A new school year is underway, and there are some major changes in the upper echelons of the School District of Mystery Lake.
"The School District of Mystery Lake is going through a significant period of transition," new superintendent Beverly Hammond told trustees at a Sept. 14 meeting. Not only is there a new executive consisting of Hammond and two assistant superintendents - Angelina Pilon moved from Ontario to become assistant superintendent of programs, and former district teacher Angele Bartlett was named assistant superintendent of human resources - but school board elections are being held Oct. 27, which could potentially overhaul the board of trustees.
At the same time as all this change is in the air, the district is undergoing an organizational review that Hammond said was badly needed. Four years ago, the district undertook a community survey to find out what the public was hoping for from the school board, but it has been even longer since an organizational review took place.
According to preliminary estimates, enrolment in Thompson's schools is up slightly for the 2010-11 year, with 32 more students attending classes this year. However, these are very early figures, and they will likely change before being finalized as of Sept. 30. Despite the slight boost in enrolment, Hammond noted that the number of students in kindergarten classes at one school turned out "much lower than we had anticipated," which will impact the school district in years to come as that class moves through the system.
Conversely, the number of teachers employed is lower than it was in 2009-10. There are 245.19 full-time teachers between R.D. Parker Collegiate and Thompson's six elementary schools, down by 8.5 from last year's number.
One change that parents will notice this year is an alteration in the report card system. It was announced on Sept. 10 by Premier Greg Selinger that "parent-friendly" report cards would be standardized across the province, so that report cards in Winnipeg would be written in the same language as report cards in Thompson. Before this change, each school division had their own formats for report cards.
"We have heard from parents and have listened to their concerns regarding the way report cards are currently presented," said Selinger. "Parents tell me they aren't always getting the information they need from their children's reports. I am confident in the end we will develop a functional and understandable report card that tells parents where their children are excelling and where they need a little more support."
The school board is also looking at its Internet presence. "Website redesign is something that a number of persons within the School District of Mystery Lake determine to be important," said Hammond. She noted in particular that improvements could be made to the website's interface and user-friendliness, and that it could do a better job of "communicating who we are and what we do." Hammond added that any time spent on website redesign must not interfere with the ability of the school district's technological staff to provide support to the district and the schools.
