The Ministry of Education and Child Care, the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) invite you to mark your calendars for this year’s BCTEA Annual Meeting on Transportation on Thursday, April 18, 2024, from 10:00 am-12:00 pm PST. Details are available in this event backgrounder.
Friday February 16, 2024
Deputy Minister of Education and Child Care
Hi, everyone. I hope you’re enjoying the longer daylight hours as much as I am as we head into this Family Day weekend. Today you will find some important reminders including the BCTEA Annual meeting on Transportation; ‘retirement’ this summer of historical TRAX and GRAD information on the School Secure Web; a reminder to register for one of the great Continuous Improvement Program Communities of Practice; information onNew $10 a Day ChildCareBC Centres in Squamish, Houston, Surrey, and Vancouver; and information on the 2023/24 District/Authority Scholarships – and much more!
Have a great weekend,
Christina
For Action
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School Secure Web: TRAX and GRAD Reports Archiving and Retention
To improve navigation of the School Secure Web (SSW), legacy and historical reports with no operational value will be removed from the system starting August 30. Schools wishing to retain these reports must download copies to their own secure files. For a summary of currently available reports and their retention schedules, refer to the Reports Archiving and Retention Guide available on the TRAX Information website.
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Project Penny Grant Submission – Application Form
A one-time grant will be made available to support school districts impacted by the decommissioning of TELUS copper services provided to schools under the TSMA Lite. Project Penny grant applications are due March 1. For further information about this grant, please contact gabriel.joseph@gov.bc.ca. Note: To ensure awareness of this one-time grant, the Project Penny Grant Submission Application was also distributed to Next Generation Network leads by email on February 9.
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Continuous Improvement Program Communities of Practice Registration Extension
The deadline for registration for the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning’s Communities of Practice has been extended. Updated information and details are available on the new Communities of Practice poster. Please send an expression of interest or questions to EDUC.Framework@gov.bc.ca by Wednesday, February 21.
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Reminder: Feeding Futures School Food Survey
Please encourage schools to complete the School Food Survey to provide an update on the establishment and expansion of school food programs through Feeding Futures funding. The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete and will be open until February 26.
This survey will collect information about the delivery of school food programs to inform Feeding Futures, including:
- Program type, approximate number of students accessing programs, and cost to families
- Food procurement methods, information about new and existing community partnerships, and approaches to sourcing local food
- Nutrition of meals provided
- Engagement with local First Nations and/or Indigenous organizations
- Processes used to identify students who could benefit from school food programs and methods for targeting these students in a stigma-free way
- Opportunities for improving school food programs
Questions about the School Food Survey can be sent to the School Food Programs branch at ECC.schoolfood@gov.bc.ca.
For Information
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Great Big Crunch
Throughout the month of March, you are invited to participate in the Canada-wide Great Big Crunch on March 7 at 10:00 am PST. The Great Big Crunch is a moment of “anti-silence” where participants bite into crunchy local produce in unison. Invite your classroom, your whole school, or colleagues to crunch together in celebration of nutritious, B.C.-grown school food. Registration and information can be found on the Coalition for Healthy School Food website.
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New $10 a Day ChildCareBC Centres
More families in B.C will save thousands of dollars each year as more than 700 child care spaces move into the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program this month. These spaces will help reduce costs for families and further increase access to high-quality, affordable child care.
The newly approved $10 a Day spaces are being offered at 25 child care centres throughout the province, including Houston, Squamish, Surrey, and Vancouver.
For this intake, government’s focus was to prioritize new $10 a Day centres in communities that do not yet have access to the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program or have a low number of $10 a Day spaces compared to the region’s population density. More spaces will be converted to the program over the next few weeks, bringing B.C. closer to the goal of 15,000 $10 a Day ChildCareBC spaces by spring 2024.
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Equity Learning Video Resource
Equity in Action is a framework that focuses on improving the educational success of Indigenous students. Please review and share the new Equity Learning Video Resource, which encourages educators to continue their equity scanning work, utilizing the four pillars of policy and governance, learning environment, learning profile, and pedagogical core to support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students.
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2023/24 District/Authority Scholarships
Information regarding 2023/24 District/Authority scholarships is now available for administrators. This includes allocations, awarding guidelines, and how to report conditional recipients by the deadline of June 30. Please plan to use your full allocations and ensure that your selected students are on track to meet core and scholarship-specific eligibility requirements by August 31. Scholarship vouchers will be sent to confirmed recipients in November. Contact scholarships@gov.bc.ca with questions.
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School District Liaison Secondment Opportunity
The Ministry of Education and Child Care has a secondment opportunity as a School District Liaison with the MyEducation BC team. This is a full-time secondment to June 30, 2025, with an option to extend an additional 12 months.
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Pre-Information Session: Virtual Career Fair to Recruit French Educators (Destination Canada)
A pre-information session tailored for employers registered to attend the virtual Destination Canada Education event is scheduled for Friday, February 23, at 1 pm PST. The session will be 90-minutes long, with a 30-minute Q&A period following. Key topics will cover insights and guidance on the essential aspects related to the certification and immigration processes to recruit internationally educated teachers. Presenters for this session will include representatives from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Provincial Immigration Program (PNP), and the Ministry of Education and Child Care. Your participation is optional, but highly encouraged if you are planning to participate in Destination Canada Education. The goal is to support you in preparation for this virtual recruiting forum. If you have any inquiries or wish to register for this pre-information session, please reach out to Mimi.Lin@gov.bc.ca.
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Certificate Rescission
On February 6, 2024, the Director of Certification rescinded the certificate of qualification of Serguei Ianine. The rescission took place with immediate effect under section 31 of the Teachers Act.
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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 Nancy Le’Ann Babulal, who agreed to a reprimand.
