Mike Safek, principal of Osoyoos Secondary School. (Photo by Lyonel Doherty)
Staffing for the fall at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) is now confirmed and both Principal Mike Safek and Vice-Principal Lyle Chapman will be returning.
That’s the word from Bev Young, superintendent of schools for School District 53.
“I’ve restaffed both schools,” said Young, also referring to Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS) in Oliver. “From June 30 until basically yesterday we’ve been working flat out on the staffing.”
June 30 was the date the school district’s board of trustees voted 5-2 to rescind a bylaw that would have closed OSS and transferred Osoyoos students to Oliver.
Safek said he, Chapman and other OSS staff are “excited that our school is staying open, that we’ll get to work with our students and we’ll be able to offer a fantastic year of teaching and learning. We’re really excited to be getting going in September.”
Both Safek and Young say they were very busy in the weeks following the June meeting as they adjusted to the fact that OSS would be staying open after all.
“The immediate challenge was staffing,” said Young, adding that there are still a few positions in the district to fill.
The priority now, she said, is matching students with courses. And that will determine exactly what each teacher will be teaching, allowing teachers to do their preparations.
Asked how enrolment is looking for the coming school year at OSS, Young said that would only be known in September.
Parents of Osoyoos students who will be returning to secondary school were surveyed in June about whether the students intend to go to OSS or to SOSS, but Young said she only received 61 responses to the survey.
While a few will be going to SOSS, most intend to continue at OSS, she confirmed, adding that those who did not respond to the survey are presumed to be going to OSS.
While Young could not comment on individual teachers who will be returning to OSS, she suggested there would not be major changes other than the normal turnover that occurs as some teachers take other posted positions in the district.
Safek said OSS administration made a list of all that needed to be accomplished when they learned the school would stay open.
“We worked pretty long hours that week to get as much done as we can get done,” he said. Our goal is a smooth start (in September) like any other year.”
This has meant doing timetables. Currently course selections have only been received for about two thirds of students, but Safek hopes more get dropped off after Aug. 22.
Safek is pleased that by adopting a more flexible timetable, the school will be able to provide the courses it has offered in the past as well as some that haven’t been offered in recent years.
In the fall of 2015, the school looked at a number of other schools and what they are doing with alternative timetables, he said.
“We took a lot of what we had seen and created a hybrid of some of the good things we had seen at a number of schools,” he said.
This allows the school not only to offer the courses students need to get into university or continue into trades, but also some other popular courses.
These include forensics, a science-based course; art courses including drawing, painting, graphic arts, ceramics and sculpture; business, economics, accounting, creative writing, sports performance, social justice, geography and yearbook.
The hockey academy and golf academy will also be continuing, Safek said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Vice-Principal Lyle Chapman will be back at Osoyoos Secondary School when it opens in September. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Bev Young, School District 53 superintendent of schools. (Richard McGuire file photo)
