PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE DISTRICT’S WEBSITE AT www.fmpsdschools.ca and our Twitter accounts @fmpsd @DougNicholls2

1. How will the District refund families for Summer School registration? Refunds have been issued electronically back to the credit or debit card used to pay the fees.
2. When will District facilities be reopened?
   Restoration teams are busy at work and a tremendous amount of cleaning and air quality improvement has occurred.  But most of our schools are still a few weeks away from readiness.  Some sites, including District Office, are very close to being fully open. Beacon Hill School will not be ready for September and alternative plans will be announced in the very near future.
3. Will students and staff be able to get in the buildings soon?
   As soon as it is safe to do so and as soon as the restoration equipment is not a hazard, our Operations and Maintenance Department will inform all employees.  As of June 8th, the buildings are still off limits for students and staff.
4. What if a student is registered in an approved high school locally developed courses? Will he/she still receive credits? Students displaced due to the wildfire who register in a different school may not have access to approved high school locally developed courses within Fort McMurray Public School District.  If the student was passing the locally developed course before the evacuation, the student will receive the credits.
5. What are the plans for the new Christina Gordon School?  Will it still open? The school construction has been delayed because of the evacuation. Christina Gordon will be opening in September but at a different location until construction is complete.  Christina Gordon students will attend in Timberlea Public School as a temporary measure until the new school is ready.  Students registered in the Timberlea attendance area last year and who will be attending Christina Gordon this year will have bussing provided in September.  Once Christina Gordon opens, bussing will be discontinued as our new school is a “walk to” site. For further information, please contact Rick Thorne, Principal, at richard.thorne@fmpsd.ab.ca.
6. What is happening with the Fort McMurray Christian School?  Wasn’t it supposed to move to Timberlea Public School in September 2016? The plan for the Fort McMurray Christian School was to move to Timberlea School effective September 2016 and share the building with Timberlea School.  With the delay of Christina Gordon School’s availability, the Christian School will remain at its Birchwood location for the year.  September 2017 is the new date for the Christian School to be fully operational in Timberlea School.  The board remains committed to the change.
7. Are District computer networks operational? Yes. Over 90% of the network equipment is operational. Restoration teams still need to review and access some of the equipment.
8. What state is the technology in our FMPSD school after the fire? The technology infrastructure of FMPSD has surprisingly remained quite stable. Although this will fluctuate depending on where the schools are located, we have an overall 95% working state of our network. Many schools have little to no damage related to the wildfire. For those areas with some damage, we are now in the process of restoration/replacement before Sept. 2016.
9. Technology upgrades were planned for over the summer.  Have they been delayed? Some upgrades will continue as planned but others will need to wait until Sept. 2016 due to the lack of access to the individual schools.We recognize that we will only have July to work on major projects since August will be a time of cleaning and setting up the schools for the students. This is why some projects will be moved to a September weekend schedule to ensure the work does not interfere with instruction.
10. Will my child still have great access to technology in FMPSD schools? Yes.  We have provided students with access to high quality and curriculum relevant resources for their learning in the past. This will never change.  We have already received some positive news about generous donations for our technology needs on a go-forward basis.
11. If we are buying new technology for our child for next year, are there recommendations as to what to purchase as he/she moves forward? While we believe parents know best when it comes to what to buy their children, we do highly recommend that parents consider looking towards products based upon what grade the student is entering. For early education students to Grade Three, we recommend tablet based learning products such as the iPad. For students in Grade Four to Twelve, we recommend a laptop. There are many low costing laptop options and even web based products such as a Chromebook. Chromebooks easily integrates with our Google Apps for Education learning environment, have little or no threat of viruses, and can be an affordable choice for many parents.
12. Is Grad 2016 still happening? Yes.  MacDonald Island has been booked for Saturday, August 27 for a District celebration.  Individual schools will be holding their own ceremonies either on the 26th but most likely on the 27th.  Further information will be forwarded by high school principals in the weeks ahead.
13. Are the grade seven and eights from Greely Road School, Beacon Hill, and Dr. Clark still moving to Fort McMurray Composite High School? Yes.  Some consideration was given for other options for our grade 7 and 8 students but it was felt the original plan would provide the most effective learning opportunities.  Fort McMurray Composite High School staff and administration were well along in the planning process for the change to a grade 7 through 12 program.  We are excited about the new opportunities available for the jr. high students.
14. What if I have questions that remain unanswered? Please contact your school principal directly or email your questions to teena.francis@fmpsd.ab.ca

PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE DISTRICT’S WEBSITE AT www.fmpsdschools.ca and our Twitter accounts @fmpsd @DougNicholls2

Thank you for your support of our students, staff, and parents of FMPSD.  Further Q and A’s will be provided in the future.  Please continue to check all communication accounts on a regular basis.

If you have additional questions for us, please email them to: teena.francis@fmpsd.ab.ca