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Board Elections

Near North District School Board (�㽶ֱ��) held its annual organizational meeting on December 15, 2020. Trustees virtually elected Board leadership for the 2020/2021 year. The Board of Trustees and Director of Education proudly announce the re-election of Board Chair Jay Aspin, and Vice-Chair John Cochrane, effective December 15, 2020.

Aspin, who represents Zone 1; City of North Bay and Cochrane, who represents Zone 4; Parry Sound, have served as the incumbents of their respective positions, and served as Trustees for two years since their election by the public in 2018. “I am pleased Chair Aspin will continue in the role of Board Chair,” said Craig Myles, Director of Education. “While this has been a challenging year, I am confident that Jay Aspin’s leadership, along with the trustees’ wealth of expertise and skill will ensure that �㽶ֱ�� is in a strong position to continue providing high-quality education to students in our region.”

The Board chairperson, along with all trustees, serve as stewards of �㽶ֱ�� with statutory authority and obligation to guide the affairs of the organization. They set the strategic direction of the board in response to the needs of their region and work with the Ministry of Education to ensure alignment on issues such as strategic planning, policies and government direction. Trustees elect a chair and vice-chair each year of their four-year mandate.

“It’s a privilege to continue to serve this region as Chair of the Board and to be working with our talented trustees, the Director, and the administration in carrying out the responsibilities for Near North District School Board,” said Aspin. “I look forward to fostering a culture of collaboration and impactful change as we continue to develop a strong student centric focused organization in the face of COVID-19.”

Reports Presented

Director’s Annual Report 2019-2020

Director Myles presented the 2019-2020 Director’s Annual report, highlighting the breadth and scope of programming and system initiatives �㽶ֱ�� has accomplished over the last year. This report is especially meaningful as it outlines the progress made in achieving the strategic pathways in the current multi-year strategic plan. Key areas of achievement are noted to be increased experiential learning, a more inclusive environment for all students, enhanced communication practices, and overall accountability. Click here to view the report.

Report to the Minister of Education

The Board reviewed and approved its third and final report for submission to the Minister of Education regarding the progress made towards fulfilling the recommendations from the special advisors’ report. This report represents the last in a series of three reports submitted by the Board on the journey to increasing public confidence and transparency. Major themes in the third report include succession planning, establishment of evidence-based organizational alignment, and governance capacity building.���������������� ���� ��

Multi-Year Strategic Plan Update

The Multi-Year Strategic Planning (MYSP) Committee provided a report to the Board regarding the next steps in the development of the new MYSP. This update follows the meeting in November at which the Board approved the MYSP draft framework. Information was presented to note the plan is being constructed to align with the board improvement plan for student achievement and wellbeing (BIPSAWB) and school improvement plans for student achievement and wellbeing (SIPSAWB). The Director’s Office has created a dedicated MYSP section on the website to highlight the progress, and provide a forum for continuous community feedback throughout the process. Click here to view the MYSP page.

Trustee Expenditures

Instilling public confidence through transparency and financial responsibility is key. As such, �㽶ֱ�� is pleased to share the trustee expenditures report for the school year ended August 31, 2020. Overall, expenditures were $23,000 less than last year. View the full report here.

December 4, 2020

Since the beginning of COVID-19, schools and classrooms have changed, but learning has not. In fact, schools have incorporated more outdoor learning.

Argyle Public School is one of the many schools within Near North District School Board that is learning outdoors. The onset of COVID-19 has brought some positive changes to the Kindergarten (ELKP) classroom and its educators Sonja Cudmore and Robyn Ramsay who are excited to see students embracing the outdoors.

�㽶ֱ��’s philosophy is to offer students a rich learning experience in both the classroom and beyond. Outdoor education brings learning to life with increased opportunities to advance curricular learning in real-world, authentic contexts. �㽶ֱ�� engages in outdoor education in all seasons, to deliver interdisciplinary outdoor learning opportunities k-12.

