Meeting held between the PAC Vision Committee,

Superintendent (SD71) Sherry Elwood,

and Director of Elementary Education Allan Douglas
Where: Denman Island Community School
When: April 28, 2011

In attendance: Superintendent Sherry Elwood, Director of Elementary Education Allan Douglas, School
Principal Erika Moser, PAC Chair James Warner, PAC Treasurer Veronique Eriksson, Vision Committee
members; Committee Chair Laura Busheikin, Lisa Lundy, Sean Novak, Mary Hicks, Riane daSilva, DICES
Coordinator Paddy O’Connell, DICES Representative Kathie Tolson, & Charlie Tait.

Call to order @ 9:25 a.m.

James: (PAC Chair) Welcome and presented the history of how we came to this meeting.
There have been many meetings on behalf of the Vision Committee followed by the Districts request for further
dialogue with the community and the parents. We looked into other school models. The Visioning Meeting was
held on April 21st, 50+ parents and community members attended, and many ideas and suggestions were put on
the table. At our meeting today we would like to hear your thoughts regarding our future.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Thank you Sherry and Allan for coming. We are an adhoc committee that has pulled
together various streams of research regarding school models. We are not mandated to speak for the parents or
community and are doing our best to get a general direction. There has been no formal PAC meeting yet to
solidify “consensus”. We had a large community meeting and some ideas have come out of this. But first we
would like to hear from you (SD) what your suggestions are in our “brainstorming stage”
.
Sherry: (Superintendent) Let me start by clarifying timelines. School Districts always have time lines
particularly around staffing. This has not always been the most enabling system. The timelines are a bit of a red
herring and can be rigid. I am not feeling driven by a particular timeline or moving forward in a direction before
we’re ready. We have looked for the last year at possible solutions. I have a responsibility to the system and to
the schools so that a school is educationally viable and learning outcomes are met. We’ve heard that you want to
keep kids on the island and we want to honour that request.

We served notice last Spring that with declining enrolment, resources are stretching so thin that it’s ineffective.
It’s just not possible to continue. We need to find a new model for the islands. Maybe we can get something
together for September. I heard that there is a desire for things to be addressed immediately regarding parents
concerns but nothing needs to be set for September. We can have time over the next year. We have time to flesh
out what the school will look like. We can do staffing in round 3. I’m not interested in quick decisions being
made. There is flexibility around Denman School. I’d rather do it well and do it right. If 2 positions are not filled

Sherry: (continued)
in the next two weeks, that’s not the end of the world. I am not interested in rushing to meet deadlines. I am
confident when we get to next year that we will staff appropriately. I am not interested in making quick
decisions that are not well thought out to meet staffing deadlines.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Sherry is the only person who can make this happen. There is a set procedure and
Sherry is the only person who can trump the formal hiring process.
Sherry: (Superintendent) The overarching piece is to get it right so that it’s a long term solution. My focus is to
keep kids on the island, and get something sustainable even with low enrolment. It isn’t about money, it’s about
the opportunities available for the children. I don’t expect you to do all the work regarding the model.
Brainstorming on possible models, I wanted to show you that we are looking to be as flexible as we can and as
creative as we can with very embedded structures and formalities. It’s merely a reflection of our willingness to
be creative with Denman. We’ve brainstormed around combining the school populations, having one Elementary
School, bringing in community options; creative solutions for educationally sound structure. I’m interested in
pushing the boundaries of that as much as possible We need to keep enrolment and perhaps even build it up. At a
certain point a population is no longer viable. We are aware that Denman has had a visioning process happening
for a long time and wanted to tap into your ideas. You’ve had a Science and Nature focus. We expected to hear
that you want your kids to stay on the island and that you want a viable school. The only reason I was thinking
about combining the numbers on paper was with the ability to stretch the staffing. I have no agenda to merge the
two schools together. This has been misinterpreted and is not an easy solution. I recognize the uniqueness of
each school (Denman/Hornby). It was only a brainstorming idea and not my intent. What would meet our
parameters? We can work in partnership and utilize all of our resources, including community members. By
combining the two schools I can staff at a higher level and was looking for a way to stretch the resources.

