The trustees of the South East Cornerstone Public School Division approved a motion to sign a memorandum of understanding with Assiniboine Community College in Manitoba and denied a request from Saskatchewan's acting auditor general to provide information on confidential student files.
The deal with Assiniboine CC makes a clear path for the school division and the college to provide dual credits for certain vocational classes, thus enhancing learning opportunities for students.
Marc Casavant, director of education for Cornerstone, explained that a similar process is not possible with the local Southeast Regional College based on the current setup that exists between secondary and post-secondary institutions in this province.
"It's about access to curriculum," said Casavant.
A pilot project with the Manitoba-based college will be built for this coming fall and the agreement will roll out annually through ongoing consultations.
The director said the provincial Ministry of Education is onside with the plan and they, along with the school division and the college will review the progress being made and will sent representatives to the table to keep track of what is evolving.
Casavant said the agreement may be broken by either side by giving notice, and the subject matters will be delivered by the teachers in the schools as well as by work-site mentors. The subject matters will be delivered with the same rigour as what is found at the college level and will have similar content with the curriculum being reviewed by both sides.
Casavant said the concept could prove valuable for students showing an interest in a variety of skilled professions such as welding or financial administration and management, which has caught the attention of various chambers of commerce.
"It's sad we can't offer it yet in Saskatchewan or Alberta," said Casavant.
Janet Foord, an Estevan-based trustee, who is also president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, said other school divisions are working on similar programs.
"There is some ground-breaking going on with these pilot projects," Casavant said.
When it came to the provincial auditor's request for access to student files, the board voted unanimously to deny the inquiry.
They cited the need to protect student and family confidential information and added they arrived at the decision after receiving additional legal opinion. In fact, they had forwarded their thoughts to the province's privacy commissioner.
"We had a visit with the auditor's representative. They stated their case, and we differed with them while fully understanding they have other measures they can refer to, to get the information they probably need," said Harold Laich, the division's board chairman.
"This is new, and I don't want to violate our due process plan," said Estevan trustee Pam Currie.
"It's not about not being willing to co-operate, it's just about privacy and liability," said trustee Carol Flynn. "They said it was about process to assure things were working in our system, and I feel they have other ways to learn what they need to learn."
"There are a variety of ways they can get what they need, and we don't need to put ourselves out there in a precedent setting case," said Weyburn trustee Len Williams.
Superintendent/deputy director Lynn Little also walked the trustees through a series of changes to the administrative procedures that dealt with details such as use of vehicles belonging to the division. It was noted that school vehicles are not to be driven outside of the province on school-related matters without additional steps being taken for liability reasons. There are also rule changes for the operation of 15-passenger vans. Other changes dealt with capital requests coming from communities and a social media policy for staff regarding controversial topics and issues.
