Co

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Technology ........................... 2

Curriculum ............................ 3

HR/Payroll.......……….............4

Extras .................................... 5

Around BTPS………………….6-9

This month our trustee showcase in “Meet the Trustee” is Lanie Parr. Lanie was elected in 2010 and will have served the students of BTPS for seven years at the end of this term in October!

Lanie Parr – A Little Bit About Me I was born in Port Alberni, BC, but moved to Calgary to attend school. I finished school in Calgary and went on to study Earth Sciences at the University of Calgary, graduating with a Bachelor of Science. During University, I was fortunate to be able to study abroad, completing a Field School in Geography in the Mediterranean, introducing me to a love of travel. After graduation, I spent a year living and working in Vancouver and doing some fieldwork in Northern BC and the Yukon, but eventually moved back to Alberta. I then headed off backpacking in Asia for four months before returning to work for a pipeline company in Alberta and the US. In the meantime, I met my future husband, and we now farm near Dewberry and are raising three busy, active daughters. We love the outdoors, the mountains and are avid snowboarders and skiers!

Lanie is the Vice Chair of the Board of Buffalo Trail Public Schools. She serves on the Policy Committee and is a Director for the Public School Boards Association of Alberta.

Her thoughts on serving as a trustee are: I am passionate about education and providing access for all students to have the best possible education. As a trustee, it is critical that we continually work to break down barriers that may impede a child’s ability to learn; including mental health issues, hunger, poverty, long bus rides, the list goes on. We need to address these challenges and resolve issues by continually assessing and putting in the proper supports. As a trustee, I feel we have been entrusted by our constituents, especially our students, to continually work to make the best education and opportunities equitable to all students in our division and Alberta.

COMMENTS ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER?

Please send your comments or

suggestions to jody.pollard@btps.ca

We’d love to hear from you!

BUFFALO TRAIL PUBLIC SCHOOLS

1041 10A Street

Wainwright, AB T9W 2R4

P: 780.842.6144

F: 780.842.3255

E: central_office@btps.ca

www.btps.ca

Twitter: BTPS#28

Superintendent’s Memo

For the Week of March 13th -17th, 2017

FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT...

Email: jody.pollard@btps.ca

Question of the week is on Page 5!

New prizes this year!!!

MISSION: Buffalo Trail Public Schools is committed to maximizing student learning,

in a safe and caring environment, supported by a highly effective team.

2

TECHNOLOGY

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Interactive Whiteboards

There has been some discussion around the division about the state of the interactive whiteboards commonly called SMART boards. Almost all of the Smart boards in BTPS were funded by a grant called Technology in the Classroom. This three year grant, staring in January 2009 was intended to upgrade all classrooms in Alberta to three year old or newer mobile instructional computers and a digital projection device and/or electronic whiteboard. Since all of our schools were renewing classroom computers all the monies were used on installing electronic whiteboards. This new money was supplied outside of the normal education grants at the time. The first projectors that went in are now going into their eighth year of operation and are at end of life. This means that the projectors need to be replaced. Unfortunately, the economic situation in Alberta has changed and money for extras is no longer available. Schools have to plan for the replacing of these devices from their budget. Your technology team continues to maintain the existing stock but where the cost of a bulb is half the cost of replacing a projector, we always advise our schools leadership to replace the older projector.

Windows 10 is coming to your desktop

Over the next six weeks, WES, KES, KHS, Dr. Folkins, Hughenden, Clandonald and Delnorte will be receiving new desktop computers. These computers will have the new operating system windows 10 on them. Once we have completed removing and replacing the older technology at these schools, we will turn our focus to the remaining 11 schools. If you are in one of the remaining schools, we plan to have your machines imaged with windows 10 by the end of the school year. We are doing this as it has become very difficult to manage a duo operating system environment especially with very important security updates.

Data Security: Our shared responsibility

We had no breaches last week. That is fantastic.

Educate yourself about ransomware, phishing, spearing etc. If you have not seen the letter please use this link https://goo.gl/KJUJfH to read the letter. This link is legitimate

Reminder: Do not call the main central office switchboard, as they are not able to help with technology.

Email us at techhelp@btps.ca tech problems sishelp@btps.ca for PowerSchool or PowerTeacher problems.

Phone 780-806-2053 Text 780-806-9228 Twitter hashtag #btps28 BTTube Remember your asset tag number on all tickets!