Allan: (Director of Elementary Education) In my conversations with James I don’t think you interpreted
otherwise.

Sherry: (Superintendent) I want to hear what you think will honour the uniqueness of your island, bring your
resources to the table, offer the kids some amazing experiences. There are things your community has to offer
which other communities don’t have.

Laura: (Committee Chair) A quick timeline is not always enabling. We need time to work together. One thing I
want to point out because we put an article in the paper and the school newsletter, we’ve been discussing this has
really raised the energy around the school. We will have change, we can be involved. This has been great.
People outside of the school are interested and have been watching to see what’s emerging here. They’ve been
contacting us, talking about how attractive a vibrant school is to them, perhaps they will move here. By opening
the door to communication we have really raised the energy. There are things we can do to attract people back to
the school. Not having a short timeline is really important. As a committee we have done no consulting with our
community about a blend with Hornby. That discussion still needs to happen. The community has said we need
more time.

Sherry: (Superintendent): Since then we have fleshed it out a little more. Where we got to with that model is the
ability to do two full on days in the two non-instructional days or non contact days, (got in trouble for using that
wording). On the non-instructional days they we would still have an EA and teacher at the school so that kids
needing a routine could attend the four days. Parents could choose to send them on not. There would be a DL
(distance learning) curriculum. Particularly for the students who need to be in school for 4 days and the support
of an EA they could organize that. This idea can be thrown out, or implemented. All of that is possible. It is all
on the table for us to negotiate still and is possible.

Laura: (Chair) We still need to discuss that option. It is not just a daycare issue, some families are not able to
support this model. Some families are more vulnerable and this is not a good fit.

Sherry: (Superintendent) There have been some very recent shifts in DL funding which allow someone to be on
site.

Charlie: Why are we talking about a 4 day week, when we are on a 5 day week?
Sherry: (Superintendent) There are schools who do 4 days a week (Hornby and in town). She just put it out as a
model. The guidelines from the Ministry are about a certain amount of instruction time but how that is delivered
can be flexible.

Laura: (Chair) We need time and at the same time we need to keep moving forward. I would like you to look at
what the consultation process would look like. We haven’t as a community really started the consultation
process. We have a billion possibilities, but we need a process. What does the consultative process look like to
you? I understand it is difficult for you to get here, but people need to put questions to you and hear the answers
from you.
Sherry: (Superintendent) When we came last time I had that question. Every community sees consultation
differently. I need to hear from you what consultation looks like to you as a community. There is no point in the
district designing a consultation process when that may not work with your community. We’ve heard what does
work in terms of relaying information through newsletters & your local papers. The consultation process is
imperative and needs to work for the community. We will not have agreement on everything. There are times
when consultation doesn’t mean agreement. There will be dreams that you have that I won’t be able to do. If
people are unhappy with the decisions, I am more satisfied if we have had an effective consultation process than
if people say the process was flawed.

Mary: I really appreciate what we’re hearing regarding the time frame around this. It will put the parents at ease.
We’ve done our best to gather the information you requested from the parents and community but feel a lot of
responsibility in communicating on your behalf. We don’t want to bear the weight for the changes that are
happening within the school. Parents are expecting to hear from you about the school structure. People want
information and we don’t have a lot of answers.

Sherry: (Superintendent) We need to work together to get a consultation process that meets your needs and that
is viable from our perspective. It is imperative that we get the consultation process in place. We don’t want a
decision made and the consultation process questioned. Denman and Hornby are very different in terms of what
you both need. I will come over as many nights as needs to happen. We can be creative and use technology
when appropriate (skype) we can use our own facilitators or fund island facilitators. I don’t want a flawed
consultation process to derail the outcome. The community needs to buy in to whatever model is undertaken or it
will fail. These schools are the centre of our communities and I understand that. I have seen too many times
where the end result has been derailed by a flawed consultation process. We need a consultation process that is
consistent, predictable and fair. Then people can live with the end result. We are willing to put resources into a
consultation process. What would work for me is that even if you are not happy with the results that you are
happy with the process.

