1161 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

...This teacher is only in her thirties and thinks that even since she was in school things have really gone downhill. She's shocked at some of the work that kids hand in. 

Isn't the teacher at least partly culpable for her students' performance?

[mbjj]

Well one would hope that a kid could write basic sentences before they get to grade 9. Apparently they also confused an elephant's trunk with its tail. They didn't seem to know what the trunk was. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Alberta to ban cellphones in K-12 classrooms starting in fall

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.therecor...284677a6f5.html

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 June 2024 - 06:42 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Hike in school bus fees leaves some West Shore parents fuming

SD62's inconsistent or non-existent fee waiver policies add to the confusion

https://www.vicnews....-fuming-7421053

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 July 2024 - 08:21 AM.

[Mike K.]

VicPD Police Board has taken the BC Human Rights Commissioner to task over the school liaison issue in SD61.

 

Stirling has been covering it all morning. It is well worth the listen. The entire agenda, it turns out, is based on a complete lack of evidence, and a pulling of dubious research from the US compiled using actions of security personnel and police, contorted to create the basis for policy in Canada/specifically BC, that the commissioner says she is waiting on to be researched in Canada in order to further guide Canadian policy, but said research ...isn't being undertaken by anyone. Even the Province said no.

 

In fact, police say their lack of presence in schools is making a negative impact on students and that's verifiable, credible local evidence, but she remains steadfast in discrediting that evidence/not accepting it until full-on research is undertaken.

 

Listen in now, the coverage is live.

 

The Commissioner is out of line.

[Nparker]

Like the Provincial Health Officer, BC's Human Rights Commissioner has failed to adequately perform the duties of their office.

[Victoria Watcher]

An online survey to gather feedback on options for an expansion and seismic upgrade at Sundance-Bank Elementary — including demolition of the adjacent Bank Street School — will continue until Wednesday.

The Greater Victoria School District survey began Aug. 7, the same day an open house was held at the Bank Street property, located in the South Jubilee neighbourhood near Oak Bay Avenue.

Sundance-Bank Elementary is in an annex building that dates back to 1967, while the former Bank Street School next to it was built in 1910 and shut down in 1975, when it became home to the Victoria College of Art for many years.

Both buildings are rated at the highest level of seismic risk.

 

_________________

 

The following three options are presented in the survey:

• Option 1: Expand Sundance-Bank Elementary onto adjacent grounds and erect a 13-metre-high safety barrier around the Bank Street School building. This option will impact Garry oak trees and make the school’s playing field smaller.

• Option 2: Demolish the Bank Street School building and expand Sundance-Bank Elementary by bringing in modular units. There will be some impact to Garry oaks, but natural play areas will remain and the modular units will mean less construction time.

• Option 3: Demolish the Bank Street School building and expand Sundance-Bank Elementary to where the building used to be. This will have the least impact on Garry oaks and provide more natural play space.

 

https://www.timescol...-school-9363470

[Matt R.]

13 metre high fence? That’s impressive!

[Victoria Watcher]

District superintendent Deb Whitten said Bank Street School “isn’t in a condition to have as a school.”

 

She said size is a prime factor, since it has too few classrooms and wouldn’t be able to provide “a modern learning environment.”

 

 

 

 

 

Ya, except we are doing all education wrong now in 2024.

[Victoria Watcher]

A new middle school in Langford could be opening its doors within the next few years. 

 

Details of the purchase of a three-hectare property on Gateway Road, near Costco, for the middle school for $25 million were announced Monday, with the province providing about $21 million and the school district putting up close to $4 million. 

 

Three to five years is the usual time it takes from buying land to completing a school project, said Sooke School Board chair Amanda Dowhy. 

 

Work currently underway to complete a retaining wall and other measures is part of the purchase agreement, Dowhy said. 

 

The site is directly across the road from a previously announced secondary-school project, to be located on a 4.8-hectare piece of land purchased four years ago for $20 million. 

 

Langford Mayor Scott Goodmanson said the newest land purchase is “fantastic news.” 

 

A new middle school is “very much needed and it can’t come soon enough,” he said. “Our schools are absolutely filled, we’ve got portables.” 

 

Amenities at the two schools could include all-weather playing fields or a track that would benefit the larger community as well, said Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar, former chair of the Sooke School Board. 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-school-9365602

 

 

 

 

 

With better planning you'd think land could be earlier acquired for less than $7M per hectare.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 August 2024 - 08:21 PM.

[Mike K.]

The Province must live paycheque to paycheque.

It’s also an election season, so now is the time to be making purchases or announcing them.

[Victoria Watcher]

Also, we are doing school almost completely wrong, in 2024.

[lanforod]

Nah man. You keep saying that. Don’t make it true.

[Victoria Watcher]

Nah man. You keep saying that. Don’t make it true.

Why do kids / regardless of background - do so well at charter schools?

[Mike K.]

I want to say discipline. But also, the school is responsible for results, before the parents. Parents want to ensure if they’re paying $30k in tuition per year, their child is learning and thriving. If there’s a problem, dad shows up asking questions.

A family friend had to send his son to Brentwood to get him out of the public system in Victoria. The son was starting to get out of control but up at the private school the teachers didn’t put up with nonsense, and he was also removed from the idiots at his school. I think it worked.

[Victoria Watcher]

I want to say discipline. But also, the school is responsible for results, before the parents. Parents want to ensure if they’re paying $30k in tuition per year, their child is learning and thriving. If there’s a problem, dad shows up asking questions.

 

Charter schools are free.

[Mike K.]

I don’t know what a charter school is. What schools are charter schools locally? I thought you meant charter as in chartered (paid).

[Victoria Watcher]

All provinces—not just Alberta—should embrace charter schools

 

https://www.fraserin...charter-schools

 

 

In Alberta, charter school students consistently outperform traditional public school students on provincial achievement tests by a wide margin—and despite lower per-student costs to taxpayers. Again, while there are relatively few charter schools in Canada, in the United States they’re much more prevalent and significantly more research has been done on their effects, with similarly positive results.

 

 

 

 

 

It puts students in with other students that truly want to learn, taking them away from other distractions.   It'a  fine model.  But so is fifted, advanced or enriched course streams, and we are taking those away from public schools.      SD61 still has the Challenge program, but it's literally only at two schools.   https://www.sd61.bc....rams-of-choice/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 August 2024 - 07:25 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

There is a charter school program that literally operates in the same buildong as a standard public school in NY.  So it draws the same student demographic.   The charter school students do so much better academically.  

 

 

NYC charter school offers 12-hour days — and parents and students give it high marks

 

https://nypost.com/2...-it-high-marks/

 

 

 

 

After contentious fight, Success Academy middle school will be allowed to open alongside Brooklyn’s P.S. 25

https://www.chalkbea...e-brooklyn-s-p/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 August 2024 - 07:30 AM.

[lanforod]

We’d all do better with more buildongs.

Anyway, I thought you were referring to moving to online centric schooling. I don’t know much about the charter system or why it’s better.
Why is it cheaper and why are outcomes better? Generally outcomes improve with reasonable class sizes and supports I think. But those don’t lend to lower costs.