2nd Annual Community Raffle

The Springbank Community Association is pleased to partner with the Drama students at Springbank Community High School  for the second annual community Raffle with proceeds going to the Drama Program and to Springbank Community Association Programs.  

Only 1,000 tickets printed and are selling fast!  Purchase yours today!
Only $20.00 per ticket

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION HAPPENINGS

Community Raffle

Each year, we would like to choose a community project to give back to!  Last year, the Robotics Program at Springbank Community High School received $15,000 from the Community Association.  Can we do the same for our amazing Drama Program?  Tickets are only $20 each.

This year, we have a Grand Prize of $1,000 cash with many other amazing prizes, including Calaway Park passes, a helicopter tour in the mountains, Calgary Opera tickets and many gift certificates for area restaurants.  

Purchase Your Ticket HERE!

Community Programming
We are kicking off some programming. Our first programs are reading programs for children ages 4-7 -  Registration is now open!

We have compiled a list of summer programs in the West Rocky View area - Check it out!

PROVINCIAL PROJECTS

ROCKY VIEW COUNTY UPDATES

Bingham Crossing & Costco Development Permit

The Costco Development Permit was before the County's Municipal Development Commission on May 25. 

View the video of discussion (1 hr 32) - we encourage you to watch…most of the early discussion is procedural but the discussion overall is substantive.

Administration's report, which highlights some opportunities to improve the application, is available here.

As an outcome, the Commission decided to proceed with Option 3 which states:

THAT Development Permit Application PRDP20220517 be referred back to Administration to allow the Developer to undertake appropriate amendments to the Bingham Crossing Conceptual Scheme, the Bingham Crossing Phase 2 Master Site Development Plan, Direct Control District 148 and/or the development permit application to ensure a consistent development concept that aligns with the higher order planning framework. Once amendments are completed, Development Permit Application PRDP20220517 shall be presented back to the Development Authority for determination and decision.

We will keep you posted as this application moves through the process.

Springbank Area Structure Plan

RVC Website
We are expecting Rocky View to release a report on public feedback on the Area Structure Plan sometime in June or July.  

New RVC Bylaws & Consequences

In fall 2020, RVC approved a significant number of changes to land use bylaws.  Read for more information.

We were unaware of the Bylaw Review until very late in the process and, although RVC had a survey to receive resident feedback, it was too late for us to share out. Further, RVC did not accept our comments on the survey itself which was onerous to complete and required much back and forth between the survey and the draft document. In our view, the Bylaw review process was rushed and public engagement was lacking. 

One of the changes included in the Bylaws is called “Special Function Business” which allows residents to apply for a 3 year permit to operate 15 days per year of “Special Functions”:

Unfortunately, this has impacted many neighborhoods as residents are receiving notices in the mail of these applications with a corresponding appeal fee of $250.  We are looking into the restrictions or controls that will be required for these special functions (parking, fire, capacity limits, noise, etc).  Stay tuned…  

We have created a brief survey to gauge the community’s response to the Special Function Business land use.  Click here to complete the survey.

Rogers Cell Tower Application

Rogers has proposed a new location in Commercial Court for a cell tower in Springbank.  Overall, this location is much preferred to the previous location on Springbank Road and RR33.  Read their application.

Land Use By Law

Wondering if you can have animals on your land?  Maybe you would like chickens or cows?  Read the Rocky View County Land Use ByLaw to find out more!

ROCKY VIEW SCHOOLS

Discovery Corner Preschool

Discovery Corner Preschool has had such a fun May.  They watched caterpillars grow and change into a chrysalis.  When they became butterflies, they watched them fly away!

 

 

Registration is ongoing for the 2022-2023 School Year. 
Please call 403-472-1477

 

 

Springbank Middle School

Enjoy some artwork from a few of our talented students!

Landscape painting, by Alida, gr.7:

Portrait by Blake, gr.8:

Portrait by Ella, gr.8:

Portrait by Hannah, gr.8:

Digital Portrait by Imaan, gr.8:

Landscape painting, by Keeley, gr.7:

Chalk Portrait by Riann, gr.8:

Landscape painting, by Zoe, gr.7:

Springbank High School

Graduation 2022

Congratulations to the Springbank Community High School Graduating Class of 2022!  