Laura: Part of our upcoming meeting could be around the consultation model.

Sherry: Yes, we want to do this right. We can bring the resources to bear, we will do everything we can to
provide your children with the best education possible that magnifies all of that potential. The “buy in from the
community” particularly is a critical piece for whatever model is undertaken or it will not be sustainable. In
larger schools like Valley View there are masses of people and there are options for them.

Lisa: There is nothing here to dilute things. We are a concentrated community so when things work it is
magnificent and when they don’t it is catastrophic. There is nothing to make up for that if school isn’t working.
It is not as though we can meet our needs easily elsewhere. It is everything or nothing here.

Sherry: Absolutely! The schools are the center of your community and I understand that. That is why it is
important that the model we land on is understood and that we all own it because to fraction off in a small
community is just so debilitating.
Laura: Perhaps we can work on consultation at Monday’s meeting and bring it back to you. Can we come back
to you with some suggestions from the next community meeting around a consultation process?

Mary: Can we hear from you regarding other possible models you’re considering for our school so we can bring
that information back to the parents?

Sherry: (Superintendent) For me, the critical thing you could to for us as we put together a consultation
process. There are times when it will be appropriate for us to be there, other times you may need to meet alone.
There will be times when we can lead or share, and times when you will want to talk amongst yourselves. We’re
asking if the committee can be a barometer for the District. I am the angel of death when I walk into some
buildings and it would help us tremendously if you could let us know when to be present and when not to be. I
don’t want to mess it up by being present when we shouldn’t be or NOT being present when we SHOULD be. I
am going to ask you for some feedback. I need to hear what you have done so far first. Then we can figure out
what we are doing for September. Then we can put together a whole variety of models to show what is possible.
We need consultation from the community and can then begin to narrow our model down over the year.

James: (PAC Chair) Can we put together a hiring strategy based on an interim model?

Sherry: (Superintendent) As much as possible, yes.

Erika: So what I talked about earlier of the school culture, how every school identifies their unique needs, can
we add that to the job description?

Sherry: Yes, at the top of every job posting there is a descriptor

Riane: brought up concern about our committee not being entrusted with a mandate and the formal confidence
of our community to be “the barometer”. We are not comfortable with this.

Sherry: At some point in time as we design a consultative process someone lets us know when we should be
there and when we should not be there.

Lisa: We have collected feedback forms, and there are some important questions that are apparent that may act
as a springboard for all of this. What people are most wanting to hear are what will teaching numbers be at
current population levels? What is the plan with the principal; sharing with Hornby has not been considered
workable by our community. Going to Hornby (being amalgamated) is not a popular option. What are the
expectations from the District regarding DICES? These seem to be the four main questions. They need to be
answered so that people don’t spin stories.

Sherry: (Superintendent) I need to hear back from the meeting feedback before answering.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) one thing that has changed in the last meeting is the sense that this doesn’t have to
be immediate so we can step back and make sure that we get this right. We do have time here and don’t need to
rush the process. People are inventing stories, what I hear is that they want to know what is happening for
September and in the absence of us not answering those questions people are speculating. What would be helpful
for us would be for us to hear about your last meeting (which I hear was spectacular and facilitated), can we hear
what the big ideas were that came of that meeting and then we can address these four questions?

Laura: (Committee Chair) Handed out minutes for the Vision Meeting, original article posted in the Grapevine,
spoke of the distillation that we came up with, and spoke of communications with the Hornby PAC.

