INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Superintendent ..................... 2

Transportation ...................... 3

Learning Services .................. 5

Technology/Extras................ 6

Around BTPS ........................ 7

COMMENTS ABOUT

THIS NEWSLETTER?

Please send your comments or

suggestions to jody.pollard@btps.ca

We’d love to hear from you!

BUFFALO TRAIL PUBLIC SCHOOLS

1041 10A Street

Wainwright, AB T9W 2R4

P: 780.842.6144

F: 780.842.3255

E: central_office@btps.ca

www.btps.ca

Twitter: BTPS#28

Superintendent’s Memo

For the Week of November 25th - 29th, 2019

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT...

Email: jody.pollard@btps.ca

Question of the week, Page 8

Win a great prize!

The October 24th, 2019 provincial budget announcement has

provided some significant challenges. Typically, we received

information on the provincial budget in March. With the

provincial election in the spring and the decision of government

to request information from the MacKinnon Report on Alberta’s

Finances, prior to forming a budget, we received our final

budgets almost seven months later than we typically would

have. The Board was asked to prepare a preliminary budget in

preparation for the 2019-2020 school year. We were required

to make our own assumptions about which grants would be

available and which ones would fall to the floor when the final

decision was made by the Province. There are a wide variety of

grants and it was very difficult to determine what would be

funded and what would not be supported in the fall budget.

When we finally did get the budget information, we were

disappointed to find that we were given $1,450,000.00 less than

we received in the 2018-2019 school year. This difficult news

was made even worse by the fact that it was announced almost

a full two months into the new school year. This will make the

work of balancing our budget even more difficult. Over the next

while, the Board of Trustees will be trying to find ways of

dealing with this significant funding shortfall. They have always

been focused on protecting the classroom when it comes to

allocating funding. The many years of declining enrolment has

meant that we have tried to come very close to the line when it

came to allocating funds. We have not accumulated surplus

funds as one of the tenants of our budgeting process is that “we

will spend today’s dollars on today’s students.” Your Board has

been vigilant in their efforts to maximize funding to schools and

over the years they have pushed to have significant funds that

were allowable board/system administration allotments to be

distributed out to schools. Our current accumulated operating

surplus is 2.4% of our operating budget.

MISSION: Buffalo Trail Public Schools is committed to maximizing student learning,

in a safe and caring environment, supported by a highly effective team.

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SUPERINTENDENT CONTINUED…

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This amount allows us to meet our monthly expenses without having to borrow funds while

we wait for the monthly funding from Alberta Education. We are proud of the fact that we

commit all available funds to support our students. Declining enrolment over the past 10

years has also meant that we have had to look for efficiencies every year in order to maxim-

ize the dollars to schools. Cuts have been made to a wide variety of areas to try to lessen the

impact on students. When our provincial government delivered this budget, they asked

boards to find efficiencies. When you have spent the past 10 years addressing funding

declines due to lost enrolments through identifying efficiencies, it is frustrating to be told

that we need to find more. Nevertheless, we are working hard to figure out what we can do.

All of the departments in Central Services are being asked to find ways to cut budgets and

take on a share of the funding shortfall. At the same time schools are being asked to find

ways to help in addressing the reduction in funds. The fact that we are doing so at this point

in the year means that we have to cut even deeper given the shorter timeline. I am confident

that we will figure a way forward and that the students of BTPS will see the least impact pos-

sible. This information will be carried forward to the Board of Trustees as they make the diffi-

cult decisions necessary to balance budget 2019-2020!

On November 6th, 2019 the Government of Alberta announced they would seek input from

Albertans on a new Choice in Education Act. Currently in Alberta, public, separate, franco-

phone, charter, independent, early childhood and home education program are available to

students. Government is looking to promote choice and hear from Albertans as what it is

they see to be priorities in school choice. The current mandate is that no new funding in edu-

cation will be forthcoming and as such, current funding will be used to support both enrol-

ment growth in urban areas and potentially to promote school choice. It appears that this

will mean that already limited dollars will be spread over a larger audience. As a part of their

information gathering, a survey has been created to hear from all Albertans. It is important

that everyone take the opportunity to share their opinions and provide information on the

importance of public education in the future of education for our students. The link to the

survey can be found at https://www.alberta.ca/choice-in-education-engagement.aspx.