3

CURRICULUM

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Upcoming Local Events

A day with Inuvialuit Residential School

Survivor Margaret Okiak-Fenton and au-

thor Christy Jordan Fenton (*author of

the books Fatty Legs & A Stranger at

Home)

May 5, 2017

9:00 a.m.—3:30 p.m.—St. Albert, AB

Register here—$50.00

Conference on Indigenous Thought

May 2—5, 2017

St. Paul, AB—hosted at Blue Quills

Register here—$200.00

The Learning Network’s Third Annual

Spring Gathering for Educators: “Meet

the Métis”

4:00 pm May 23, full day May 24, till noon May

25, 2017 Portage College, St.Paul, AB

Registration link coming soon—please

save the date

First Nations, Métis and Inuit

Scholarship & Bursary Information

Funding Resources for Aboriginal Stu-

dents—ALIS

Métis and Non-Status Indian Bursary

Program (Alberta Human Services)

Aboriginal Bursaries Search Tool—Gov’t

of Canada

The Learning Network has a new, mobile friendly, webpage! Check it out by clinking on the logo to the left. Click on programs and then filter by topic or month.

2Learn has many great, already collated resources to explore St. Patrick’s Day in your classroom. From history, culture, arts, online interactives, teacher resources and much more. K –12.

A List of Great TED Talks

for Educators in 2017

Are you feeling the mid-winter blues? Here is a

great list of 10 recent TED Talks specifically for

Educators. They include reasons to learn a new

language, inspirational stories, how math can be

cool, and much more! Enjoy some reflection

time with “TED”.

Help Students With

Visual Strategies

Visual strategies are of-

ten used to help students with learning disabili-

ties or Autism Spectrum Disorder. This article

from the CEA argues however, that all students

can benefit because visual strategies support

communication and content area learning. It

goes into detail on how visuals can help with

structure, task organization, motivation, and

self-regulation. Several links are provided to

available resources.

REGIONAL SKILLS

COMPETITION

Lakeland College—

April 28, 2017

For more information and to register, visit the

Skills Alberta website here.

HUMAN RESOURCES

4

PAYROLL

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Teacher Payroll

Please be advised that if you are

due for a February increment it will

be on your February Statement of

Earnings & Deductions. To check

whether you received your

increment, compare your January

statement to your February

statement to see if there was an

increase in the Step(years) on your

statement.

If you have any questions please

email hrteachers@btps.ca

5

Answer

Wendy Rodgers

WES

What was the

E.H. Walter

Trojans Jr. Girls'

Basketball team final

season record?

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EXTRAS

6

AROUND BTPS

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On February 23, while the Grades 9 – 12 were off to Blue Quills. The Grades 3 – 6 participated in

the first annual Irma School Science Fair.

All Irma photos were submitted by Jennifer Falle

On February 23 our Grade 9-12 Irma students travelled to St. Paul to tour Blue Quills University, a

former residential school that is now the only band operated First Nations University in Canada.

The students were treated to a smudging ceremony, a tour of the residential school complete with

first-hand accounts of abuse, and a discussion of the legacies of trauma and the path towards rec-

onciliation! What a powerful and impactful day!!

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AROUND BTPS

GO BACK

This week E.H. Walter participated in the Read Around the Planet program, organized by Poly-Com. Our Gr. 6 class with Mrs. Sittler partnered via PolyCom to a class in Texas while our Gr. 1 class with Ms. Dorrance partnered with a kindergarten class in Kamloops, BC! We hosted both of these events in our Learning Commons. This was a really great experience for our classes, with great opportunities to learn and share between each partnership. Huge thanks goes to Jeremy Julyan from the technology department, for bringing awareness to this program, and for coordinating and providing support for the PolyCom event!

Submitted by: Amber Fehr

The E.H. Walter Trojans Jr. Girls' Basketball team capped off a per-fect season on home court on March 4, 2017 by winning the BTJHAA Championship. The girls finished the season with a 28-0 record.

Submitted by: Calvin Anhorn

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AROUND BTPS

GO BACK

Here are some photo's taken in our Learning Commons at Marwayne school. Students have been doing various activities since November, promoting teamwork, imagination, building and inventing.

Submitted by: Carmen Smart

9

AROUND BTPS

GO BACK

Grade 4-9 students went to Table Mountain on March 6 for Irma School’s annual ski trip!

Four of Irma's high school students were in attend-

ance last week at Lakeland College for their Inter-

mediate Mechanics course. Thank you to Tzea for

all her efforts to ensure all our students were able to

attend this session together.