
I want to begin this week by
sharing a heartfelt “Happy Mother’s Day” to all the moms across Horizon School
Division, and beyond. Thank you for your constant inspiration, teaching,
motivation, leadership, and love. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “All that I
have or hope to be, I owe to my mother.” Abe’s quote signifies the impact of
these women in our lives who have fed us, clothed us, looked after our scrapes,
and packed our lunches for school. She walked us to the bus and picked us up
from school when we were sick. I have heard it said this way about moms:
When you were a child, she walked
ahead of you to set an example. When you’re a teen, she walked behind you to
let you make your own mistakes…but to pick you up when you needed her. When
you’re an adult, she walks beside you so that, as two friends, you can enjoy
life together.
Today and every day, we say thank
you to those incredible women in our lives…our moms.
Horizon’s Board of Education held
their regular meeting for the month of May. With much to discuss and share, I
was grateful for the opportunity to meet with our outstanding trustees. I took
the opportunity to thank our Board for their outstanding support of our
students and staff over the past month and to share the supports that will be
ongoing in the upcoming weeks and months to deal with our grief and loss in
response to our tragedies in our system. Our Board then heard reports from two
of our principals, who joined our meeting via Skype, sharing about the work
that has taken place in their schools since the Review of School Effectiveness
(ROSE) events that were held last year. Miles Johnson, Principal of Wadena
Elementary School, and Michele Presber, Principal of Quill Lake School, each
shared about how their schools are utilizing the data gathered through their
ROSE to help in their journeys from good to great. Following the ROSE reports,
we were joined by members of the Englefeld Protestant Separate School Division
(EPSSD) Board of Education to discuss the upcoming amalgamation between our two
divisions. The amalgamation will be official on June 30, and we are continue to
look forward to officially welcoming Englefeld School into our Horizon family.
Horizon’s interim audit began this
week, with our external auditors from Myers Norris Penny (MNP) initializing
their work in our central office. I want to thank Horizon’s Finance Services
Team and our various budget managers for their work to prepare for the audit.
On Thursday morning, I had the opportunity to meet with our auditors and discuss
the process and some of the areas I requested they consider as in preparation
for their impending work. MNP has been the Board’s auditor the last few years
and was selected through a tendering process the Board engages in as the term
of the contract with their auditor comes to a close.
I also met with Kevin Cameron,
Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma
Response, as well as Greg Chatlain,
Director for Great Saskatoon Catholic, Tracy Muggli, Director of Mental Health
and Addiction Services for the Saskatchewan Health Association (SHA), and
Tamara Sheppard, also from Mental Health and Addiction Services of the SHA, to
discuss and debrief about the ongoing supports for our Horizon community. We
know some of the most significant challenges we will face as a school division
relative to the many tragedies we have endured are still to come. Our work to
effectively and strategically prepare for and meet these challenges head on
will be pivotal in ensuring our children, our families, and our staff are
afforded the best support possible.
Finally, I had the opportunity to
travel to Chilliwack, B.C. Friday for the 2018 RBC Cup National Junior ‘A’
Hockey Championship, in order to represent the Humboldt Broncos organization
during the opening ceremonies Saturday evening. The support our school and
hockey communities have received from the hockey, sport, and education world
has been both inspiring and humbling. This weekend in Chilliwack was just
another example of how people across our country are reaching out to say they have
love for us and they care for us and that they want to help us during our time
of need. The great Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist (by the way, one
of the top ten greatest books of the 20th Century and a fable well worth the
read), put it this way, “When we love, we always strive to become better than
we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us
becomes better too”. If Coelho is correct, it is critically important that we
embody love in order that we are examples for our students. As adults, it is incumbent
upon all of us to keep love and all that it stands for strong in our homes, our
schools, and our communities…love makes everything better.
Have a great week, everyone…stay
Horizon Strong.
- KevinKevin C. Garinger, B.Ed, M.A.EdDirector of Education/CEOHorizon School Division No. 205
kevin.garinger@horizonsd.ca