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Last chance for input on school plan

NANAIMO: school officials host last round of public consultation meetings before writing strategic plan.

Nanaimo school officials are hosting one last round of public consultation meetings before staff sit down and begin writing the district’s strategic plan.

The meetings take place Oct. 9 and 11 starting at 6:30 p.m. at various school sites. On Tuesday (Oct. 9), meetings take place at Wellington, John Barsby, Dover Bay and Ladysmith secondary schools.

The Thursday (Oct. 11) meetings are at Nanaimo District, Cedar and Woodlands secondary schools and Departure Bay Elementary School.

Last spring, trustees and staff held meetings at every school to discuss what people in each school community thought was working and what areas the district should focus on to improve student learning. The district also hosted several public meetings not connected with a particular school.

The input gathered at these meetings and through the district’s online survey – almost 6,000 suggestions – has now been grouped into themes and staff want to get the public’s input on these themes, said Donna Reimer, district spokeswoman.

“It’s the final stage before the plan is drafted and written,” she said. “It was incredible how much input there was. Overall, we had 1,000 people respond in one way or another.”

Themes centre around: how the district meets each student’s individual needs; instructional practices; technology; student health; parent involvement; community partnerships; facilities; financial resources and human resources.

Reimer said it is too early to say what will be included in the draft strategic plan, but any recommendations for major changes would require community consultation.

Employees, parents, students and other members of the public are welcome to come to the meetings next week.

More information about the strategic planning public consultation process is available at www.sd68.bc.ca.