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.
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.
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.