OACS News Service

Office personnel convention an opportunity for professional development and networking
Registration still available for two-day event
Wednesday October 15, 2008 -- Camille Jensen
The Ontario Association of Christian Schools (OACS) is presenting its annual two-day conference for office personnel with workshops, presentations and discussions designed to enhance professional development and build new relationships among staff members.

Tena Boven, OACS’s executive assistant, says the event has a variety of workshops to appeal to everyone who works in a support role with presentations on financials, safety and an Excel workshop on how to build spreadsheets.

This year’s conference pays specific attention to new documentation procedures, such as the Ontario School Information System (OnSIS) and the School Quality Assurance Program (SQAP).

OnSIS is a new online reporting procedure for all schools required by the Ministry of Education.

A representative from the Ontario Ministry of Education will be attending the conference to discuss OnSIS and answer questions in two separate workshops for elementary and high school personnel.

The School Quality Assurance Program (SQAP), which is offered to OACS elementary member schools to help them provide quality Christian education, will also be discussed in more detail with attention given to documentation and how to assist parents in the process.

The five areas or domains that the SQAP examines are school identity, school management, academic performance, school culture and community relations. Judy Tomzcak, SQAP assistant at OACS, will take administrative assistant’s through the new program, explaining the relevant material and how it will affect their role.

Boven says both workshops are timely and should help make the procedures easier for staff members.

Aside from learning new information and skills, the conference is also about networking, adds Boven who says there will be roundtable discussions where people can discuss challenges and solutions to issues facing their school.

“(It is) a time for people from different and similar schools to get together and share ideas,” says Boven who adds people are able to get to know each other in a different environment.

Each morning of the conference delegates can participate in devotions with the Ontario Christian School Teachers Association (OCSTA) from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

The morning devotion is a new addition to this year’s conference and is important because the spiritual element draws everyone together, according to Boven.

“We are all working in Christian education together and I think it is good to be together and praise the Lord together.”

The OACS Office Personnel Convention 2008 takes place Oct. 23 and 24 with registration available until Oct. 22.

To learn more about the conference and how to register, click here.

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