Riane: Provided a quick summary of the structure for April 21st meeting. We came up with a group of models to
present to the community and they were well received. We presented videos on the different models, we’ve
been in contact with Superintendent Jeff Hopkins and he has been very supportive of us and our process. The
minutes detail what our parents and community members want and don’t want for the school.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Summarized the minutes from the April 21st meeting and mentioned that the results
need to go back to the PAC. We want change that builds on what we do well. We keep hearing that we really
need a receptive open and responsive culture of communication with the District which we are seeing in these
meetings and are happy, but we need more of that between meetings. Could we have a staff person allocated
to work with us? It has been very difficult not having emails and questions answered. As you say, you are
willing to put resources into this and so having someone available from your staff to help us in a timely fashion
would be very beneficial. The interest from community is strong for 21st Century but not too much technology –
people don’t want technology replacing teachers. Most of it is to help our kids become global citizens but
without replacing teachers. The model as reflected by John Abbot.
Sherry: (Superintendent) We have a personal connection John Abbott and the 21st Century model. We could
possibly arrange for him to come to Denman in the Fall if there is interest. Maybe he can come and have a retreat
here? He would probably love that. I will follow up on that. Allan will need to be your liaison person for now
given my current schedule. The assistant Superintendent, Sheila Shanahan, may also be available and will start
to attend meetings with us.

There was general excitement from all attending regarding John Abbott coming to do a presentation on Denman.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Interest in moving towards something like student centered, project based
community based rather than just curriculum based. The interest in Natural Sciences is still there but we are
hearing it as more of a place based approach. There is interest in much more community involvement and
question if funding is available to create a coordinator position to help with this.

Lisa: We don’t know if there is special designation required but one concept I saw enthusiasm for is to have
teachers who can work collaboratively together. Rather than teach kids according to date of manufacturing (Ken
Robison) we would recognize their needs and group them into appropriate pods. We have children who need a
quiet more focussed academic atmosphere in which to learn, while others need more activity, shorter time spent
on a task. Our current model groups these kids with differing needs in a small and long standing classroom and
this has been a poor use of resources as much of the class time is spent managing the frustration and unmet needs
of all of these children. It has also been very strenuous for the teaching staff.
We need teachers who can work in collaboration.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) I hear what you are saying regarding meeting the kids needs and not being limited
by “age” grouping. This is more of a “family” model. You have the luxury of space here, it’s easily doable with
a small teaching staff and a small school.

Charlie: The teaching staff is crucial to that.

Sherry: (Superintendent) Some of the difficulties for me are around teacher autonomy and it can be difficult to
have this with teachers that have already been in the setting. This is an opportune time with respect to hiring
new positions to describe the expectation for teaching and atmosphere of the school community. New people
coming in will know what there expectations are (new staff) in your school.

Charlie: We’ve been hearing out in the community that the ABC’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) are very
important to academic learning. We need to meet the basic curriculum.

Sherry: (Superintendent) The two are not mutually exclusive and can be melded together. Very often a
structure like you describe can allow for better delivery of those basics.

Sean: I was going to echo that the pod building is going to attract more people to the school, from Fanny bay or
Union Bay, could enrich our population, as well as slow others from leaving.

Lisa: it may help redirect traffic from other areas in the District that are overloaded and struggling with
crowding.

Mary: I’m wondering that given we are in a state of transition can we request that hiring remains open until the
3rd round so we have time for parent/community feedback? Then we can have the ability to be very clear with
staff coming in what to expect and what we are looking for. My concern is that if we don’t wait until third round
that we are dealing solely with seniority and not necessarily with individuals that are open or able to work with
our model. It sounds like this will give us more flexibility.

Sherry: (Superintendent) Right now the way the deadlines are going we will be there anyways. The next
deadline is in ten days and that’s too soon to make an informed decision. I will hold the positions open until I
hear what we are looking for and feel on firm footing with what we are designing for next year. There are two
positions open on Denman and two open on Hornby. The bulk of SD placement will be done next week then
Seniority will be done ten days later. So the way we are going it will probably be round three. We are not going
to be where we need to be in with the hiring before then anyways.

