Inclusive Education Update
Learning Services Coordinator, Carol Rainey, provided an update on Inclusive Education at Lakeland Catholic Schools.
According to the division’s assurance measures, 98 per cent of parents/guardians are satisfied with how the staff at their child(ren)’s school work together to meet the needs of their students, 97 per cent are satisfied with the timeliness of support provided, and 98 per cent are satisfied with the opportunities for them to be involved in planning the services their child receives.
Teachers are generally satisfied with the school-level support they receive in regards to inclusive education, and 62 per cent are satisfied with the support they receive in the delivery of programs for inclusive education students.
Prior to sharing the detailed figures, Rainey outlined the Tier 3 and 4 supports currently offered across the division including: Classroom Support Teachers (CST), Individualized Program Plans (IPP), the Eastern Edge Low Incidence Team, Student Assistants (SA), English as an Additional Language (EAL) supports, specialized assessments , and the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT).
Just shy of 17 per cent of students, or 442, attending LCSD schools are on IPPs, which are programs created for those who require individualized support. There are also 19 students across the division who qualify for Program Unity Funding (PUF), which are dollars dedicated to students with severe disability or language delays, and four students with moderate language delays who qualify for the Specialized Learning Support Kindergarten Moderate Language Delay Grant.
There are students at Notre Dame Elementary and one at Notre Dame High that are seen by the Low Incidence Team, which includes Deaf/Hard of Hearing Consultant and Blind/Low Vision Consultant.
Currently, there are 89.668 SAs, a full-time speech language pathologist, a contracted speech language pathologist, three speech language pathologist assistants, an occupational therapist, contracted behaviour analyst, a part-time child psychologist, and an EAL Coordinator.
The MDT has a caseload of 261 students, while the EAL Coordinator is working with 258 students providing intake assessments, benchmark scores, small group intervention, one-on-one intervention, an EAL class at École Notre Dame High School, and benchmarks in December and June.
According to Rainey, the role of CST has changed over the years, becoming more complex. Her suggestion is to increase these positions within almost all LCSD schools by 2.8 FTE, as well as increasing the multidisciplinary team with two speech language pathologists, and a full-time behaviour analyst.
Kindergarten to Grade 6 Curriculum Update
Julie Chorney, Director of Curriculum and Programs for Kindergarten to Grade 6, provided an update to the board on the new curriculum implementation.
Chorney noted, “Curriculum has been in implementation process for some time with more being implemented in the fall.”
Since the spring, when teachers began applying new curriculum, the division has be striving the provide resources that “build on the success and wonders of teachers.”
This includes professional development, providing sample long-range plans, a resource-filled website, and the creation of a Placemat, featuring relevant and useful links.
The division also purchased Mathology, an online platform that contains carefully-curated K-8 lessons and readiness tasks.
Alberta Winter Games
Trustee Vicky Lefebvre informed the Board of Trustees the Alberta Winter Games is coming to the area in 2026, something the division will want to consider when drafting the 2025-26 Division Calendar.