June is here… the last month of the 2010- 2011 school year! There will be a multitude of activities in our schools with closing assemblies, liturgies and field trips. Students, especially in our high schools will be preparing for their final exams. Before you know it, summer holidays will be upon us.
At the Regular Board Meeting in May, the main topic of discussion was the Preliminary Budget for 2011-2012. It is never an easy budget when your revenues are decreased, but I believe that we have addressed the priorities of the division even with scarce resources. Over the past three years, schools and the division as a whole has been extremely frugal and conservative in their spending which has minimized the impact faced by many other divisions throughout the province. For more information on the budget, please click here. The Board of Trustees reviewed and made changes to the following policies: Policy 11: Staff Code of Conduct and Policy 19: Nepotism. Please refer to our Board Meeting Briefs for more information.
There were two information items that deserve special attention from the Board Meet
ing. The first is the “Spirit Sings” CD. Each of our schools, plus a staff choir, recorded a sacred song for this project. With support from Fr. Tim and All Saints Parish, we recorded this beautiful compilation of songs at St. Patrick Church over a three day period. The CD will be available at our next “Spirit Sings” Concert, scheduled for October 25, 2011. Special thanks to Shelley Baier, principal of St. Patrick Fine Arts Elementary, for her organization of this initiative, and to all the support from our 13 schools.
The second piece of information that I would like to highlight from our Board Meeting is the May 2011 Accountability Pillar Report. Once again, Holy Spirit continues to demonstrate very high achievement and excellence. These results can be attributed to highly committed and competent staffs who engage our students on a daily basis. Our students, your children, are well supported in Holy Spirit and, as Superintendent of Schools, I continue to be very proud of our results. To view our overall summary, please click here.
As this is my last “From the Desk of the Superintendent” update for this school year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with our Holy Spirit community. We know that it takes a village to raise a child and we are blessed to have a strong village with Holy Spirit. I would like to wish our students the best of luck in their coming exams and sincerely thank our parents and families for their continued support. The staff we have are exceptional and I am most appreciative of the work they do for our students. And finally, I would like to thank our Board of Trustees for the support I have received again this year as Superintendent of Schools.
Enjoy the last month of school and have a safe and blessed vacation!
God Bless,
Christopher Smeaton,
Superintendent of Schools
