Coming up tonight is the third school board meeting of the year. Here are a few agenda items to take note of.
Revised timeline for sexual orientation gender identity (SOGI) policy
Last February, the Richmond Board of Education voted in favour of drafting a special policy to increase understanding of SOGI in schools. At tonight’s meeting, Sandra Nixon, the school board trustee who advocated for this policy, will present its updated timeline and throughout February, the board has an opportunity to provide input on the policy as it develops.
Here’s a look at the revised timeline:
Hiring and recruitment update
The board will be given a hiring and recruitment update from Sherry Elwood, superintendent.
Currently, 358 full-time education assistants are employed across the district and 41 positions have been filled since Jan. 8. There are 1331 full time teachers and 208 have been hired since last July.
However, at least one Richmond parent, has expressed concern over the number of EAs in the district. In a letter to Richmond News published on Feb. 8, Scott Stewart wrote that “a history of underfunding has created shortages of EAs.” Even so, recruitment is focusing on hiring teachers teaching on call and preparing for hiring new teacher education program graduates.
Game of Apps presentation
Roland Tecson, accompanied by Richmond students, will present on the Game of Apps Program, a partnership with the district launched last November that raises awareness for software development. Tecson, one of 15 volunteer mentors from the technology industry, has a desire to give back to the community and to pay it forward to the next generation of tech industry workers through the Game of Apps non-profit.
Video recording of board meetings
Unlike city council meetings, school board meetings are not available to view on live stream. In a briefing dated Feb. 8, Elwood stated that a new video recording system has been installed and that recorded meetings will be available at the same that the minutes of the meeting are posted to the school district’s site.
“We will not be live-streaming the video,” Elwood’s letter said. “The primary rationale for only posting videos after a meeting is over is that there may be the odd time that we may want to edit a video. For example, if there was an unexpected heated argument or inappropriate remark made, we may not want someone to see this event on a live video feed.”
The Richmond Board of Education meets at 7 p.m. in the board room at the school district administration offices, 7811 Granville Ave., Richmond on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month, with a few exceptions. Meeting agendas and reports are posted to the website on the Friday prior to each meeting. Minutes of meetings are posted to the website following approval at the next board meeting.
