Discussion Topic	Submitted By	Date Submitted	Discussion Response
Administrator supervision, evaluation & mentorship	Alda Lovell	2024-03-22 12:08:19	Situations (rural) where teachers are being hired into principalships. Mentorship becomes essential in these hiring situations. Generative evidence collection. Set of standard questions for each competency, admin respond and link artifacts, senior admin add comments into document. Developed rubric (just to inform evaluation language). Admin task force was used to develop rubric. Staff and community engagement used to build principal profiles to drive shortlisting, interview questions and hiring of admin. Working with AP's to ensure they are working towards a principal skillset.
Administrator supervision, evaluation & mentorship	Alda Lovell	2024-03-22 11:50:02	Admin Evaluations: new principals have to provide evidence in all of the LQS competency areas. Meet with new admin 4-5 times at the school. Princpals complete a self-evaluation, evaluator adds notes, etc. to complete evaluation. Meeting with other directors to get feedback/experience/evidence re: the principal. Principals complete a similar process with assistant principals. AP development plan (not evaluation) three year development plan (to grow future principal skillset/capacity). Working with principals to build leadership capacity with assistant principals. Principal in training cohorts. Question: transferring admin in rural areas).
Administrator supervision, evaluation & mentorship	Alda Lovell	2024-03-22 11:29:27	Gathering 360 Feedback during admin evaluation procedure: surveys, inperson staff interviews. Mentorship programs for new admin (principal & AP), very valuable. ATA told one senior admin that they can only evaluate on 'what they see'...not on staff feedback, etc.nATA also was not in favour of two people doing the evaluation. If not meeting LQS competency areas in probationary period, return to classroom. Some jurisdictions focus on only two LQS competencies with AP's in the probationary period. Most have principals provide some type of feedback to AP as well as the evaluation from senior administration. Important to check contract language re: evaluation process. Mentorship for Assist Princpals: for all principals. Principals submit a problem of practice and everyone shares perspective.
Administrator supervision, evaluation & mentorship	Alda Lovell	2024-03-22 11:10:25	What are the most important things to consider in this topic area? ~We do a good job of our brand new admin in the first three years, but less focus in year 4 & 5 - a plan to continue to mentor and supervise closely. ~How to ensure mentorship of new AP's and not just leaving it up the principals. What are the floor level practices that the AP's are prepared to be a principal. ~Mentorship of AP's has included: monthly mentorship meetings for all administrators (adin submit topics and then attend topics that pertain to them), levels of mentorship aspiring leaders to AP's to principals (it's voluntary). ~Providing ~Hiring someone externally to do the coaching/mentorship has been hugely valuable. ~Valuable to give feedback throughout the probationary period ~Using a book study to guide new admin cohort. What's currently on your radar in this area? Finding AP's need purposeful mentorship to prepare them to be a principal. ~sometimes veteran principals aren't providing growth opportunities (teaching them/exposing them to budgets, hiring, evaluations, etc.) ~some jurisdictions the superintendent does the evaluations and in some the HR/PS assistant superintendent does the evaluations. ~using self-reflection of LQS competency areas Is there something you need to know more about in this area?
Administrator supervision, evaluation & mentorship	Corrine Thorsteinson	2024-03-15 10:56:56	For new leader mentorship an important thing to consider is to ensure that aspiring leaders get a balance between practical skills and theoretical knowledge. This can come from a combination of cohort sessions and school-based intentional observations / job-shadowing. Corrine Thorsteinson says: It's also important to be intentional when recruiting participants for these cohorts--how does membership build intentional capacity in your division (i.e. grade levels, communities, subject specialities, etc)
Aspiring Leaders and New Teacher Mentorship	Greg Wedman	2024-03-22 12:08:02	Group 4 New Teacher Mentoring Progession from recruitment conversation. Looking at more differentiating new teacher support - enticing former teachers back into teaching need different supports. Sometimes it is support to grow them enough to get them through the year, not looking towards continuing contracts. Don't have the sub coverage to be able to do some of the traditional pieces that we have done for this in the past. Tough to handle with the life-work balance. We are desperate for new teachers, so the bar has been lowered. Partnership with the ATA. Aspiring Leaders Change of the narrative for admin to make it less unappealing. Encourage these programs for all leadership roles. Having newly appointed VP's sharing virtually what they did to get the VP position. Engage candidates in action research. Retired principal running much of the program. Develop Inquiry based question to work on.
