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 10
What… another PD day?
Tomorrow, Holy Spirit Catholic Schools will be engaged in a division wide professional development day. Our entire staff of nearly 500, will gather at Catholic Central Campus East for the day. The keynote address from Dr. Bryan E. Kolb, a Professor at the University of Lethbridge’s Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, will speak specifically to the day’s theme, “Gray Matters …
Oct 06
Supporting FNMI Success
The other night we had our first FNMI Parent Advisory Committee meeting of the year. We typically have three meetings a year and for the most part, have them in our large PD centre in our division office. Although our attendance at this meeting has grown over the past number of years we still have …
Oct 01
From the Desk of the Superintendent- October 2011
I begin my monthly update reflecting on the sudden passing of Jeff Warkentin last weekend. Jeff was a new teacher at St. Michael’s School in Pincher Creek. His passion for teaching and more importantly his desire to always be witness to his faith was repeated throughout the funeral service yesterday. I was deeply impacted by the strength …
Sep 25
Transformation is a journey not a destination
Last week, I attended the transformation meeting for urban boards in Edmonton. These events are being held throughout the province and are sponsored by Alberta Education, ASBA and ATA. Although my first thought about gathering “like” boards was to mix the groups up, I found it quite refreshing to be able to spend a day …
Sep 15
Action on Inclusion
I began writing this article late last week while I was sitting in the airport awaiting my flight after attending the Building Capacity Information Session hosted by Alberta Education. The wait then and up till now has provided me the time to reflect on what I heard or possibly didn’t hear during the day. For the record, I’m …
Sep 01
From the Desk of the Superintendent- September 2011
On behalf of the Board of Trustees and Senior Administration, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of our staff, students and parents. I hope that the summer provided each of you with peace, tranquility and the ability to engage in quality family time. It is a great pleasure to welcome all of …
Aug 31
2011-12 Faith Theme: Do You Love Me?
On August 30th, our entire school division came together as both a faith and learning community to celebrate. Our Lady of the Assumption School organized a powerful mass with music provided by exceptionally talented staff. Fr. Tim of All Saints Parish was our main celebrant with Fr. Fernando (St. Martha Parish) and Fr. Tomy (St. Ambrose/St. …
Aug 24
The Night Before Our First LLT Meeting
Tomorrow morning our entire Learning Leadership Team (LLT) will be heading to St. Michael School in Pincher Creek for our first meeting of the school year. It will be a relatively short meeting as we plan to head out to Castle Mountain for our retreat shortly after lunch. The LLT is made up of senior …
Aug 05
Leadership Day 2011
As I’ve previously written, I’m a neophyte to Twitter and this will only be the 7th post to my blog. I’m not sure I have the correct lingo and have much to learn but I continue to explore and more importantly use these medias in my work. This year, we have seven new formal leaders in …
Aug 04
Upcoming SALT retreat
On Saturday, August 6th (28th wedding anniversary) our Senior Administration Leadership Team (SALT) will be heading to beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park for our annual summer conference. This conference brings together senior administrators (CASS & ASBOA) from southern Alberta and various Alberta Education personnel. On a rotating basis, each division is reponsible for the organization of the conference. One of the …