James: (PAC Chair) Considering that it is a transition year can we get a commitment for the same staffing ratio
that we currently have for next year?

Sherry: (Superintendent) I can’t promise that. I am hearing that there is some interest to move away from the
administrative model and I am looking at how I can honour that and deal with staffing at the same time.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Sherry and I have talked a lot about this, probably more than we talk about Vanier
High School. My sense is that we are hearing that you want to move to a more Head Teacher model. Is that
correct?

Riane: We do not have consensus on this matter.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) What about your committee?

Riane: Our committee does not even represent everyone at this table.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Speaking on the committee’s interpretations I would say that yes, we would like to
move to a Head Teacher model. The half time principal is not working.

Allan: (Director of Teaching): We’ve heard that.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Many people felt that the head teacher model did work well. We researched that
Lasquiti has 19 students, a Head Teacher, and a principal that comes in once a week. Even a part-time principal
seems like a big use of resources ($$) and administrative time for our school population.

Veronique: (PAC Treasurer) People in the community have said they want a principal. What we want is a
leader. Isn’t the role of the Principal to check into resources and oversee the curriculum?

Sherry: (Superintendent) There may be other accommodations we could do.

Lisa: what it seems isn’t working and is frustrating is the parachuting of principal or even some of the teachers
that are not consistently here. What I think I hear we need is consistent leadership. We need a consistent place to
go daily to deal with concerns of staff, students etc. We need all hands on deck and some that is here daily, is
available to address problems as they arise and see them through, and understands the families here. It is too
easy when parachuting in and out here to make assumptions without background information and this has a big
ripple effect and then they are gone, the ripple is still going, and no one is around to help. We want consistency
and leadership.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Denman and Hornby in their heydays, even with a large population of students,
always had a teaching principal. The principal taught .6 and admin. .4 and that worked really well. One year we
had a very late retirement of a principal. Then we hired Pelka. When Pelka got sick we had a lead teacher. There
are some issues that a lead teacher just can’t deal with, and so we made them a Vice Principal; that was the year
Allison was here. When we split the Principal between two schools we thought it was a good idea. When Pelka
returned she went back to being a PT Principal between Denman/Hornby. We are hearing that a person who is
moving back and forth is not what you want.

Sherry: (Superintendent) We made a commitment to review this and we’ve heard from both islands that a ½
time principal is not working. We are looking at other options. Independent of but in addition to, this is
something we are trying to honour and problem solve.
Charlie: I think what both islands are feeling is that we need a leader on each island. My personal opinion is that
I don’t see how a teacher who is trying to run a class room can also be in charge of the school. They aren’t able
to do their job as a teacher. We need someone to guide us through the day. The teacher in charge can’t be
running the classroom and dealing with the naughty kids in the office. Teachers need to be teaching.

Riane: This discussion shows that we need more time and need more information. I have heard you say you
have thought of many options and I am curious to hear what some of those other options might be.

Sherry: (Superintendent) There are parameters that we need to live with. We talked about going back to the
Vice Principal teaching model and we’ve talked about the Teaching Principal model. I have concerns about the
Teacher leader model with Allan overseeing. I don’t see it as effective.

Allan: The Lead Teacher can’t be a teacher and manage disciplinary problems or issues with other Staff.

Sherry: (Superintendent) We have a commitment to the administrators group to have some administration time
on the island and I have to honour that as well. We also have personnel issues. Pelka is on leave and it is still her
job to return to. A Vice Principal would be a PT teacher and a PT leader. The Principal instructs leaders within
the school. Teachers need to be in classrooms. We are looking at a part time Principal model/part time teaching
model.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) People want to know what is going on in September for a bridging year. We can
say there will be a teaching Principal, or Vice Principal, on each island. We want to be able to provide stability
and tell people what to expect coming in September. We want the principals as instructional leaders.

