As we draw closer to welcoming students and staff back to school, there is much to be excited about across our District, with many projects coming to completion and some new ones getting underway.
Our Information Technology and Communications teams have been especially busy this summer implementing new processes and tools designed to make things easier for students, families and staff. This includes the launch of new websites for all of our K–12 brick-and-mortar schools this fall.
As usual, our Facilities team have also had an incredibly busy summer. Supporting more than 35 sites, much of their important work happens during July and August while students are away. We are grateful for everything they do behind the scenes to make sure our schools are ready to welcome students and staff in September.
We are pleased that the new childcare facility located on the Hans Helgesen Elementary property is ready to welcome the YMCA-YWCA of Greater Victoria South Island, which will operate infant and toddler childcare services as well as care for 3–5-year-olds beginning in September.
We are also looking forward to significant progress on two school builds this year. We anticipate breaking ground on the new Port Renfrew School, now planned as a K–8 school, during the first part of the school year, followed by North Langford Secondary School in the second part of the year.
Board Business
In June, the Board of Education met to conduct its regular business; in previous years, particularly years of rapid growth for our district, there has been business requiring Board attention in August prior to the start of the school year. This summer, there have been no matters requiring Board consideration that have arisen through July and August. As always, the Board has remained available to convene throughout the summer should an issue requiring its attention arise.
This natural break in regular Board business has also meant that staff with scheduled vacation were able to take their well-earned time away uninterrupted, while those working through the summer could remain focused on preparing our schools and systems for September start up. Board meetings require considerable preparation and support from staff, including our Executive and Information Technology teams, and we are mindful of the demands placed on employees throughout the year and the importance of maintaining a healthy and sustainable balance.
Connecting with Our Community
It has been great to connect with students, staff, families and community members at events throughout the summer. We appreciate everyone who takes the time to stop and speak with us. Those conversations matter. Hearing directly from the people we serve is an essential part of our work as trustees and helps us bring the voices, experiences and priorities of our communities to the Board table.
As always, our standing committee meetings are also open to the public and are a great way to find out what is happening in the District. The next Education Policy meeting will be September 15, and the next Resources Committee meeting will be September 22; both at 6 p.m. at the Board Office or online through MS Teams. We look forward to coming together again at our public Board meeting on September 29 at 7 p.m. at the Board Office. Community members are welcome to attend in person or join online.
Thank You
As this Board enters its final months of service together, and as we look ahead to the trustee elections on October 17 and a new Board of Education taking office in November, we would like to say thank you to supporters of public education.
We know this work is not always easy. It asks a lot of you. It asks for patience and resilience, compassion and creativity. And, perhaps more than anything, it asks you to believe—in young people, in one another, and in the idea that what happens in our schools can change the course of a life.
We see you staying a little longer because a student needs help or simply needs someone to listen. We see you giving up evenings for practices, performances, meetings, and events. We see you cheering from the sidelines on Saturdays and answering the phone when something unexpected happens. And we see those working quietly behind the scenes, the people whose names may never appear in a Board report, but whose care, commitment, and hard work make everything else possible.
And behind so many of you are families who share your time with public education on evenings, weekends and in those unexpected moments when your school community needs you. We thank them, too.
Every day, somewhere in this District, a young person discovers something they are good at. Someone finds the confidence to try again. Someone feels like they belong. Someone encounters an adult who sees something in them that they haven't quite learned to see in themselves yet.
That is the work. And it matters.
There are approximately 2,400 people doing that work across the Sooke School District. Different jobs. Different schools. Different responsibilities. But one shared purpose: helping every student learn, grow, find their place and imagine what is possible for their future.
Over the last four years, we have had the privilege of seeing that work up close. Much of it will never make headlines. Most of it happens one student, one conversation, one ordinary moment at a time.
But those ordinary moments add up.
They become a school community. They become a public education system. And, eventually, they become the kind of community our young people will inherit from us.
So, as our term wraps up, we simply want you to know this:
We see you. We are grateful for you. And we hope you never underestimate the difference you make.
Looking Ahead to September
As we enjoy these last weeks of summer, we hope our students and school-based staff have had an opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends and a change of pace from the busy school year.
There is a lot to look forward to, and we can't wait to see everyone back.
Sooke School District Board of Education