Aspiring Leaders and New Teacher Mentorship	Greg Wedman	2024-03-22 11:49:57	Group 3 Mentorship Program Examples/Ideas: Formal mentorship programs - 2 years Run in conjunction with the ATA Local Aspiring Leader Examples/Ideas: Leadership Academy Shadowing principals Zone cohort for some topics Run a general dinner session to talk about Leadership in the division - lead into a program the next year. Partner with post secondary to offer credits for the program. Consider paying people for taking the LQS or offering it within the zone. Cohort to join one admin meeting during the year. Concerns about the permanent VP contracts. What if they are not looking towards a principalship? Conversations before they accept permanent contracts about their intent. Maybe we don't offer the permanent position. Document the conversation for future reference. If we have too many schools with only a principal, how do we build up future principals and get them experience?
Aspiring Leaders and New Teacher Mentorship	Greg Wedman	2024-03-22 11:28:34	Group 2 1. Most important - running some programs on weekend days and paying daily sub rate - helps to mitigate the sub issue. 2. Currently on radar - Resurrecting new teacher mentorship programs. Panel of current administrators presenting to them. Plan with school admin teams to mentor newer VP's, so that they have gone through most things within 2 years. New admin cohorts with very managerial topics. Programs to get new teachers from the community - paying some of their tuition with a return agreement. 3. Need to know - Current programs that are happening elsewhere
Aspiring Leaders and New Teacher Mentorship	Greg Wedman	2024-03-22 11:09:35	Group 1 1. Most important - Need to build capacity for Aspiring Leaders, as current leaders are aging. Connects to teacher recruitment and retention. If we can get new teachers, the support, orientation is important, as they have so many options to move elsewhere. Having multiple touch points throughout the year. Two year programs to help keep them and build them up. New grads are asking the question, "What supports do you have for new teachers?" 2. Currently on radar - Leaders incorporate many different areas. Programs need to look at much of this from a general perspective. Master's programs - 3. Need to know - what others are doing for these programs in their divisions.
Teacher and administrator Recruitment (and letters of authority)	Sonja Dykslag	2024-03-22 11:11:20	This is location specific for sure - rural positions are more difficult. Continious designations to VPs is a tough way to go when they are not willing to move up into the principalship. The admin allowances for prinicpals in rural areas (small schools) are not encouaging principals to move to larger schools. Why go to a larger school with really no more compensation. Gas prices are a concern right now and that is limiting the rural applications. We have to grow our own people in many of our school divisions. Letter's of Authority for EAs to become teachers. The example were regarding candidates from the Phillipines who were teachers there and now were EAs. The candidate makes an account on Twins and the they apply for the letter of authority, the cost for the applicaiton is about $250 (that can be a barrier),, then the school division then goes into Twins using the candidates reference number and then the division says they recommend, the candidate then gets a checklist that asks them to submit documentation (ie citizenship, birth certificate, transcripts, VSC, etc.), the applicaiton did not make specifics on what the person could or could not teach. Others at the table discussed that the Letter of Authority applications were very specific to what the candidate could and could not teach. For example, CTS and Calm but nothing else. Substitutes on grid on day one or two and some go on grid on day 5 - this is not consistent with neighboring divisions so that creates conflict. Sonja Dykslag says: Can't get a hold of anyone at the office of the Registrar and Twins, ever. The email method is not working! The message of saying you will get a response with in 10 days is not happening and often the issues we are having do not have 10 days. Out of country trained teachers - getting a Letter of Authority is very difficult. The paper work is often gone for those people - ie. our Ukrainian people, Nigera, etc. We are not getting support from the registrar to help us out on this. CASS - we would like some help and guidance on how to navigate this process. The Letter's of Authority are restrictive, the fee is unexpected and the process is complicated. We need a Bridging program for the foreign teachers coming to our school divisions so they can build their skills to be teachers in Canada... we can support them financially as a division to do this program and then they can be committed to our school division. We need a shorter track program for foreign teachers who need to get Alberta Teaching Certification and then we can avoid the Letter of Authority issues. We are seeing more and more teachers not interested in the planning etc. so they are just subbing. Assignable time is killing us - more and more teachers think that marking is assignable time, the professional responsibilites are not being considered as unassignable time - they think everything they do in connection to their jobs that should be considered assignable time. Sonja Dykslag says: CRCS has been using Letters of Authority for foreign teachers and that has been going well. CASS needs to make it more public facing on the Registrar website - right now Letters of Authority is "off menu" and we need to promote this more and share that process with school divisions in clearer language. Practicum students - some of the Universities are saying no - but the government is saying yes. The work around is writing the ministers office and working around the University and getting Letters