Laura: (Committee Chair) My job has been to collate the information over these last weeks. I am not pushing
my own agenda as I won’t even have a child in the school after this year. What I am hearing a lot of people
saying is that they want more teaching staff and support staff and I am just reporting this to you.

Lisa: It is a hands on issue.

Mary: If we return to having a teaching Vice Principal would they be here full time? Is there funding for that?

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Yes they would be here full-time. Sherry will have to reallocate the money to fund
it. Let’s make it clear say we have two classrooms, the Administrator would have a co-teacher who would take
over the classroom. It is less expensive to do the VP model as a Principal is the most expensive teacher for us to
have.

Riane: I am hearing that you are talking about a two classroom model – is that the model you are looking at for
next year? Right now we have 2.7 plus LST = 2.9.

Sherry: (Superintendent) By applying our formula for funding we would be at a lower level than what I can
staff you at. If I look at this coming year, for the numbers we are anticipating, we’ve increased your staffing to
2.0 FTE plus LST, plus music prep., plus Admin staff, plus library. That decision is one I have to make because I
have to fund it. We need to incorporate all of the information before making a final decision. Once I make the
decision then we can go to round three of hiring.

Lisa: Can we move things around from LST to classroom?

Sherry: (Superintendent) Yes the school has that flexibility

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Last year Pelka made a decision to move .2 of teaching time from Hornby to
Denman to accommodate the students with special needs. Liza Monteith was here at .2. Denman had 3 divisions
while Hornby only had 2. Hornby was not happy about this decision. Upon review this did not work very well.

Sean: Thanks for the 2.0 but it is not going to work if we don’t get the right 2.0 and that is where the ball really
falls firmly into your lap You know who is out there and who you can hire. If you can help hire a dynamic 2.0
teaching staff then maybe we won’t need as much adminstrative time because there won’t be as many issues in
the office.

Mary: Can we bring this information to the meeting on Monday?

Sherry: (Superintendent) We’ll make a commitment that by Monday noon, before our evening meeting, either
Allan or I will send an e-mail as to the possibilities regarding our bridging year. I will also check in with the
Director of Human Resources regarding the third round of hiring.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) James you and I need to talk Friday morning.

James: (PAC Chair) What time is it Allan? We have one hour remaining.
Sherry: (Superintendent) We’ll talk to James by noon on Monday.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Mary can you summarize what you’ve heard from us and what you’ll tell the
parents at Monday’s meeting regarding staffing?

Mary: I’ve heard that you’ve increased our staffing next year from what we would actually have been eligible
for, based upon projected numbers of enrolment, to 2.0, plus music prep time (unknown at this point), plus LST
time (.2). We will have a full time Teaching Vice Principal or Teaching Principal and money will be reallocated
to fund that. You will delay hiring until the third round, which is June 15th. We may have a “family model” next
year and group students based upon their needs rather than their ages; multi age groupings. We have time to
make decisions over the next year. This is a transition year for consultation with parents before anything is set
into place. Sherry has made the decision to move at a slower pace to allow for consultation to occur. Did I miss
anything?

Allan: (Director of Teaching) - 2 teachers (principal teaches .6) when they are not teaching someone else teaches
.4 I want to make sure we are all hearing the same thing.

Sean: Please check in with your director of HR and let us have some ability to craft the job descriptions. I hear
what you are saying but you know that if the right person is there we can make it work but if the wrong person is
back, we are all going to be back here again and you don’t want that grief.

Sherry: (Superintendent) We will do everything we can to get the right person in and to address it if we get it
wrong. But you need to know the parameters that we live in. Collective agreements need to be honoured.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Continued with summary prepared by Vision committee

(Jeff Hopkins piece) – Strong interest by our community. He has been very generous with his time and support
and has spoken very highly of both of you. He has offered his time and will come up here anytime to help us.
People are very interested in him, he is very forthcoming. We would very much like to get him up here.