Take care,

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TRANSPORTATION

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BTPS SCHOOL BUS SAFETY WEEK POSTER CONTEST

WINNERS!!

We had so many terrific entries for the

School Bus Poster Contest this year is was

very hard to choose the winners. Thank

you to all of the teachers who took the

time to have their students learn about

school bus safety while demonstrating

their artistic abilities. We absolutely love

going through the posters and checking

out what bus safety means to the students of BTPS.

Please let me know when you have an assembly so that Mason

or I can present to the winners. If you prefer to have the celebration in your classroom

that works too. Just email me at transportation@btps.ca.

All entries were sent to Black Gold Regional Division for the provincial contest.

Below are the BTPS Winners!l AMISK

CLANDONALD

DELNORTE

DR. FOLKINS

STUDENT SAFETY IS OUR GOAL!!

Grade 2 Reece Johnson

Grade 3 Anna Mackie

Grade 1-3 Briggs Matthews

Grade 4-6 Tie: Harper Matthews

& Lauren McCormack

Grade 6 Chantal Hadley

Grade 1 Luke Skinner

Grade 2 Cole Prokopetz

Grade 3 Zack McMann

Grade 4 Eloise Benoit

Grade 5 Rayna Schaffer

Grade 6 Kohen Morrison

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TRANSPORTATION

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EDGERTON

HUGHENDEN

IRMA

KITSCOTY ELEMENTARY

MANNVILLE

MARWAYNE

VERMILION ELEMENTARY

WAINWRIGHT ELEMENTARY

Grade 3/4 Anna Corkum

Grade 4 Sadie Hunter

Grade 5 Cayden Lunseth

Grade 2 Eidlynn Newton

Grade 4A Taryn Leighton

Grade 4B Tie: Nora Newman &

Cameron Roy

Grade 4C Elyssa Van Staden

Grade 1 Ella Tobin-Gillis

Grade 3 Avery Newton

Grade 4 Charlie Broadhead

Grade 5 Tanner Wright

Grade 4 Quinnley Isert

Grade 5 Brielynn Kidd

Grade 6 Alisha Miskie

Grade 2B Tyrah Tovell

Grade 3 Edward Dusek

Grade 4A Bridget Gorkoff

Grade 3 Jayla Gosselin

Grade 4 Reet Labana

LEARNING SERVICES CONTINUED...

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We have created a Hapara Workspace that includes our

Seesaw Webinar Recordings and Presentations. Please email

Katrin or Heather if you have any Seesaw questions. http://

j.mp/2MUEZ8m

We are loving all the excitement, stories and resources that people are sharing. We really appreciate your Seesaw success stories.

Seesaw: Using Google Slides to Create Templates for Seesaw Activities

https://youtu.be/Yd8NuTF-NLo

A Level 1 Google Certification Workshop is taking place at the training

center at JR Robson in Vermilion on February 3, 2020. You will explore the

core areas of GSuite including the Chrome browser, Google Drive, Docs,

Slides, Spreadsheets, Forms, Calendar, Sites, and Groups. Gmail,

Hangouts, and YouTube are also included. In addition to the tools, you will

be exposed to critical student skill sets necessary for learning in a blended

environment. Your registration fee also includes a voucher for the Level 1

exam.

Please note that this event is not financially supported by BTPS, therefore

schools will be responsible for the $249 registration cost, which also

includes lunch. Please email Heather or Katrin for more information.

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LEARNING SERVICES CONTINUED...

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Hapara Professional Learning Resources

Learn how to use Dashboard in your classroom:

Our new teacher onboarding course is available for all Hāpara

teachers in the Community: How to Hāpara-Dashboard. It is free to participate, self-paced and a-la-

carte so you can start to fully engage with all of the great features that Dashboard has to offer!

