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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Superintendent .................... 2
New Inclusive Learning………2
Curriculum ............................ 3
Transportation ........….……… 4
Technology ........….……… ...... 5
Human Resources....….……… 5
Payroll……………………………...6
Around BTPS…………….……….7
Around BTPS ………………….. . 8
Continued on next page
Superintendent’s Memo
For the Week of August 31st - September 4th, 2015
COMMENTS ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER?
Please send your comments or
suggestions to [email protected]
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
www.btps.ca
Twitter: BTPS#28
FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT...
Email: [email protected]
Answer the question on page
seven and have your name entered
for a prize!
WELCOME BACK! I hope that everyone had a very restful break. I know that many staff have been in the schools for a while now preparing for the new school year. The start of a new year always feels like a fresh start, a chance to continue those things that are working well and take a different approach to those things that might work better! I also want to welcome new staff to our team. I had a chance to meet many of our new teaching staff at the recent orienta-tions and personally got to welcome them. Many of you will have met them at the TES Team day last week and I am certain that they are be-ing welcomed to their schools as they navigate the challenge of being in a school for the first year.
MISSION: Buffalo Trail Public Schools is committed to maximizing student learning,
in a safe and caring environment, supported by a highly effective team.
16 teachers attended the new teacher orientation held on August 25, 2015.
L-R:
Brad Romanchuk, Superintendent, - HR, Wyatt Watson (EDG), Erin Beek (KES), Larenn Kebernik (MAR), Alyssa Quist (SFC), Jessica Gaugler (EH), Bob Allen, Superintendent.
Mackenzie Berg (VES), Anna Svenungard (KES), Kailey Leggette (VES), Tom Stewart (DEL), Heidi Parsons (IRMA).
Marissa Murray (PHS), Marie Kluthe (JR), Cameron Harding (DEL).
Lindsay Hines (MAR), Ginnene Nichols (DEW), Sydney Kurtz (EH).
FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT (FROM PAGE 1)
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We are starting the year with a new school calendar! After a very thorough consultation last year, the Board approved new calendar guidelines and we have created a calendar out of them. Last week you had a chance to experience some of the changes with two full days dedicated to the choice of teachers for personal professional development or organization, a day dedicated to school level professional learning and some time for a staff meeting and a day for collaborative learning with our Teacher Effec-tiveness Support Teams (TES Teams). As we go through the year, we will monitor the impacts of chang-es that include an uninterrupted September and June, additional full days dedicated to school level pro-fessional learning and a more structured non instructional day cycle. I look forward to how the changes will impact student learning in BTPS.
Most of our support staff will be back today as well. These people play an integral part in our success with students! They are valuable members of our team and our organization is better for having them! I am also sending out information today that shares some very exciting news for BTPS. At their August 19th, 2015 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved the establishment of and accepted the criteria for a new BTPS Outstanding Support Staff Award. This award was established in honor of our former Admin-istrative Assistant, Amy Rodgers. Her commitment to students, staff, parents and community was a credit to our BTPS team. Many staff have shared with us the need to establish an award similar to the Alberta Excellence in Teaching Award that recognizes the contributions of our support staff. The infor-mation package shares the criteria and requirements for nominating a support staff member from BTPS as well as the attributes that are being considered in the selection of the recipient. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the success of our team through recognizing the talents of those we work with every day. The first recipient of this annual award will be announced at the BTPS Celebration Day on October 9th, 2015. To allow us time to review the applications, we have set a deadline for submissions for September 30th, 2015.
Take care,
Welcome back!
We hope that you were all able to enjoy the beautiful “sunshine” summer that we had and we hope that we will all be able to experience and enjoy an equally beautiful fall. We are embarking upon another year of exciting change and with that the possibilities of personal and professional growth are endless. We hope that you are all excited and positively challenged by the possibilities that lie ahead for all of us this year within BTPS.
What is New in Inclusive Learning (Student Education Services)?
The “Department of Student Education Services” has been renamed to reflect the current inclusive learning/ education move-ment, it will now be known as the Department of Inclusive Learning, with that comes a title change for me – to the Director of Inclusive Learning, and for those of you currently in SES, you will also have a title change – to Inclusive Learning Teachers.
