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
Aug 27
From the Desk of the Superintendent- August 2017
The summer is quickly coming to an end and this week we welcome back staff officially on Wednesday and administrators (LLT) tomorrow. Our first Learning Leadership Team is always characterized with a fair amount of “need to know” information preparing our leaders for the first staff meeting and first day of school. But it would …
Jul 03
Life’s a dance- St. Michael’s Bow Island Graduation Address
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, honoured guests and St. Michael’s Graduates of 2017. I want to begin by thanking the graduating class for choosing a theme that has a song that I actually know and don’t have to Google to find out the words! “Life’s a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, …
Jun 30
Learn from yesterday, live for today, dream for tomorrow- St. Mary’s Taber Graduation Address
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, Honoured Guests and especially to our St. Mary’s Graduates of 2017. It is always a pleasure to attend our graduation ceremonies and bring greetings on behalf of the entire school division. I want to speak briefly about your grad theme, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, dream for tomorrow” but …
Jun 29
From the Desk of the Superintendent- Year End Message
June 29th…only two more official tie days! What a year it has been. We opened a new school, St. Teresa of Calcutta; we are in the final months of our modernization of St. Michael’s in Pincher Creek and we are in the beginning stages of our modernization of St. Patrick’s in Taber. And that is just …
Jun 03
From the Desk of the Superintendent- June 2017
On Friday, we had our staff retreat here at St. Basil Catholic Education Centre. Like all of our schools, we believe in the importance as a Catholic/Christian community to come together in a religious retreat format. It was a powerful day and reminded me again of the beauty to bring God into our public institutions. While many of …
Jun 02
Stakeholder Engagement
The following article was written for and published in the Lethbridge Herald on May 31, 2017. One of the four strategic priorities for our division is, “Stakeholders will be well engaged in the educational system.” We would like to believe that school newsletters, blogs or other social media options, press releases and school council meetings …
May 14
Take the road less travelled- St. Michael’s Pincher Creek Graduation Address
Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen and a warm welcome to our St. Michael’s Graduates of 2017. I always enjoy bringing greetings on behalf of the school division to all of our graduating classes, and today marks the first two of our four high school graduations in the division. In both of these graduations here at …
May 14
Super Human Gifts- Catholic Central High School Graduation Address
Oki, Bonjour Mesdames et Monsieurs and Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen and especially to our CCH Graduates of 2017. I always enjoy bringing greetings on behalf of the school division to all of our graduating classes, and today marks the first of four high school graduations in our division and the first of two which …
May 07
Let the celebrations begin!
Last week’s From the Desk of the Superintendent had an almost exclusive focus on Catholic Education. The threat is still very real but after returning from another successful Blueprints Retreat, there is renewed hope because of the quality of Catholic educators throughout the province. It doesn’t hurt to spend some quality time with David Wells, …
May 01
From the Desk of the Superintendent- May 2017
Blueprints starts on Tuesday evening but today and tomorrow morning, Catholic senior administrators are attending our regular meeting. We always begin with mass and today we were honoured to have Bishop McGrattan celebrate the Eucharist with us. He then joined us in our meeting to give all of us a better understanding of his leadership …