2020-2024 Multi-Year Strategic Plan
The Multi-Year Plan (MYP) is a strategic four-year plan created collaboratively for the Halton District School Board (HDSB). The purpose of the MYP is to set direction and prioritize the collective actions of all stakeholders to ensure our efforts as an organization are aligned and coordinated to support the more than 65,000 students 9,000 staff and the broader HDSB community.
A Message from Stuart Miller, Director of Education
I am pleased to announce and be part of the unveiling and implementation of the Halton District School Board's multi-year plan for 2020-2024.
All school boards are required to have a strategic plan for a minimum of three years. Our plan like the one before it is four years and it will drive the work of the Board for that time and ultimately the success and well-being of the HDSB's students.
This plan is the culmination of many months of work by the Board of Trustees, senior administration and in consultation/collaboration with dozens of stakeholder groups. All of this in the midst of a pandemic.
With the five key areas identified for the strategic focus, there is no doubt HDSB staff and students will both benefit and embrace them.
They are the key areas which reflect the present climate and allows us to attend to the future challenges of our students.
This MYP is a document to be proud of and its full implementation in all areas of school and board operations will place the HDSB at the vanguard of future success over the next four years.
Stuart Miller, Director of Education
The Trustees of the Halton District School Board are proud of the extensive consultative process that was undertaken during the journey to create the multi-year plan. The resulting plan clearly outlines the focus of the next few years. It recognizes the key priority areas we heard from students, our staff and the broader Halton community. It also recognizes that there is intersectionality that is inherent in the human condition and therefore should be present in our system. Thank you to all that contributed to this plan and we look forward to its embodiment in and outside of the classroom throughout the system.
Andréa Grebenc, Chair of the Halton District School Board
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The Education Act, section 169.1 outlines the requirements for all Ontario school boards to have a multi-year plan in place. The MYP has been developed with the Ontario Ministry of Education priorities and direction in mind, as well as Board specific strengths, priorities and areas for growth and what is happening in the world around us. The recent global movements for social and environmental justices, and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have allowed us to reflect on how nimble we must be as a system to change and adapt and to make necessary adjustments in our operations to consistently meet the needs of our students, staff and families.
The MYP plan is an overarching framework and guide that the Board will use to determine annual priorities, and to set annual operating budgets to resource these priorities. The MYP also guides establishing or modifying policies that govern how the school board operates.
The Plan
The 2020-2024 Multi-Year Plan consists of five key areas. For each area, there is a corresponding commitment.
These five commitments define the key strategic work the Board will undertake during the next four years in each area.
Within each commitment there are goals which further define and clarify the focus of our work within each area.
While there are five distinct areas to the plan, no one area stands alone or above another. There is connectedness and synergy between all areas, with the work in any one area supporting the work in the other areas.
Adaptability, Relationships, Innovation, Communication, Accountability and Engagement are foundational elements of the plan which describe both our values as an organization and how staff and stakeholders will work together to achieve the goals outlined in the plan.
Five Key Areas & Commitments
Equity & Inclusion
Equity & Inclusion champion supportive and inclusive practices to ensure equitable access to positive opportunities and outcomes for all
- Identify and eliminate racism and discriminatory barriers in the board.
- Implement culturally responsive instruction and anti-oppressive practices.
- Acknowledge and respond to the disproportionate representation of student identities in all areas of achievement.
Mental Health & Well-Being strengthen safe and caring environments that promote well-being
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Incorporate a whole person approach that includes cognitive, emotional, social, spiritual and physical development as well as academic development.
- Enhance relationships and positive learning and work climates to nurture a community where everyone belongs and feels safe.
- Improve mental health awareness, knowledge and skills, while reducing stigma and creating circles of support.
Learning & Achievement create learning conditions to elevate student achievement
- Foster a culture of high expectations to maximize student and staff achievement.
- Promote innovative strategies that connect learning to the world and prepare students for a dynamic future.
- Differentiate teaching and learning to support each unique learner.
Environmental Leadership take action for a sustainable world
- Deepen opportunities to learn about connections between ecosystems, social justice and climate.
- Elevate local environmental initiatives and practices.
- Design and manage learning environments that demonstrate a commitment to sustainable development.