Rianne: He is a Gulf Island person and understands Island culture.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) The District has worked with Jeff Hopkins, and Jeff works directly with John
Abbot. They have a tight knit connection. We can look into booking a Saturday meeting with him on Denman so
that Hornby parents can attend too.

Sherry: (Superintendent) There is protocol around Superindents coming into another District. We have already
talked with him several times and I hear that you are interested in hearing from him. We will organize inviting
Jeff Hopkins to speak with our community and the SD. There is a protocol.

Lisa: He may be aware of rural grants etc. that we don’t know if yet that could help us save time.

Laura: (Committee Chair) Re: job description and hiring piece – see summary sheet – we would like to
influence a job description We want people to be able to understand our culture, support it and be excited about
our vision. Can we look for someone like this? What we really would like is some kind of designation as a small
rural island community. If one teacher doesn’t fit, it brings down the entire process. We need some kind of
recognition that can support this piece and deal with it. It would probably deal with a lot of your issues around
hiring.
Sherry: (Superintendent) There is funding for the two communities to get together and do activities together.

Laura: (Committee Chair) We would like to see how we can get more of that to empower DICES and support
more activity sharing. This community has what it takes, it is all here and the school can be a big feather in your
cap.

Sherry: (Superintendent) Your school is already doing so much right. We celebrate your school and talk about it
out in the SD.

Charlie: People are nervous about what is going to happen for the Fall. They want to know.

Lisa: It’s been an awkward few years, and crisis management few years. It has been difficult not having
questions answered when we needed them to be. Our community desperately wants to feel trust with you and
desperately wants to feel that we are working together. That what you say is what you mean and that you are
forthcoming with information, ideas and plans. Cultivating that trust is a very important part of this. By
circumstance, this has been shaky ground and changing this is a big part of having us “buy in”. I ask that as we
talk about speaking more regularly that we keep effective communication in mind.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) I hope that the last two meetings have built that trust; we’re feeling like that is
there. Trust us until we do something to make that go off track.

Riane: The meetings are great but the in between meeting parts are very hard – we are dealing with a lot of fear,
concerns, worries and we need a liaison to help us through that.

Sherry: We can do that. At this point in time I think it will be Allan, it needs to be someone at a higher level. I
am sorry, but I can’t do that piece as I have a lot of commitments in many different directions. I can bring Sheila
Shanahan the Assistant Superintendent. She’s a good back up. We have a tight team and meet and debrief every
week.

Allan
James: We have been getting feedback from our parent body and community meetings. We are trying to build
confidence. Has there been any follow up to the letters of concerns that were presented to you at the last
meeting?

Sherry: (Superintendent) I have read them all and was about to respond but I didn’t see the sense in responding
to specific concerns regarding the teachers as they might not be here next year and I couldn’t tell you that until
that piece was completed. Once things are resolved I will probably do a general response through James, there
are a couple of specific concerns that I will respond to directly.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) I usually work with the School Principal to work through these concerns.

Allan
Laura: (Committee Chair) If the job descriptions are written for a transition year would that not then mean that
some people won’t be appropriate for our position?

Sherry: (Superintendent) Most teachers with Seniority won’t want to move into a school in “transition”.
We are looking for new directions and new models, we have to work with it, and this what I’ve been talking
about. I don’t want a bridging year that adds up to nothing.
Mary: How will the hiring process affect current teaching staff who would like to remain at the Denman Island
School.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) I’m assuming you’re referring to Karla? Her position is not available for posting.
Karla will be here.

Charlie: Is Hornby in the same boat?

Sherry: (Superintendent) Don’t be surprised if you hear us looking at something different for them because my
hunch is that their wish list is quite different from yours. That’s okay but please don’t see any differences as an
inequity.

