This past week, over an intense 3-day period, members of senior administration and I visited all fourteen schools in the division to review continuous improvement plans (CIPs). This process occurs every 6-7 weeks and allows senior administration an in-depth view of the work occurring in the schools. It may sound a little intimidating (3-6 senior administrators descending …
Category: From the Desk of the Superintendent
Nov 23
From the Desk of the Superintendent- November 23, 2014
Happy Sunday! I hope you’ve enjoyed your weekend and the feast of Christ the King. To help celebrate, here’s a great YouTube clip from the band Newsboys singing one of my favorite songs Blessed Be Your Name. Next week, we begin the season of Advent in preparation for the birth of the Christ child. It is …
Nov 09
From the Desk of the Superintendent- Catholic Education Sunday 2014
The following message was read at all masses in the parishes within Holy Spirit Catholic School Division during the weekend of November 8th and 9th to celebrate Catholic Education Sunday in Alberta. Holy Spirit is a regional division that serves students in Coaldale, Lethbridge, Picture Butte, Pincher Creek, Taber, and our newest community of Bow …
Nov 02
From the Desk of the Superintendent- November 2014
Only in southern Alberta can you have golf type weather on one day and a snowfall warning on the next day. From the look of the forecast, we should see a fair amount of melting over the week, but I think winter has arrived! I want to begin this monthly message with sincere gratitude to …
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 …
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 …
May 31
From the Desk of the Superintendent- May 31, 2014
I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in Red Deer, having just returned from RedCamp14– a local version of the edcamp model where participants exclusively drive the agenda. The Alberta School Boards’ Association Spring General Meeting begins on Sunday evening and so I thought I would come up a day early for the event. This …
May 18
Regaining culture, tradition and language
My mother’s parents came from the Ukraine. They spoke the language and I remember many of the Ukrainian traditions (especially the food) growing up while visiting them in the summer or at Christmas. Unfortunately, that is where the language, culture and most of the tradition ended, with my grandparents. I can assume that there were many …