All school divisions are working with the Ministry of Education to bring in a new province-wide student information system, with the goal to have it in place for the new school year in September.
Trustees with the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division heard that they are on track so far to meet that goal, during their monthly board meeting held Jan. 9.
Up until now, it was up to each school division to administer the information of their students, but now the Ministry wants all 27 school boards to unify and use one information system for the entire province, said Gwen Keith, director of education for Holy Family.
“They tried to implement the system with nine school divisions last year, found they couldn’t do it, they just didn’t have enough time to get it in place,” said Keith, adding that this year the ministry is co-ordinating with all 27 divisions to try and have the information system up and running by September.
“We’re working with the ministry to try and implement this for the fall. It’s taking a lot of conference call meetings, and a lot of time of some of my staff,” she added.
The challenge for the ministry is working alongside all of the school divisions to get the system in place. Keith said there are conference calls with all the school divisions on a weekly basis as the staff at each division are working on the system.
Once the central office staff members are trained in using the provincial information system, then they will have to train staff at the school levels, as they track and maintain all information on all students.
As the ministry is the one organizing this program, “we have to take direction on this from the province,” said the education director.
In other highlights from the meeting, Keith has also been working with the Ministry of Education on developing and updating the provincial curriculum up until the year 2020 as part of the provincial leadership team.
This has involved a lot of online meetings, conference calls and sharing of data, and this process has also involved a lot of time by staff and by herself as director of education.
“It’s nice to be involved, but it takes a lot of work,” said Keith, noting she is involved along with all of the directors of education along with the ministry for kindergarten to Grade 12 education, and some First Nations representatives.
The Holy Family board also had an update about the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA), as they have been looking at technology and its use in schools around the province, and the vision for education looking to the future.
A committee of the SSBA has been working developing the association’s position on technology, and where they are heading with it for the future.
Keith noted the committee is not finished their work yet, and they are aiming to have another committee meeting in the spring.
The vision for education is a part of the education sector plan underway by the ministry.