Inclusive Learning Meeting: The first official Department of Inclusive Learning meeting for all school Inclusive Learning teachers of the 2015/2016 school year will occur via Vid-Con and called the September Inclusive Learning Matters Meeting – date, time, and agenda details to be forwarded soon. At this time, there will be no face to face Inclusive Learning Meeting for September. All Principals and Inclusive Learning staff are invited to attend.
Alberta Education – Inclusive Education website (wonderful, abundant, current, and Alberta contextual resources and infor-mation) – is difficult to navigate: therefore you may want try the search option and type in “supporting all students”. It will bring you to the page: http://www.education.alberta.ca/admin/supportingstudent.aspx for your viewing, referencing, and learning needs."
NEW INCLUSIVE LEARNING (SES)
Director - Crystal Tower - 780.806.2056
Admin Assistant - Gayle Hedley - 780.806.2046
Early Learning Lead Teacher - Tracy Smith - 780.806.2049
CURRICULUM
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Welcome Back…..
Welcome Back everyone! Stop by often this year to check out curriculum news & updates along with teacher PD opportunities and classroom resources to help support your teacher needs.
Subscriptions……
During the year, make sure to stop by these sites and create a teacher account with your BTPS email address to take advantage of our subscriptions. With an account you will get access to additional resources offered to members. Need a password? Ask your principal or email [email protected]
Alberta Assessment Consortium: http://www.aac.ab.ca/
TC2 resources: http://tc2.ca/en/ professional‐learning/ongoing‐support/ overview‐of‐all‐our‐resources.php
Learn Alberta: http://www.learnalberta.ca/
Upcoming Sessions to check out
September 3, 2015 - Assessments 2015: Webinar Series
September 9, 2015 - Vermilion SLA 3 Information Update
September 28, 2015 - St. Paul
Manipulative 'Must-Haves’ in the Grades 7 & 8 Classrooms
September 28, 2015-St. Paul
Reading Assessments & Next Steps K – 6
September 28, 2015-St. Paul
Manipulative 'Must-Haves’ in the Grades 7 & 8 Classrooms
September 29, 2015-St. Paul
Vulnerable Readers and Writers K – 6
September 29, 2015- St. Paul
Performance Assessments in the Gr 7-9 Classroom
Tools for Intellectual Engagement
The Galileo Education Network supports teachers to design inquiry‐
based projects in which students use the digital technologies of
their time in creative and thoughtful ways. Make sure to check out the
BTPS teachers featured!
Connect Charter School teachers blog about their adventures in
inquiry based teaching and learning. Resource and idea rich, this is a
site worth visiting.
A concise, read for you, the inquiry professional. This survey of the
literature supporting inquiry based learning is a quick and informative
read.
FNMI TEACHER RESOURCES
BTPS has an amazing FNMI
Google site! Check it out for
quick and easy links to re-
sources and ideas for your class-
room this year! Help support
learning for all students in your
classroom with these
resources ….
Virtual Museum Re-
sources
You don’t need to travel to learn.
Explore our extensive list of Na-
tional and Provincial museums
with FNMI content available on-
line, via webinars and VC.
Prairie Books Now FNMI
literature
Check out the newest issue of
Prairie Books Now, a publica-
tion of the Manitoba Book Pub-
lishers association. The FNMI
section has great reviews of Ca-
nadian FNMI authors and their
works… poetry, youth fiction,
adult fiction, memoirs and much
more. Why not incorporate an
FNMI title into an interdiscipli-
nary unit this year?
FNMI Professional Devel-
opment
Listening, Understanding and
Moving Forward Together—
First Nations, Metis, and Inuit
Education Symposium 2015.
October 7, 8, and 9 in Edmonton,
Alberta
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TRANSPORTATION
NEW: WELCOME BACK SAFETY MESSAGE:
A big welcome back to everyone as they return to the hustle and bustle of “Back to School”! I hope you all enjoyed your summer and are ready for the exciting school year to come. As our minds are racing in a million directions, may I remind you all to slow down in school zones to make sure our children can get safely to and from school. I would also like to remind you to remember when a
school buses’ red flashing lights are activated, DO NOT PASS.
The Student Transportation Association of Alberta has initiated a provincial wide Red Flashing Light Aware-
ness Campaign. The provincial slogan is “Reds Flash-ing…No Passing! Coffee sleeves with this important safety message have been distributed across Buffalo Trail Public Schools as well as other jurisdictions in the province to remind drivers when they are sipping on their coffee to stop for a school buses’ Red Flashing Lights.