Hāpara Champion: Enroll now for 2020 courses:

More teachers than ever are taking advantage of our free certification program: HāparaChampion.

Hāpara Champion courses are fully booked through December of 2019, but don’t worry, you can

register now for 2020 courses to guarantee your spot. Teachers love this program because they meet

and collaborate with other educators from around the world.

Have you joined the Hāpara Community?

There are so many great discussions going on in the Hāpara

Community. Check out this recent post from the community on how to

share your classroom successes.

Start a FREE Girls Who Code Club Today!

Join students and educators across the country by partnering with Girls Who Code to bring computer

science opportunities to girls in your community! Girls Who Code Clubs are FREE programs intended

to get girls ages 11-18 excited about coding and computer science. Clubs can run before, during or

after-school, on weekends or over the summer. In Clubs, girls can:

Engage in fun online coding tutorials

Build community through interactive activities

Learn about inspiring role models in tech

Work together to design solutions to real-world problems facing their communities

Clubs are designed to be run by anyone, regardless of their experience with computer science. This

flyer tells you everything you need to know about starting a Club.

Learn more by signing up for an upcoming Girls Who Code webinar. If you’re unable to attend one of

the live webinar sessions you can also access the Girls Who Code webinar recording and presentation

deck.

Ready to join the movement? Submit a Club application here - it only takes 10 minutes to apply. This

step-by-step guide shows what to expect after submitting a Club application. If you have any questions

about the application process, please take a look at this Application Walkthrough Video.

Even though this is a movement to get girls coding, boys can join, too!

Have questions? Contact Girls Who Code at international@girlswhocode.com!

You can also email heather.rentz@btps.ca or katrin.heim@btps.ca if you have questions.

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LEARNING SERVICES CONTINUED...

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Leading Change in Your School

Guiding schools through significant change is one of the toughest challenges educational leaders face, but learning from the examples of those who have succeeded can make it less daunting. In Leading Change in Your School, distinguished author and researcher Douglas B. Reeves offers lessons learned through his work with educators in thousands of schools around the world and presents real-life examples of leaders who have met the challenge of change head-on--with impressive results for their schools and districts. Readers will also find practical resources for engaging their colleagues in change initiatives. Expanding on a number of his columns in the journal Educational Leadership, Reeves offers insights and recommendations in four areas: * Creating conditions for change, including assessments to determine personal and organizational readiness for change; * Planning change, including cautionary notes about strategic planning; * Implementing change, including the importance of moving from rhetoric to day-to-day reality; and * Sustaining change, including the need to reorient priorities and values so that individual convenience gives way to a shared sense of the greater good. The change leaders--both teachers and administrators--whose stories Reeves tells come from varied districts, but they share a passion for creating schools that work for all students. They are, Reeves says, "people like you, sharing similar challenges but perhaps with different results."

TECHNOLOGY

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For technology related requests, please use the email addresses below. Big or small, a help desk ticket

needs to be started. Please do not “save” your issues for when a tech member is in your school. We use

the tickets to prioritize and plan for the best and most efficient solution. At least one member of our

technology department is on call to assist you, phone or email. Most issues can be dealt with remotely.

PLEASE start tickets as needed, the sooner a ticket is started the sooner we can look for solutions.

Remember your asset tag number on all tickets.

For Tech problems email techhelp@btps.ca

Phone 780-806-2053

For PowerSchool or Power Teacher problems email sishelp@btps.ca

Phone 780-806-2057

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ANSWER

Who won the

transportation

poster contest

at Edgerton

School?

Calvin Anhorn

@ Vermilion Elementary

EXTRAS

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AROUND BTPS - IRMA SCHOOL

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The Irma school has been enjoying the beautiful winter weather, making snowmen at recess.

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AROUND BTPS - IRMA SCHOOL CONTINUED...

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Our Jr/Sr Phys Ed classes finished up their broomball units.