At the end of May, Springbank Community High celebrated our first in-person graduation ceremony since the beginning of the pandemic, with 157 graduands. In the morning commencement, the audience heard inspiring speeches from students, staff, and RVS representatives with highlights from honored guest Miss Abigail Strate and Valedictorian Mr. Kaelen Hunter. Miss Strate gave a “Message to the Graduands” with insight as both a Springbank Community High Alumni and a 2021 Winter Olympic Bronze Medalist. She gave advice about life when experiencing adversity as well when experiencing fortune. A personal favorite quote from her speech was “A dream does not work when you do not work for it and life does not live unless you live it.”

Following this inspiring speech was one from the Valedictorian. Mr. Hunter spoke of life outside of high school and moving into adulthood. The ceremony then gave remembrance to the tragic incident last summer where two young women of this year’s graduating class lost their lives. A poem written by one of the girl’s mothers was read in their honor followed by a moment of silence. Two graduation caps were then tossed for the girls followed by the grad cap toss of the entire class (see picture below). The night then ended with a dinner, a few toasts, and a dance. The 2022 graduation was truly a lovely and memorable experience for families, staff, and the graduands.

Best of luck to all who graduated this year!

Ecole Elbow Valley Elementary

Elbow Valley is excited to welcome Trickster Theatre for a weeklong residency in June.  Each class will be assigned a Trickster to work with them to create a story and a skit related to our overall theme: Math: It’s Everywhere.  Classes learn aspects of story creation and physical theatre as they prepare a skit that they will perform at in-school shows. 

This will be a highlight of the year for their students!

  ROCKY VIEW SCHOOLS TRUSTEE UPDATE
JUDI HUNTER, WARD 5

Hard to believe that we are into June and celebration season.  For many parents, that will mean shopping for graduation outfits, reminiscing what seemed like yesterday, that young person graduating was just a babe in arms.

Trustees in addition to attending graduations, we will be recognizing the significant contributions of our retiring staff for educating our youth.  June 16, celebrate the ongoing professional development of our staff as they complete degrees and certificates, all which benefit our young people and improves the functioning of our division.

As this year draws to a close, the Board is developing its budget for next year; strategic plan for the division; receiving input from parents; advocating with government for new schools or at least additional portables. ROCKY VIEW SCHOOL DIVISION NEEDS MORE STUDENT SPACE.

The Alberta government has increased funding to Boards by 1% on the instructional grant, and 4.6% on the transportation grant.  As we are all too aware rising inflation and supply chain issues are having an impact on expenses.

Some other highlights

Cochrane tri-school site is to receive a new sports field.  This multi-partnered project will be a benefit not only to the students of the tri-site but to the Cochrane community.

Alberta Education will be investing $2 million over the next two years to extend access to specialized services to home education families in the province, connecting students to supports.

Since the new curriculum is being rolled out in September for Physical Education and Wellness -K-6, Math K-3, Language Arts and Literature K-3, Rocky View teachers are receiving professional development in these subjects.

Many of our school councils are looking for new members to sit on their Boards. The very important role in your child’s education provides direct feedback to the school administration and to the Board of Trustee.  You will meet some wonderful neighbours and other committed parents; the work is rewarding and much appreciated.  Please contact the school council chair or the principal for more information.

Help Support the Springbank High School Drama Program

The Springbank Community Association is sponsoring a raffle to provide upgrades to the drama facility at Springbank High School.  Our dynamic drama teacher Ms. Eva Knight is trying to build a drama program elementary through high school, but your help is needed.  Last year your support raised $15 000.00 for the robotics program. We hope that your generosity will do the same for the drama program.

Tickets only $20.00. Grand Prize $1000.00. $6,000.00 in prizes

Purchase your ticket today!

Reflections on Education and Where it Is Headed

I had the pleasure of listening to a program Sponsored by the Atlantic called the New Way Forward.

The program examined the learning process from K-12 to post-secondary to the world of work.  Through this analysis a variety of knowledgeable speakers shared their expertise.  In the K-12 environment, the speaker posited that K-12 education is relational not transactional.  The importance of the K-12 work was further acknowledged by Larry Summers a professor emeritus at Harvard university who said the K-12 education is the vital work of community for which there is no business model.  It is for that reason that, I believe, that while K-12 education is seen as critical to society, it often receives short shift in attention, vision and funding.  The program went on to elicit how COVID has changed education forever.  It highlighted the gaps in our educational system, has pointed out inequities and has highlighted the establishment of new partners in learning.