Indigenous Perspectives & Awareness promote knowledge and understanding of Indigenous perspectives and realities
- Provide opportunities for a whole community approach to understanding the impacts of colonialism, past and present.
- Foster engagement with Indigenous peoples, communities, practices, perspectives and realities to build awareness, mutual respect and shared responsibility.
- Enhance learning about Treaty relationships, Indigenous rights, residential schools and Indigenous peoples’ contributions to Canada to fulfil the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action for education.
2020-2024 Multi-Year Strategic Plan (PDF)
Bringing the Plan to Life
There was a conscious effort to simplify this plan to give focus to a set of clear commitments. An operational plan will be developed annually and contain detailed information about actions and how they will be measured so that Board can ensure it is making progress on the commitments in the MYP. The Board has also collaboratively created a number of additional Plans that speak to specific areas of commitment, and outline specific actions. Each of these plans are monitored and reviewed regularly and adjusted where necessary to ensure there is accountability and that the plans are accurately reflecting the work in each respective area.
See how they are all connected
Multi-Year Plan Development
In September 2019, the Board initiated a process to develop a new MYP. A Steering Committee was created to help guide the development of the MYP. An external consultant, Maximum City, was hired to initiate an extensive stakeholder consultation process to review the contents of the previous MYP and seek input about what the HDSB community values and would like to see represented in the next MYP. Input was received from over 4,000 Halton District School Board respondents, including parents/guardians, students, staff and community members on a broad range of issues.
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People participated in vision sessions, focus groups, pop-up sessions, public round tables and surveys (staff, students, families, community). Specific groups targeted for feedback through round table sessions included:
- Parent Involvement Committee (PIC)
- Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC)
- Indigenous and Racialized Educator Network (IREN)
- A racialized student group
- Student Senate
- A disengaged student group
- A non-English speaking parent group
- Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) group from a high school
Maximum City consolidated the feedback they received from all participants. A final
report was provided by Maximum City on Jan. 28, 2020 containing tens of thousands of ideas and from this, a number of common themes emerged, each of which has been addressed in the Multi-Year Plan:
- Well-Being and Equity and Inclusion should be separated.
- Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship should be added as a focus.
- Preventing racism and bullying.
- Develop interests, strengths and engagement of each individual student.
- Focus on all aspects of health and wellbeing, including support for transitions.
- Focus on collaboration and relationship building.
- Build positive relationships (internal and external) and ongoing communication.
This data was reviewed and processed by HDSB senior administration and Trustees. Other sources of data were reviewed, including:
- Our Kids Network Annual reports
- HDSB Have Your Say Survey data
- Tell Them From Me Survey data
- Board achievement and EQAO data
- Early Development Instrument (EDI) data
- Respectful Workplace Survey data
- HDSB SHIFT data
- Operational Plan data
Senior administration and Trustees spent time with all of this information, discerning themes and core values. This resulted in the creation of a draft MYP which was presented to Trustees. The completion of the MYP met with a delay starting in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The work to finalize the MYP was restarted in September 2020. During the six-month pause, the world changed significantly with the pandemic and the global movement to name and dismantle systemic racism, sparked by the death of George Floyd. It is within this context that the MYP development was re-initiated, starting with a targeted consultation process to examine the approach of the draft plan and help guide the final process.
This additional consultation involved community coffee chat sessions hosted by Trustees that included 42 participants, and a consultation process with administrators and managers that included 60 participants. Overall, the feedback from these stakeholders (found in Appendix B) was generally supportive of the draft plan.
Themes from the consultation include:
- appreciation that what was heard in early consultation efforts has been incorporated into the plan, including aspects that reflect student voice.
- recognition that the commitment pillars are interwoven and connected with each other.
- request for understanding of specific actions to achieve the commitments and how the results will be measured.
- concern about adequate resources to make measurable change with respect to the commitments.
- how the Multi-Year Plan is connected to other plans developed by the Board.
As a result of these ideas, some additional changes were made to further refine the MYP.
The MYP was approved at the HDSB Board Meeting on Nov. 4, 2020. Targets for each goal in the MYP will be identified and progress will be monitored on an ongoing basis as part of the work of the annual Operational Plan. The Operational Plan is approved annually by the Board and progress on goals are shared withTrustees at regular intervals throughout the year.