Page 23 - AMDSB DAR 2018-2019

Jill of All Trades: Students from Avon Maitland District School Board’s secondary schools participated in an annual Jill of All Trades day hosted by Conestoga College. This event is sponsored by the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) and its goal is to expose young females to the skilled trades in a day filled with inspirational speakers as well as hands on learning taught by college instructors. This is the fifth year that this event has taken place and Avon Maitland continues to offer the opportunity to students in grades 10, 11 and 12 who are interested in learning more about the skilled trades.
The morning started off with a keynote by Mandy Rennehan, the founder of Freshco, which is a full-service reconstruction and retail maintenance provider. Mandy spoke to the girls about the importance of trying a skilled trade and the feeling of gratitude that comes with working with your hands. During the rest of the day, the girls participated in a variety of workshops that consisted of carpentry, masonry, food processing, welding, plumbing and electrical to name a few. Specialist High Skills Major Board lead, Jodi Froud, described the day as one of the best opportunities out there for girls to learn about OYAP by participating in hands-on workshops.
STAFF OPPORTUNITIES
Create an employee success planning strategy including the leadership development program
Year 2 of the Employee Leadership Development Program (ELDP) welcomed 30 AMDSB employees (year 1 involved 17 participants). In addition, the Principal’s Qualification Program 1 and 2 were offered and eleven staff members participated. The recruitment process for Principals (P) and Vice Principals (VP) was revised to include a process for feedback for staff members and their respective Superintendent. In the 2018/2019 school year, nine candidates were added to the VP pool and six to P pool. Human Resource Services also began charting a succession planning template.
Establish a recruitment retention and on-boarding strategy as part of a Human Capital Management Plan
Human Resources Services (HRS) is in the process of building a recruitment strategy plan involving College/ University partners. They also reviewed an “onboarding process” for new employees which will be implemented in the 2019/2020 school year and updated the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) plan and workshops.
New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) Updates:
NTIP provides professional support to help new teachers develop the requisite skills and knowledge to be effective as teachers in Ontario. Within the four sessions offered to NTIP participants, base groups with assigned mentors from the cooperative learning model have been incorporated. The mentors form the planning committee and several have been past participants of the ELDP.
Onboarding Process:
HRS expanded our posting locations and frequency to increase the visibility of our postings and to reach a wider group of applicants. A version of the New Hire Orientation was offered in April 2019 to provide an increase in support for AMDSB’s new hires. College presentations at Conestoga College’s Educational Assistant classes attracted some students who were hired as Emergency Support Staff. AMDSB was able to foster relationships with Fanshawe College to continue discussions regarding offering the Educational Assistant course again using different modalities such as classroom, online and virtual classes. Also, we worked with the Technical Training Group (TTG) to discuss offering a potential educational assistant apprenticeship program in our area. We’ve accepted EA, CYW, Autism and ECE student placements in our schools and made contact with students to discuss employment opportunities upon graduation. We continue to visit college classes as well as participate in their career fairs. As a result of our efforts, we hired approximately thirty (30) additional Educational Assistants during the 2018-2019 school year.
AVON MAITLAND DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD | 2018-2019 Director’s Annual Report | 23