Rachel Carlson in the second part of the program offered some astounding statistics indicating that only 27% of all post-secondary students attend traditional campuses, 55% of students are parents and most are working and attending post-secondary.  Cost was given as a major impediment to upgrading of skills.  When you consider that the average person has less than $400.00 in the bank, it is not surprising that most students have difficulty of coming up with tuition fees.  The speaker spoke to the important role of corporations in assisting workers to develop their career paths.  Walmart and Amazon were leaders in this area helping workers understand short term goals and attaining learning certificates that can lead to a career path. Government policy in this area would be helpful in allowing people to work while upgrading or re-skilling.  Many of today’s jobs are becoming extinct due to automation and technology.

Director of the New Economy and Society - World Economic Forum - Ms. Zahidi, reported that of the world’s 3 billion workers, 81% had their employment totally or partially affected by COVID.  Of those who have lost their jobs one half will permanently lose that employment.

Ms. Zahidi cites the following trends identified in the workplace today:

• Remote work is a reality for the white-collar workforce
• Service/blue-collar workers will be impacted by machine replacement
• The care economy is due to long overdue re-evaluation of the work
• The “Gig” economy has provided no safety net for workers

She said that governments need to build back better, and this would be achieved through upskilling and reskilling.  Presently, governments do not have the systems in place to scale this training.

Also on topic was identification of new employment opportunities:

• Green economies and fields
• Technology
• Care economies
• Specialized sales

What does this mean for schools and K-12 education?  In my view a view , a few things come to mind.  Firstly, that education (learning) is a life-long process.  In an ideal world, educators will be able to personalize the learning for students and provide opportunities and mentorships so that students can maximize the time offered  in the K-12 arena.

K-12 education is a wholistic endeavor we are creating citizens – we want students to:

• be healthy – physically, mentally and socially. Social and emotional attributes are fundamental employable attributes
• be problem solvers – the world is becoming increasingly complex, the ability to analyze, synthesize, identify trends, develop solutions - innovative or not
• communicate articulately ideas, and solutions
• take responsibility for their actions
• interact positively with others
• be tech savvy

What are some of the structural obstacles to be overcome?

• meeting academic requirements if learning is personalized
• using our buildings differently
• working with colleges, universities as partners in learning
• finding mentors in the business community
• restructuring assessment using technology for tracking and tracing

I personally do not see Elementary Schools changing that much as students need to be safe and the structure of school, provides consistency for both parents and children. However, from Grade 7 forward we can do many things differently – we have technology that will allow children to be safe while travelling to alternative learning sites, we have technology that can track learning objectives, we have scheduling software that will allow for students to learn in alternative setting and from learn for leaders in their fields of excellences..  We have teachers who can coordinate opportunities and support students on their journeys.

I hope that this article will open up the dialogue about K-12 education and what it could be and would love to hear your perspectives. 

Judi Hunter | hunter47ab@yahoo.com

UPCOMING EVENTS

GARDENING IN SPRINGBANK

Springbank Gardening Club

Tuesday, June 21

7:00pm

 

Springbank United Church

Contact Barb to join the fun or call 403 818 9017

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Springbank Junior Garden Club

23 eager members have received seeds to plant and are awaiting results!

Photos of their gardens will be available at the Springbank Fall Fair in September. Each participant receives a participation ribbon and a choice of prizes for their efforts. Many of them will be entering their vegetables in the Fall Fair categories.

CHAPS and CHINOOKS MOMENT

Chaps and Chinooks, Vol 1, p. 92.

MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT

Neuro-Diverse Relationships

Neuro-diverse couples are more common that we realize. There are many high-functioning adults who are undiagnosed with what we used to call Asperger syndrome (now included as Autism Spectrum Disorder-ASD) or possibly neuro-atypical (NA) individuals. Having worked with children with ASD and children that are neuro-atypical (NA), I am now seeing more relationships with neurological diversity; an ASD/NA partner with a neuro-typical (NT) partner.