of Authority. CASS could advocate for more avenues for people to come from overseas and the US - the immigration issues are a big slow down. We need a smoother process here. Administration recuritment is also getting more difficult - external candiates are very minimal now so we need to be very strong in our mentorship within - ie. Aspiring leaders We need strong mentorship programs. People are not knocking down the doors to be principals. We need to work with our highschools to make sure we represent that teaching is a great career - we need to grow our own. We are very good at career fairs to show all the options, but we sometimes forget to showcase education. School divisions are offering more bursaries for students and EAs to consider going into teaching. We need to find ways to get more EAs to come into teaching. CASS needs to lobby that Worklun needs to be able to offer programming throughout Alberta. Most locals are in support of Instructional Superivsors and the ATA is good to work with on this. Apply to Educaton Virtual has been successful. Sonja Dykslag says: In Fort Mc it is a huge part of what we do. They recurit for teachers around the country. Going to Newfoundland, other areas of the country. Admin they try their best to go internally. For EAs we use the college to help generate staff. Budget for this is large - but they have signed 21 teachers with the national recuritment process. At the recuritment fairs we are seeing that the AB teachers are trying to travel and they are leaving Alberta to go to teach internationally for the first few years. We are finding that at the career fairs that the candidates are interviewing us vs. us interviewing us. The candidates are shopping for school division and are looking for allowances to go to the big centers for the weekend, caps on assignable time, incentives to move, etc. We are at a crossroads in education in the professsion, the media is not helping us. CASS is working hard on this, but the media and the narrative is working against us in many ways. Ie. Aggressive students and parents is the mantra of the ATA. Costs of living are so high right now. Let's start paying our 3rd and 4th year practicum students so they say. The urban centers are signing the students right out of school before they even graduate. We need more training spots for teachers in the universities. The marks to get into education programs is now higher than it is to get into law. CASS needs to focus on the narrative and turn it to be showcasing that teaching is a noble and awesome profession. They need to work with the ATA to help control the narrative. CASS needs to encouage the universities to accept more students and lower the acceptance requirements. A candidate with a 89% high school mark may not be the best teacher. We are all now doing exit interviews to see why our people are leaving. They are not leaving because they don't like the job for the most part - they are leaving because of the extra curricular, the planning, the marking. They like the teaching, but they don't like the extras that are taking away from their quality of life outside of school. Multiple careers is the mindset now. Teacher recuritment is a crisis right now! We need help! What are options - letter of authority needs to be accessed more and more and we need these letters to be more flexible.
Progressive Staff Discipline and Accountability	Mark Siemens	2024-03-22 12:22:05	Theme #3 - It is frustrating slow - Often medical leaves can slow the process. Some principals are worried about staff members going on leave if they try to grow staff and deal with issues which can lead to avoiding the issue. - Lack of historical documentation can cause the process to start years after the initial concerns were noticed. - Unions can put breaks on and often advocate for a slower process. -
Progressive Staff Discipline and Accountability	Mark Siemens	2024-03-22 12:17:56	Theme #2: Documentation, Documentation, Documentation - Key practice - Follow up with the email. Historical issues need to be documented in emails. Save the email and add it to the pdf. - Before stronger letters are sent, People Services leaders are requiring proof of lower level before high levels. - Sometimes the personnel file is clean but the Principal is “done” with the staff or the community is done with the teacher. It is difficult to tell the principal that we are starting at stage one.
Progressive Staff Discipline and Accountability	Mark Siemens	2024-03-22 12:15:15	Theme #1 - Administrative Procedures Some key conversations included: - We spoke about the entry level for . It is important for lower level concerns to be addressed in conversation with a follow up email. Some school divisions use a more formal letter of “counsel” as the first step and this does not go into the personnel file. - Some concerns were raised about principals writing letters without consulting People Services ahead of time. Some divisions have this clear in APs and some do not have APs in this. - Discussions were had about whether it is worthwhile to have an AP or not. Does it become to restrictive?
Continuing Education Topics for CASS	Corrine Thorsteinson	2024-03-24 16:41:34	Group 2: - Negotiations-- best practices--bring in TEBA to help lead this. Focus on pitfalls and best practices - Compensation structures--how do divisions review their compensation for non-unionized support staff and out of scope positions; SIPP and SERP, etc. - Workers Compensation Board--filing for cost relief, best practices, legislation, premium rates, etc. - ASEBP Sick Leave Support Program--latest Trustee Report indicates that this is going to be rolled out to all divisions in the future after a lengthy pilot - Medical Notes-challenges with GRTW plans, terminology and rights and responsibilities of divisions around accommodations, etc. - What HR Training should school administrators have--what are best practices in that area?
