After nearly a 35 year career in education, I retired as the Superintendent of Schools in January 2020. While in the role as superintendent, I sat on two national committees, ERDI and C21 and also was an adjunct professor for Gonzaga University. I now work as a leadership consultant supporting the work of school boards, system and school leaders.
Chris Smeaton
Author's posts
Nov 30
From the Desk of the Superintendent- December 2017
Last night, the Board of Trustees held their November meeting. The November meeting for all boards across the province is heavy with content. The Audited Financial Statements are reviewed and passed along with any transfers necessary. The budget is updated with finalized numbers and approved by the Board. And, the Annual Education Results Report (AERR) is …
Nov 22
Divisions can’t work in silos
The following blog post was written for the Lethbridge Herald and published on November 22, 2017. Before I began to write this week’s article, I went back and read my colleague’s articles in the past. While some of the articles are about specific initiatives within a particular division, most articles highlight education from a more …
Nov 12
Leadership from the middle
A couple of weeks ago, our senior education team attended the College of Alberta School Superintendents (CASS) Fall Conference which featured Michael Fullan and Santiago Rincon-Gallardo. During one of the presentations I took the picture below (sorry for the quality) which to me, helps explain how deep and sustainable educational change needs to occur in …
Nov 05
Catholic Education Sunday Message- November 2017
The following message was read by trustees and administrators at all masses in parishes linked to Holy Spirit Catholic School Division. In addition, I’m including a short video message providing a supplementary statement from the Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Holy Spirit Catholic School Division is a regional division that serves students in …
Nov 03
From the Desk of the Superintendent- November 2017
Since Wednesday, I’ve been in Calgary attending our annual CASS Fall Conference. This year, it was structured as a team format and led by education gurus Michael Fullan and Santiago Rincon-Gallardo . While I’m less familiar with the work of Santiago, you would be hard pressed to find an educational leader who hasn’t read a …
Oct 18
Knowing the why
Last week I had the pleasure of listening to Sarah Prevette, Founder and CEO of Future Design School. She is a strong advocate for ensuring that students develop a strong creative confidence and an entrepreneurial mindset. She also speaks passionately about equipping students with the right tools to be successful in life. While assisting students …
Oct 08
Trustee Elections- October 16th
Municipal elections in Alberta are just around the corner and part of those elections include trustees for school boards. Initially I wanted to write this blog post for nomination day, which was September 18th, but between the excuse of time and maybe waffling a little bit, I didn’t get around to it until right now. …
Oct 01
From the Desk of the Superintendent- October 2017
October 1st…it is hard to believe that we’ve already galloped through September and I’m shocked because 30 years ago, Donna and I welcomed our first child, Jordan into the world. Time does seem to fly by and so I start this blog post with my reminder from our opening of ensuring to keep our priorities …
Sep 10
Focusing on our First Nations, Métis and Inuit students
Let’s begin by confronting the brutal facts, the education system throughout Canada has failed our aboriginal students. While there may be pockets of excellence scattered across our country, there are too few examples where our aboriginal students are achieving equitable outcomes compared to their non-aboriginal counterparts. The stats are too clear for anyone to dispute …
Sep 04
Focusing on literacy and numeracy
Each school year, prior to the start of students, our entire staff comes together as one community and I have the distinct pleasure of providing opening comments. Due to the structure of the day this year, I was able to provide more of a presentation around our three priorities as opposed to simply making opening …