Pursue a diagnosis:
A diagnosis can be important to acknowledge ND traits that might be causing relationship problems. Understanding how ASD/NA traits affect the relationship can remove the blame, frustration, shame, pain and confusion felt by both partners.

Once a diagnosis is confirmed, working with an ASD/NA-specific couples therapist can be very helpful. Individuals with ASD/NA can be loyal, honest, highly intelligent, hardworking, generous, and funny. Accepting their strengths and weakness as part of their natural brain wiring can help with acceptance in relationships.

Understand how ASD/NA impacts the individual:
Individuals with ASD/NA are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD. Undiagnosed or untreated they can have serious negative consequences for both partners. NT partners can sometimes experience their own mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, Affective Deprivation Disorder, and PTSD, as a result of being in a relationship with an undiagnosed ASD/NA partner. Implementing ASD/NA-specific strategies to address certain issues in the relationship can help alleviate these symptoms for both partners.

Self-awareness for the NT partner & for ASD/NA individual:The NT partner can often be a rescuer or considered controlling. Their own traits and family of origin issues can help them understand why they chose their partner with ASD/NA. Learning the part they play in the conflicts with their partner and what to do about it is important.

The individual with ASD/NA tends to have a weak theory of mind (TOM) meaning they may have trouble understanding, predicting and responding to a person’s thought-feeling state. They may unintentionally say and do things that can come across as insensitive and hurtful to their partner. They can develop a better TOM by becoming more aware of how they are likely to offend their partner. They may also learn to better express positive thoughts, affirm and compliment their partner.

Create a relationship schedule:
Due to the executive functioning and social-emotional reciprocity adults with ASD/NA are challenged with, keeping a calendar is crucial. A relationship schedule can help the couple plan for conversations, sex, and quality time in order to stay connected.

The partner with ASD/NA may either want a lot of sexual activity, little, or none at all. Scheduling the sexual needs of both partners can help couples regulate their sex-life. The individual with ASD/NA might be mechanical and unemotional in bed, or struggle with sex due to sensory sensitivities. They may need to learn ways to maintain a daily emotional connection both in and out the bedroom.

An individual with ASD/NA may go days, weeks, or months engrossed in work and their interests. This “parallel play” can leave their partner feeling lonely and abandoned. Common activities that might have brought the couple together when dating can abruptly stop after commitment. This is in part due to their challenges in initiation, reciprocity, planning and organizing. Scheduling playing together such as long walks, biking, hikes, and travel can help bridge the parallel play gap.

Cope with sensory overload:
Individuals with ASD/NA often experience distress due to sensory sensitivities. The individual’s senses may be either hypersensitive or hyposensitive: a caress can feel like burning fire, or a needle prick can have no effect. Managing sensory triggers such as sound or touch can help prevent blow-ups to due sensory overload. Individuals with ASD/NA can often feel stressed out by being in social situations than their NT counterparts. Planning time to be alone and recover from social situations is essential.

Improve communication & manage expectations:
Communication is often a major challenge for the individual with ASD/NA. They may have difficulties in reading up facial cues, vocal intonations, and body language. They can often monopolize, or have difficulty initiating conversations, or keeping them flowing. Their NT partner might feel frustrated by the lack of communication and reciprocity. Scheduling daily conversation time, and direct and step by step communication strategies can be useful.

Adjusting expectations based on ability and neurology is important for both partners. Working hard to improve the relationship with the strategies listed here can bring about real change.

Specialized couples therapy:
Sometimes the NT partner may be so depressed, angry, and disconnected from their mate, that they might not desire to salvage the relationship. It can be difficult to get the relationship back on track. Focusing on the positive in the relationship and the traction made by implementing new skills and strategies can help the both parties to stay motivated.

Working with a neuro-diverse couples therapist can help the couple to make rapid gains, stay motivated, and encouraged about their relationship. A well trained therapist can teach both partners about neuro-diversity. The therapist can help the couple create and implement strategies to better their relationship. The issues and challenges that some neuro-diverse couples face can seem similar, but every individual with neuro-diversity is unique and so is every relationship. Customized therapy is a must.

Nancy Bergeron | nancy@viewpointcalgary.ca

BRAGG CREEK CORNER

CONNECTIONS WITH COCHRANE

Program Guide

RING ROAD UPDATE

West Ring Road Updates

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