Board Agenda February 17, 2010 - Halton District School Board

TO:
FROM:
RE:
The Chair and Members of the
Halton District School Board
Administrative Council
Report Number: 10023
Date: February 9, 2010
INCIDENTAL INFORMATION
Strategic/Operational Plan – Communication 2008-09 and 2009-10 Update
Background
The Board’s Strategic Plan identified Communications as a critical area for operational improvements,
and during the course of 2009 and 2010, Operational Plan goals were identified in the areas of website
improvements, CHATT improvements, and parent/community communication enhancements.
Below we will outline the targeted areas for improvement, as well as the specific initiatives, and
provide the results garnered during the past year.
Website Improvements:
Target: Increase effective web usage for stakeholders of the Halton District School Board.
Results: The new Board website went online February 2009, following considerable
consultation. Further consultation was conducted in the past year and as a result, new
features have been added to enhance the “Boardroom and Trustees” and “Calendar”
pages. Plans are underway to implement training specific to trustees so they are better
able to take advantage of the communication opportunities available to them through
their individual webpages.
Other miscellaneous items have also been enhanced to better serve the stakeholders
who utilize the Board’s website as the go-to source for Board information.
CHATT:
Target: 100% of staff will effectively use email, conferencing and calendaring by 2010.
Results:
1. CHATT training (release time for administration and teachers) modules offered throughout
Halton for all staff, and addressing a variety of skill levels.
2. CHATT hardware purchased and upgrade to CHATT 10; planned for summer 2010
3. Established a system calendar to coordinate events, meetings and training; this system has
been operated in conjunction with System Principals who are assisting in the monitoring of
events to avoid overlap and schedule conflicts for system administrators
4. CHATT conferences have been reviewed and conference cleanup efforts are ongoing
5. CHATT mailboxes and conferences have been archived and increase of quotas has been
implemented as appropriate
6. Implemented consistent system-wide protocols; this has been reinforced through the CHATT
training (see item 1)
7. System stability (we have had only two unplanned outages; a third outage for home users was
due to an internet outage).
8. Purchase and implementation of NotifyLink to improve calendar/Blackberry synchronization.
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