聽 聽 聽The 麻豆视频 East Cornerstone Board of Education held a community consultation session at Carlyle Elementary School Jan. 29, as part of the Cornerstone Tomorrow initiative.
聽聽聽聽 The community meeting was one of several held throughout the school district and was designed to gather input from communities which can be used in future planning by the school division.
聽聽聽聽 Twelve attendees including school staff members, parents, and interested citizens from Arcola, Carlyle, and Manor participated in the two-hour session, and identified successes, challenges, and priorities within their schools.
聽聽聽聽 In an effort to allow participants to express their opinions 鈥渇reely and frankly鈥�, the event was led by private consultants, Lorainne Thompson and Craig Melvin.
聽聽聽聽 During a brief introduction followed by a power point presentation, Deputy Director of Education, Kelly Hilkewich stated that the province's four-year plan would focus on enhanced early learning, math skills, and increasing high school graduation rates within Saskatchewan, adding that the 麻豆视频 East Cornerstone Public Division's grade 12 graduation rate exceeded the provincial average.
聽聽聽聽 Regarding reading, Hilkewich said, 鈥淲e have early learning consultants that work with families right now from birth to help them transition so they are better prepared for school.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 鈥淭here are still a lot of kids not coming in phonetically ready for reading. But we're getting better each year,鈥� he added.
聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he goal is for three-year (grade 12) graduation rates to be 90 percent by 2017,鈥� added Hilkewich, citing the importance of strong literacy and math skills for students in order to achieve this outcome.
聽聽聽聽 After Hilkewich's departure, the twelve participants were randomly divided into three groups of four, and asked to consider what schools are doing well and how the school district could improve its programming for students, in addition to identifying challenges that needed to be addressed and prioritizing solutions to these challenges for the school division.
聽聽聽聽 Generally, the groups were impressed with school staff and the involvement of their communities. Many of the challenges they cited were universal, such as bullying, catchment areas, and aging facilities.
聽聽聽聽 However, the participants specified many concerns unique to rural school communities, such as: busing, equitable programming among schools, school closures, and student population changes (due in part to a largely resource-dependent local economy), as well as preparing rural students for a successful transition to urban post-secondary education.
聽聽聽聽 For more information on Cornerstone Tomorrow, visit .