Laura: (<-) What we are really looking for is our own formal designation that the qualifications would state
pieces around working constructively in a very small island community because I know there are special
designations like this that exist that have their own world around hiring without being threatening to the Union.

Sherry: (Superintendent) You are asking for two things. We do it for French Immersion; we have the ability to
assign specific credentials and skill sets to a job description. That’s not a problem, we do it all the time. The
special designation is a harder piece. It could be a local union piece but it wouldn’t go to the Provincial table.
We could have a “letter of understanding” with the union which would look at a special hiring process for the
Islands. It would be a regional shift that could also be beneficial for CUPE. That’s probably how you do it. <-)

Lisa: Once we go through our transition year and are into it, there needs to be a solid, clear feedback loop. If
things aren’t working there needs to be evaluation and who does that. There needs to be a way to tweak, provide
feedback and make needed adjustments. That has been a big part of the problem over the last few years. Perhaps
that fits into a designation. Not that parents are controlling the process, but that there is a way for feedback. It
would probably be a great use of resources to have that accountability and review process in place.

Sherry: (Superintendent) We do have something in place. Teachers are evaluated by Principal, who reports
directly to Allan. Allan then reports to Sheila Shannahan who reports to me. This is why I’m hesitant to go with
a Head Teacher. There is a district process to evaluate Principals and senior staff to go over problems. We need
to be more vigilant with applying our evaluation process.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) I want to make sure we have answered all four of Lisa’s questions before we
leave.

James: (PAC Chair) As part of this transition year what can we be given to entice people back? Perhaps we’ll
have dynamic teachers providing dynamic instruction. We need a way to let people know that we are going to
have a great year, moving towards an even greater year. Part of that will be in the hiring. We need to incorporate
some changes and programs.

Sherry: (Superintendent) Yes. You can have a model in place for next year, like the “family model”, to change
the way the curriculum is delivered. We can word the positions as requiring “experience in and a high interest in
the development of programs that....” that is the kind of language that you use. Teachers are very versatile.

Riane: I think that an understanding of an island community or Denman community is important. They need to
know the diversity of this island.
Lisa: All the questions I had were answered and the only one still needing feedback is a question referencing a
4 day week or a 5 day week in the school and what would the expectations of DICES be for that?

Sherry: (Superintendent) In a bridging year we are not looking at changing the structure to a 4 day week. The 5
day week will remain the same. The model might change and it might not, we have no preference.

Mary: Just a point of clarification. There is no intention of merging the Denman and Hornby Schools together at
this point in time?

Sherry: (Superintendent) We never meant for the schools to merge. It was only mentioned as a possibility for
the older students to get together for activities. This was a misunderstanding.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Years ago when I was the Principal for the Island Schools I had the Hornby and
Denman Schools get together all the time to do sports activities, field trips, etc.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Over the years the school community program leader funding has been cut back.
Hornby school proposed bringing in a community bridging leader that HIEES would pay half the salary and
SD71 would pay the other half ($7,500.00).

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Next steps…Mary said getting Jeff Hopkins to come to SD is a great thing. We
already have a great Superintendent. She knows as much about 21st learning as anyone. We need to get Sherry to
come over and talk to the community and talk about the styles of learning.

Sherry: (Superintendent) I’m willing to do this. It would be great to get Jeff here as well to present on Island
culture.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) Is there interest for Hornby folks to come over and be part of this? Yes. (General
agreement from all in attendance).

Sherry: (Superintendent) We’ll connect with Jeff and ask him to come over and work with both Denman and
Hornby community on a Saturday so everyone can attend.

Allan: (Director of Teaching) It could be a very large meeting and be an open forum.

The Q & A meeting between Sherry and the parents will happen soon. Allan will connect with James on
Monday with dates that Sherry is available to come in May.

Meeting adjourned @ 11:30 a.m.

Minutes were done by Riane daSilva, Lisa Lundy, Sean Novak, and Mary Hicks
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