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Chris Smeaton

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.

Author's posts

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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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, …

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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 …

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Foundational Knowledge of First Nations, Métis and Inuit

The following article was published in the Lethbridge Herald on April 19, 2017. In the coming months, new standards will be unveiled for teachers, as well as school and system leaders. The current Teaching Quality Standard came into effect in 1997 and, although it has served the education system well, it certainly requires an update. …

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From the Desk of the Superintendent- April 2017

I’m writing this message as I’m on my flight to Halifax to attend my biannual Education Development, Research and Innovation (ERDI) Conference. For those unaware of ERDI, the conference brings together 50 superintendents from across Canada to meet with corporate companies and review new innovations. Beyond the obvious advantage of connecting with senior educational leaders …

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Let’s Innovate!

Let’s innovate! We need an education system that provides us with students who are innovative and creative. To be successful in the future, students need to be adaptable and flexible. They need to be great communicators, collaborators and let’s throw in that they can get along with everybody they meet! That is exactly what our …

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Spiritual Development Day- March 13, 2017

I want to provide you with my opening address from this morning but before I do, I just want to reflect briefly on the day. Maybe I’m a little bias because I’m the superintendent, but I thought today was phenomenal. Fr. Cristino hit it out of the park with his keynote and the simple message …

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