If our students are going to be safe to and from school, students, parents, staff, and bus drivers all have to do their part to obey traffic laws. Remember also to please to park in designated parking areas, and refrain from parking in bus loading zones and handi-cap park-ing spots.
REMINDER FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS:
Please remember that when you are assigning projects to students that they may not be able to transport them on the bus. Broken glass for stained glass win-dows, large paper mache objects, hockey/lacrosse sticks and curling brooms, large band instruments are not allowed on the bus and can become dangerous objects on a school bus. Please inform parents that you will be working on such projects in class and it may require parents to bring the supplies on their own to the school. I know there is no ill intention, but bus drivers have been told via Alberta Traffic Regulation and BTPS administrative procedure that they are not to allow such items on the school bus and they must ad-here to the rules. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
NEW ONLINE BUSSING REGISTRATION SYSTEM:
The Transportation Department is pleased to announce that school bus registration forms are now available online at https://sites.google.com/a/btps.ca/btps-transportation-registrations/. Boundary Exemption (Resident), Cross-Jurisdiction (Non-resident) boundary exemption request forms, as well as yard service must be printed off as they require a signature, but they are also available online at http://www.btps.ca/Transportation%20Registration.php. Bussing requests will be processing within 3 business days as confirma-tion of registration must be established at the school and bus routes and times may need to be altered. You will receive notification that your request has been received and that the bus driver/contractor will be in contact with you shortly.
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Director of Transportation: Chrysti Mannix PH: 780-806-2051 [email protected] Administrative Assistant: Deb Beare PH: 780-806-2052 [email protected] Administrative Assistant: Sara Savage PH: 780-806-2052 [email protected] Bus Cancellations can be found at: http://www.btps.ca/Transportation%20Registration.php
All transportation registration requests and inquiries should be emailed to [email protected]
STUDENT SAFETY IS OUR GOAL!!
Chrysti Mannix
Director of Transportation
(780) 806-2051 Office
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TECHNOLOGY
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Heather @JR Robson
ED TECH: BTPS now has the services of two knowledgeable Ed techs to help you with your important work in using technology in your classroom. Both of these professionals are available to work in your classroom. If you are interested in using the services of our Edtechs please contact: Xay Saysana @ [email protected] or by phone/text @ 780-806-9612 Heather Rentz @ [email protected] or by phone/text @ 780-806-9184
HELPDESK: Volume is at lower levels. Please continue to contact us with your technical problems using BTPS equipment so we can deploy solutions faster and track problems to become more proactive. When creating a ticket separate each problem to a new ticket, this allows for easier assignment of the problem and tracking. Reminder: Do not call the main central office switch board as they are not trained to help with technology. Email us at: [email protected] tech problems [email protected] for PowerSchool PowerTeacher problems Phone 780-806-2053 Text 780-806-9228 Twitter hashtag #btps28 BTTube: Use your asset tag number on all tickets!
WELCOME BACK TO ALL STAFF AND A SPECIAL WELCOME TO NEW STAFF! The Human Resources Department looks forward to assisting you with your HR needs in the upcoming school year.
If you are a new staff member please be sure to submit your new employee package through the van courier to Central Services as quickly as possible to ensure that payroll has you information. All staff are encouraged to contact [email protected] or [email protected] with questions related to
HR, benefits, payroll, retirement, or to provide any updated personal information that HR should be aware of.
We have placed many forms and other information to assist you in the Human Resources section of BTPS Staff Page. Have a wonderful start to the 2015-2016 school year!
IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE EMPLOYEE and FAMILY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR 2015-2016
www.homewoodhealth.com
1-800-663-1142
Effective September 1st, 2015, the BTPS Employee and Family Assistance Program is receiving services from a new provider. BTPS Employees requiring service and support may now contact our new
service provider, Homewood Health. Posters and brochures will be made available in your schools with additional contact information and a list of available services.
NOTE: Employees will no longer be able to receive services from our previous service provider, FSEAP.
HUMAN RESOURCES
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PAYROLL
For all the 2015/2016 School
Year Payroll Rate Updates,
please click icon.
AROUND BTPS….
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What is the
Provincial slogan
for
Transportation?
AROUND BTPS….
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