February Break is now upon us and as we take this opportunity to enjoy
time with loved ones and recharge our batteries for the remainder of the school
year, I would like to look back and note what a great Teacher/Staff
Appreciation Week we’ve had. I enjoyed hearing and seeing the various ways our
staff was celebrated in schools across the system and we were happy to share
fruit trays and other small tokens of appreciation with staff in each of our
schools and facilities, including central office. In an interview with Bolt FM
earlier last week, I noted that while the idea of an appreciation week is a
great one, this should operate as a baseline from which we build on our
appreciation of staff each and every day. Teachers and school support staff,
bus drivers, caretakers, office administrators and everyone who works
tirelessly for the shared goal of student learning, please know that everything
you do plays a critical role in the success of our kids. It is important that
you know, this week and throughout the year, how vital your work is to our
system and how appreciated you are by everyone around you. I am reminded of the
wise words of the Dalai Lama, who said: “the roots of all goodness lie in the
soil of appreciation for goodness.”
One of the highlights of this past week was certainly the visit by
Watson School Grade 1-4 students and staff at central office. Our students
joined central office staff, our Board of Education and our Deputy Minister of
Education, Julie MacRae. Minister of Education, the Honourable Don Morgan made
a point of ensuring school divisions across the province who were involved in
amalgamation 10 years ago, like Horizon School Division, were celebrated this
week. Mr. Morgan intended to be with us but due to unforeseen circumstances,
was unable to attend and Mrs. MacRae joined us in his place. It was a
tremendous opportunity for us as well as Julie as she had never been to our
office in Humboldt before. I had the opportunity to join the students for celebratory
cake and pizza and many students shared Valentine’s Day cards with our Board
and staff. Following lunch, I led a tour through our offices and shared a bit
about the work of our Board as children sat at the boardroom table. We were
treated to a presentation by the Grade 1/2 class who shared a presentation on
how our Safe & Caring goal makes their school a better place followed by a
presentation by the 3/4 class who shared a celebration of Literacy at Watson
School. Our Board Chair, Jim Hack, shared a message of appreciation, as did the
Deputy Minister. It is truly special to know that for 10 years now, a group of
dedicated people have been working to establish the success we now enjoy in
Horizon and will enjoy for many years to come.
My week began on Monday in a preparation meeting with our CUPE
negotiating team. I joined Deputy Director Randy MacLEAN, Deputy Director/CFO
Lionel Diederichs, Superintendent of Finance Services Marilyn Flaman and Human
Resource Services Officer Monica Corrigan to ensure we were prepared and ready
for our CUPE negotiations when they continued later that morning. Our talks
continue to be very positive and I appreciate the work of the Horizon staff who
make up the CUPE negotiating team, led by Bruno school secretary and CUPE Local
4799 President, Marie Moore, as we progress with development of a shared
agreement.
On Tuesday, I travelled with Lionel Diederichs and Manager of Facility
Services Kam Kiland to George Gordon First Nation for a facility meeting at the
George Gordon Education Centre. We enjoy a great partnership with George Gordon
and we are happy to support their facility goals. Following this meeting,
Lionel and I travelled to Englefeld for an evening meeting of the Englefeld
Protestant Separate School Division (EPSSD) Board of Education.
Horizon’s Board held its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, February
10. As I mentioned, we paused this meeting around 11:00AM for a celebration
with staff, students and Deputy Minister and it was a fantastic opportunity to
connect with our students and give them a glimpse of the important work being
done behind the scenes to support their learning. As we reconvened the meeting,
our Board shared a number of important conversations relating to things like
transportation and the school year calendar.
On Thursday morning, Lionel and I joined a conference call with Cory
Rideout, Director of Education with Light of Christ Catholic School Division,
Angela Chobanik, Executive Director of the Education Finance branch and Donna
Johnson, Assistant Deputy Minister as well as other members of the Ministry of
Education, to discuss purchase cards as a means of meeting sector-wide
efficiencies. Following the call, we joined the Board’s Governance Committee
for a meeting in the central office boardroom, led by Committee Chairperson, Leslie
Lewis. The committee reviews numerous areas of Board governance including
policy and professional development and, although it is a relatively new
committee, it is crucial for the smooth running of a school board. Other
members of the committee include audit committee chair, Denis Bergerman and
trustees Jenn Lemky and Ian Kelln. Vice-chair, Wil Lengyel was also part of the
committee meeting discussions.
LINC negotiations continued Thursday afternoon and evening and
reconvened Friday. I have appreciated greatly the work our Horizon teachers and
central office staff have done throughout the negotiation process and look
forward to an announcement in the upcoming weeks related to the fruits of our
collaborative work together. At a few points during the two days of
negotiations, I had to excuse myself to take part in conference calls related
to the Education Sector Strategic Plan and my work as an owner of the
operational spending outcome. This work continues to require a concerted effort
on behalf of all directors and ministry personnel throughout the province as it
has a significant impact on the direction of our sector.
Many of our schools took part in 100th Day of School
celebrations last week and I enjoyed learning about some of the activities our
teachers and support staff held in our schools through the pictures shared on
social media and directly from some of our staff. It was great to hear of the
excitement in our students as they marked this day and geared up for the
February break.
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank all staff and SCC’s
who took part in the survey related to our school calendar for 2016-17. In
total, 426 respondents filled out the survey which is nearly 35% of eligible
staff and SCC members in our school division. I know I was hoping for greater
numbers this way as a 35% result is lower than my anticipated number that would
have seen nearly twice this percentage. That said, the Board reviewed the
results closely and supported the desire of the majority of those surveyed who
wanted a Christmas break of exactly two weeks and an Easter break that will
follow Good Friday. The result is that our 2016-17 calendar will see a
September collaborative day, a December 21-January 3 (inclusive) Christmas
break and an Easter break that will begin on Good Friday and run until the end
of the following week (April 14-23, inclusive). A memo from my office was sent
out the end of the day Friday so staff and stakeholders could view the final
calendar and begin their planning process for the upcoming school year.
I am currently in Scottsdale, AZ and have joined some of our central
office staff and school administrators for the 33rd Annual Effective
Schools Conference running from February 16-18. You may recall that members of
our Board attended this conference last year as they learned of the 7
correlates that identify a highly effective school. Dr. Larry Lezotte, lead
researcher on school effectiveness, developed the correlates and not only are
they some of the oldest and most practical research related to the work in
schools, they are aligned with a new initiative I am excited to support in
Horizon School Division referred to as the “Review of School Effectiveness” or
“ROSE”. The appreciative inquiry approach that the ROSE process will follow will
be implemented in three of our schools in the coming weeks and months and the
purpose is really two-fold. First, it will gather data along these school
effectiveness correlates and the data will be organized into a report presented
to school staff, parents/caregivers and the Board of Education. Second, the
ROSE process provides tremendous professional development opportunities for
visiting principals, vice principals and central office staff as they review the
numerous effective practices we will see exhibited in our schools and provide
ideas for improvement in other school across the system. I look forward to the
conference this week and the lessons that our administrators and central office
staff will bring back to support and inform this work in our schools and in our
school division.
I look forward to hearing about how you spent
your week with family and friends when we return to classes on the 22nd.
I hope you have had a great Family Day and enjoy a relaxing February Break,
everyone.
-Kevin
Kevin C. Garinger, B.Ed, M.A.Ed
Director of Education/CEO
Horizon School Division No. 205