Continuing Education Topics for CASS	Corrine Thorsteinson	2024-03-24 16:41:01	Group 3: - Year in Review from Case Law that affects education--Panel Discussion with a couple of different legal firms and the administration from divisions who have been part of those cases (where they included school divisions). - Ministerial Orders--sometimes they are issued without us knowing the implementation impacts on our work (e.g.. Counselors and new regulations or Pre-Schools, etc) - Have some sessions that are full-day--more general in the first part with the option to stay and go deeper on the same topic - Opportunities to collaborate on the "doing" in a "work bee" model. Examples would include opportunities to work together to revise admin procedures, etc. that come from the learning. Opportunities for discussion and dialogue on the contextual factors behind some statements in the procedures. - Investigation Training and Certification training--a CEP module or acknowledgement of external training to gain CEP Credits. Refresher courses in this area to gain credits as well. Question about the evolution of these modules--how do we ensure they remain updated and timely? - More opportunities for Pre-Conference sessions specific to HR topics. - Would appreciate if the Pre-Conference topics could be communicated months in advance...often we have booked off the conference dates but not for the pre-conference day. When the pre-conference topics are announced, often the calendar doesn't permit attendance. - yearly scheduling of approved PD outside of conference dates--e.g.. annual dates for Investigation Training - Negotiations training--best practices, pitfalls, etc. Having TEBA come and offer something similar to the Engagements specifically for administrative staff - Bargaining Bootcamp as a CEP module.
Continuing Education Topics for CASS	Corrine Thorsteinson	2024-03-22 12:07:19	Group 4: -SOGI- navigating the recent announcements from the provincial government--how do we support our staff in navigating through this? Systems leaders need some edcuation / support on this - Networking and sharing stories of practice around big items, eg. Pembina Hills decision - In terms of CEP offerings--can some of these be cohorted rather than "drive by" PD sessions--the conversations and discussions are rich and enhance the learning - Effective staffing allocation models- learning from others on how they approach these processes. Focus on practical topics for CEP Topics - Internal capacity is very important to ensure that the Alberta Context remains at the forefront. - Diving into the data--what data should we be looking at? What is useful, what isn't in our work? What are we using to drive practice? Sometimes divisions are not focused on this in the same way they are on other data sets - Teacher recruitment--what is the hard data provincially and what is the shortfall? What are divisions doing to address these shortfalls? How can we stretch our thinking in this way? - More information about equity in the staffing demographic in our schools. What are we doing to recruit a more diverse workforce? How are we promoting equity and representation in our staff? Work on bias and privilege as foundational to this work.
Continuing Education Topics for CASS	Corrine Thorsteinson	2024-03-22 11:09:46	Group One: Will there be opportunities to recognize external conferences and professional development for members to earn credits (eg. ASBOA-HR Law, Investigation training, CPHR courses, etc). Partnering with ASBOA makes sense. Encourage CASS to make room for these opportunities. Opportunities for free-flow conversations with HR...important not to loose this with only structured opportunities for discussion. Sometimes the learning really happens. Role Alike conversations are a rigorous PD opportunity. It's possible that HR values the Role Alike conversations for different reasons than other groups. In terms of CASS offerings in this area, topics that were discussed included: - Case Study Review and Discussion with Legal Counsel--continue with these offerings - Employment Law sessions (similar to MLT sessions) that are specifically related to educational case law - Negotiations--bring in TEBA Scott McCormack / Craig Fink to do something similar to the TEBA Engagement but specifically directed to administrative staff (not admin and trustees) - Negotiation Training offered by TEBA at Summer Conference - Research projects focussed on thec
Open Topic	Ray Hoppins	2024-03-22 12:07:38	What are you doing to meet the extreme behaviors and mental needs in each school? 1. teacher counsellors 2. social emotional teachers 3. social workers 4. extensive counselling model, teacher counsellors, and social workers, student support workers 5. middle school has teacher counsellors, 6. teacher counsellor who has a student support work 7. LST (Learning Support Teacher) 8. Learning support facilitator 9.We want to keep context in mind and future CASS sessions. 10. We need to do something in
Open Topic	Ray Hoppins	2024-03-22 11:51:09	CASS Annual Conference March (Staff Health & Wellness) 1. Fun activities with staff 2. System wellness model addressing complexity in the classroom - behavioral coaches in schools and classrooms, collaborative problem solving, 3. Staff health and wellness champions 4.Google wellness site for students 5. one hour per week to learn about wellness about assignable time 6. Time with their teams. 7.Faith and wellness days 8. Weekdays 'Til 6 9. Inkblot EFAP 10. Add a wellness section to the growth plan conversations. 11. 30-40 wellness strategies 12. Staff Health & Wellness Worker 13. Philicia Oaks 14. Benefit opportunities 15. Individual, School, System 16. Looking at the calendar to improve 17. Focus groups with support staff 18. A list of 'things we can do before a leave' document to physicians 19. Listening to feedback to staff 20.