TIMMINS - Local students are already showing up to class, and the school board wants it to happen even more this year.
District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) presented data collected from the 2023-24 school year to the board of trustees on Tuesday (Sept 10) and the results are overall positive.
The school board set a goal for attendance to have 85 per cent of students in classes throughout the year, and they surpassed that with an 87.5 per cent rate.
“We are on track, (Tuesday), our attendance across the district was 94.8 per cent and the first day of school was 99 per cent,” said DSB1 education director Lesleigh Dye. “We know that it’s going to settle out.”
The board also exceeded its goal of 70 per cent of Grade 9 students achieving eight credits in their first year of high school, with 73.4 per cent reaching that goal.
“We know that when students feel successful academically, typically their mental health is in a better place,” said Dye.
The feeling of safety and belonging in the school held steady at 65 per cent for primary schools and dropped to 72 per cent for secondary students from 73 per cent in 2022, but superintendent Chad Mowbray said that there were some changes in how the metrics broke down.
“Four of the six categories did improve from the previous survey, so we had improvements in the areas of inclusivity, culture of learning, promoting social and emotional well-being, and partnership and engagement with the families,” he said. “Two of the categories declined, welcoming school environment and sense of safety.”
The goals are being set higher this school year as a result of the successes in 2023-24. The plan calls for a goal of 88.5 per cent attendance rate, 75 per cent of students and 78 per cent of staff reporting a sense of belonging in their school setting, and 80 per cent of Grade 9 students earning eight credits this year.
The collection of data around feelings of belonging is still being discussed.
“For staff we’re still trying to figure out how we’re going to measure that,” said Dye. “We do have a collaborative tool called Thought Exchange that we will probably end up using for that.”
The Grade 9 credit achievement goal is a stretch, said Dye, but they’re hopeful it’s achievable.
Overall, the strategic plan’s goals are being met or exceeded, but the executive team is still looking to the future.
This is the last year of the current strategic plan for DSB1, and starting in October, Dye said they will be asking students, teachers and families for their input for the next four years.
“A lot of our work will be devoted to engagement and the creation of next year’s plan,” she said. “We’re excited to create that forward-thinking about what the organization needs from 2025 to 2029, that’s a long time!”
The Thought Exchange platform will be online for families and students to give feedback on the DSB1 sites in October.
Slides from the presentation are available here.
