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
Oct 13
Music to my ears!
Last week, we held our annual division wide professional development day. Over the past number of years, we’ve morphed this day to be far more engaging for our staff through self-selection, the utilization of expertise within our division and a focus on professional dialogue around learning. We’ve also been able to incorporate an edcamp or …
Oct 02
From the Desk of the Superintendent- October 2014
It is hard to imagine that the month of September has already blown by! It seems like only yesterday, that we gathered here at St. Basil’s Catholic Education Centre, for our opening mass and our journey of walking together. I would venture that part of the reason time seems to fly is due to the …
Oct 01
A Time For Everything
Earlier today, I attended a Tree Planting Ceremony and participated in an Asthma Walk in memory of Kennady Clarke. Kennady was a grade 5 student from St. Joseph School who passed away late this summer. It was a beautiful and heartfelt ceremony and served to celebrate her life. As part of the ceremony, the verse A …
Sep 19
Moving forward not stepping back!
Earlier today, I completed my first round of continuous improvement plan reviews. These reviews, lasting about an hour each, were scheduled with the administrative teams of each of our 14 schools. In these first meetings, the focus was to engage in a dialogue about their upcoming year. Over the three-day period, many of my senior administration team were …
Sep 15
Covering the curriculum
There is no doubt that most school curriculum is jam packed with far too many outcomes. It is eye opening to read just what has been placed on the school curriculum plate over the years. Author Jamie Volmer expresses it well in his article, “The Ever Increasing Burden on America’s Public Schools.” While every addition has merit, we’ve long …
Sep 07
Can you imagine?
Earlier this year, I took my 75-year-old father on a golf weekend. At the same time, my daughter, was halfway around the world volunteering and teaching English as a Second Language in Bali. The connection…FaceTime! While sitting in the hotel room and deservingly resting after playing 36 holes of golf, my father and I conversed with my …
Aug 27
From the Desk of the Superintendent- Opening Address to Staff
The following is the abbreviated text of my opening address to our staff. Before I begin my opening comments, I want to take time to welcome to our Holy Spirit family, St. Michael’s Bow Island . Over the past couple of years our borders have continued to expand through parents desiring Catholic Education and using the …
Aug 25
From the Desk of the Superintendent- Opening Address to the Learning Leadership Team
I want to begin my comments by welcoming everybody back. I hope that everybody had a great summer and you are excited about the upcoming year. I’m also very pleased to introduce the newest members of our Learning Leadership Team, Chris Sumner from St. Michael’s Bow Island, Anthony Vercillo at CCH and Kristy Ruaben at St. Catherine’s in …
Jun 25
From the Desk of the Superintendent- Year End Message
Over the weekend, I had some time to reflect on our 2013-14 school year. It is hard to believe that we are in the last days of the 2013-14 school year as it seems like only yesterday we opened the year at the Enmax with David Wells. What a great start! And that great start translated into another …
Jun 04
Opportunity for Communication
The following article was published in the Lethbridge Herald on June 4th. This is my last submission to the Lethbridge Herald for the 2013-14 school year. With the month of June arriving, the end of the school year is not far behind. This will be my last superintendent’s column for the year and so I …