SEB or Kiosk or choose to use Assessment Lock.
Note: After the June 2026 graduation assessment session, SEB and Kiosk will no longer be supported.
To familiarize schools with Assessment Lock’s features and system requirements needed for implementation, an English webinar will be held on May 12, followed by a French session on May 14. Webinar details, including the date, time, and registration information, will be shared by the e-Assessment System provider on April 27. If you do not receive an invitation by that time or have any questions, please reach out to assessments@gov.bc.ca.
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Discipline Outcomes
Discipline outcomes are posted to enhance the transparency of the processes and decisions made with respect to complaints and reports about educators. Recently, an outcome was posted regarding Alex Chen whose teaching certificate was suspended for two weeks.
