An overview of discussion items and major decisions of the Board of Education of School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake). For meeting agendas/minutes and a schedule of upcoming board meetings visit our meetings page.

West Kootenay Climate Hub

Judy O’Leary and Laura Sacks of the West Kootenay Climate Hub presented information about accelerating climate action in the West Kootenay and support for school boards to get involved in climate action through trustees. More information is available on their website. 

Literacy Report

District Director of Instruction – Innovative Learning Ben Eaton and District Principal - Early Years/Elementary Learning Naomi Ross presented the Literacy Continuous Learning Report. This report forms part of the Enhancing Student Learning Report that is submitted to the Ministry of Education and Child Care each June. 

The report looks at student literacy trends in district data and provides a description of the supports, resources and goals that comprise SD8’s commitment to ensuring literacy success for all learners.

Consent Education Curriculum

Superintendent Trish Smillie presented the Consent Education Curriculum. Consent is an agreement to engage in an activity; it occurs when you ask or give permission to do something. People use consent in their daily life, including giving and asking for consent for food or drink, physical touch, to take a picture, or to participate in an activity.

In November 2022, new guidance for educators and information for parents and students was provided by the Ministry of Education and Child Care, with the aim of giving K-12 students across the province a better understanding of consent and helping to prevent gender-based violence in BC schools.

Amended Budget Bylaw Adopted

Secretary Treasurer Johan Glaudemans presented the 2022-2023 Amended Budget which takes into consideration developments and adjustments that have occurred over the course of the 2022-2023 school year. The Board voted unanimously in favour of adopting the 2022-2023 Amended Budget Bylaw. 

Recycling in SD8

Director of Operations Chris Kerr outlined to the Board that SD8 is required to recycle through a commercial recycling program and isn’t permitted to take recycling to residential depots that aren’t designed for large quantities of commercial recycling. Some of these residential sites do accept commercial cardboard. 

Furthermore, if recyclable materials are contaminated in any way - which is often the case at bins on school property that the public throws items into without permission - the entire load must be taken to a landfill, at significant cost to the district and the goal reducing waste is defeated.  

School Green Teams have been actively collecting recyclable materials that staff then transport to residential recycling facilities. 

An option to address waste in schools until better commercial recycling is available is to keep recyclables from coming into the school in student lunches, for example, or ask students to pack recyclables out again and add them to their recycling at home. 

Reusing is a more effective approach to the problem of waste than recycling. The district will communicate more about recycling and its challenges and options to staff, students and families in the coming weeks and months.  

Policy Changes

The Board approved the following policies: 

• Policy 621: Accumulated Operating Surplus 

All policies are available on our website.
 

These highlights exclude confidential information such as business negotiations, personnel issues and legal matters. For other information or to provide feedback, please contact our Public Engagement Manager at 250-505-7005 or engagement@sd8.bc.ca