“Students are practicing social distancing, so we thought it was appropriate to spend more time learning in our natural classroom,” stated Cudmore, who noted their schoolyard is a beautiful space for an outdoor classroom; surrounded by farmer’s fields, bushes, and a small pond. “We bring the learning outside by going on scavenger hunts, nature walks, outside math and science. Nearly every subject has connections to learning outside.”

Students even had the chance to go on a pumpkin hunt in the playground, decorating their found pumpkins, and ultimately learning about the lifecycle of a pumpkin. The learning doesn’t stop there. In fact, that’s just the beginning. Students have the opportunity to investigate various common spiders and their webs, which they became fascinated with. Using yarn and other materials, students created their own webs on the school fence to learn about the techniques used in web creation.

Playing outside allows students the freedom to move and explore their environment and make investigations about their world. “Our students have really enjoyed observing nature in our schoolyard,” said Cudmore who noted students have noticed an abundance of Woolly Bear Caterpillars and began to ask questions about them. “They wondered why butterflies lay eggs which led to a discussion on the lifecycle of butterflies. We kept track of the number of caterpillars we spotted each week using 10-frames and tallies and then created a pictograph to display the data.”

She added by November, students observed there were fewer caterpillars, but more chrysalises, which began a discussion on why that might be. Since that discussion, teachers read several books to the students, which helped everyone understand the changes they were seeing.

Students look forward to taking their learning outdoors and investigating the world around them,” said Ramsay, “The outdoors provides the perfect environment for students to explore their wonderings about nature.”

November 27, 2020

Robots are taking classrooms by storm, but not like any of those futuristic type movies. Instead, students are being immersed in valuable experiential learning opportunities, which will help them in their careers after secondary school.

Grade 9 students at Northern Secondary School have incorporated robotics in ways that you didn’t think were possible – robots and woodshop?! Well, it’s happening.

Since COVID-19 and enhanced protocols came into place, along with the implementation of an octomester format for the 2020-21 school year, technology teacher, Kevin Baker, and media studies teacher, Carmen O’Brien, worked together to create learning that provides a transferable skillset that students use in both classes thus making for an easy transition from one class to the next in a mode of extended learning.

Both classes incorporate robotics in various ways, which introduces students to a wide range of possible extracurricular and career options.

In Baker’s class, students are introduced to electrical, woodworking, and hydraulics while they construct a fully operational robot to pick masks up off of the floor.

“We are learning the basics of hydraulics with wooden arms. The task is to pick-up masks from the ground and of course no one wants to pick them up with their hands, so we are building a robot,” stated Alex, who noted that there was a lot of planning, designing, building, and learning by trial and error. “I’m very satisfied with the completed project.”

This is a culminating assignment for the students, who at the end of the Octomester, present their completed robot to Baker and test it out. Students design their robot to be a combination of a VEX Robotics, electrically driven chassis with a wooden, hydraulic arm mounted on top. The remote-controlled robot is designed to pick up an unused mask from the floor.

“Woodworking is an amazing skill to have,” stated Alex. “I’ll definitely be using it further down the road.”

A few doors down, students in O’Brien’s class learn how to program robots from scratch using programming blocks in the EV3 LEGO programming software.

“Students have learned how to program robots, how to use three different sensors; touch, ultrasonic, and colour sensors,” explained O’Brien. “They’ve used those sensors to detect objects that are in front of the robot and programmed the robot accordingly so that it can move autonomously through either a maze or through the

First Lego League mission board, and accomplish different missions at the same time.”

O’Brien added that programming can be challenging, so students develop problem-solving skills to identify which parts of the program work, which ones don’t, and why, to get their robots to successfully complete the mission or maze.

“Robotics is becoming more and more prominent in the job market,” stated O’Brien. “If we look at this pandemic, more companies are switching to automation because robots won’t get sick, won’t need time off and can work 24 hours a day.”

She noted that this not only introduces students to a possible career avenue but also helps them develop much desired problem-solving skills that they can use in their everyday lives.