Jun 02

From the Desk of the Superintendent- June 2015

June has arrived! Nine months of incredible work has led us to this point. Exams are forthcoming, field trips are in full swing and summer vacation is right around the corner! But before we talk about June though, let’s talk about the history that took place in Alberta in May. Can you believe that after 44 years of the same conservative government, we have swung fully to the left? Although I try to stay fairly apolitical in my position, I must say that I have been most impressed with the beginning leadership of our new premier. Later today, I will have a chance to hear our new Minister of Education, David Eggen.

Certainly for our school board, the announcement to restore the funding by the new government was welcome news. The previous budget process had been very difficult as we tried to slash and burn every non-staff expense we could to ensure all front line staff were maintained. Through attrition and retirement we would have been down by 3.65 FTE educational assistant staff without any permanent positions being lost or hours reduced. However, with funding restored, we will be able to advertise for additional positions to support our students and our system. Even with the additional dollars however, the budgets for transportation and especially plant operations and maintenance continue to be stretched well beyond acceptable limits. There are still some tough decisions that will need to be made but overall, we are extremely happy with the funding announcement.

Due to the funding announcement and the extension for the budget submission, the May board meeting did not include the passing of our education plan or budget. This has now been delayed until June in order to give divisions time to allocate the additional funds appropriately and based on local context. One of the highlights of the meeting was a presentation to Mr. Rob Jetten from Catholic Central High School. Mr. Jetten was recognized as a semi-finalist for Alberta Education’s Excellence in Teaching Awards and is certainly deserving of this honor. Please ensure that you pass on congratulations to Rob!

Speaking of excellence, we are about to say goodbye to some incredible people in our division as they retire. On June 9th, the Board of Trustees will be hosting their annual retirement banquet. Although I always speak at this banquet, it is important to provide a public “shout out” to all of our retirees, congratulating them for their years of service and most importantly their commitment to students. May God bless you in your retirement with continued hope, health and happiness.

Finally, I would like to remind all of our staff of my initiative, “Superintendent Chat” held every Friday (that I’m in town) from 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM. I want to especially invite those staff who may be interested in leadership positions in the future. With a maturing leadership team, we are anticipating between 15-20 administrative positions being available over the next five years. If you have any inkling of leadership please give Anisha Gatner a call (403-331-4304) and book a time to sit down and chat.

Enjoy June, it will pass by quickly! Best of luck to our students as they write exams and submit final projects. And watch for one final post at the conclusion of the school year. Take care and God Bless!

May 17

Giving up control

Traditional methods of teaching have long been successful. They are known by parents who “succeeded” in classrooms of this type, they are comfortable for many teachers and some students thrive on this type of instruction. It should come as no surprise then, when there is resistance! It is difficult to argue with a teacher, parent or student who has experienced success from traditional practice.

But there is a changing landscape in our schools and the goal of our current education system is to ensure success for ALL not just some students. Part of the changing landscape involves a different type of student in our classroom. A shrinking middle class and high levels of poverty are creating an opportunity gap and overly protective parents are spawning students with high anxiety, fear of failure and little resiliency. Compliant students (those seen and not heard) are not as common in our classrooms and teachers are expected to provide high levels of engagement. These factors and many not mentioned have produced an extremely diverse classroom today. To prepare students to be successful in this century, there needs to be a premium placed on developing a committed learner as opposed to a compliant student.

While this may a little bit general, traditional practice supports the needs of the compliant student. While they may be academically engaged- give me the information so I can get the marks, they are not intellectually engaged. They respond as consumers of knowledge rather than creators of learning. While those skills may have led to success in the 20th century and were well supported by traditional practice, the students of today need an education that is far greater in scope.  The focus in today’s classroom must be the development of competencies with a high priority on learning and not just learned!

The so-called educational purist often only sees the importance of “reading, writing and arithmetic.” I’ve never suggested that the focus on foundational skills should ever be lessened. Literacy and numeracy must be at the core of a strong education system. But a well-rounded education and one that prepares students for their future must offer opportunities for students to learn “soft skills.” Now, I know this really irks our educational “back to the basics” pundits because competencies like communication, creativity, communication and collaboration don’t measure well on a standardized exam. But just because it is difficult to measure does not mean it is not essential for today’s classrooms.

Earlier this week, I witnessed some master teachers creating opportunities for students to learn soft skills. Students were provided ownership by scheduling part of their timetable, given autonomy to choose learning activities or the choice in projects to demonstrate outcomes. And by the way, the curriculum was being covered but so much more learning was occurring. Students were intellectually engaged; they were creating; they were having fun and yes, they were learning! The learning involved not just aspects of the curriculum but the development of self-regulation, time management, leadership and collaboration. By providing some student autonomy, students were highly motivated and resiliency skills (which are often under emphasized) were being developed.

In each of my conversations with these teachers, they talked about “letting go or giving up control.” And each of them commented on the difficulty of doing this but also on how positive the change had been for the students. Remember, these are all master teachers who could continue with traditional practice and remain successful. They chose however, to go beyond their own comfort zone, give up some control and let students become a part of their own learning.

Maintaining traditional methods or giving up control is not an either/or decision, it is both/and! It is also not something that teachers can do at the flick of a switch. It requires significant planning, honest reflection on personal practice and must fit within the context of the students in the classroom. To really develop the soft skills necessary however, we can not allow ourselves to always default to the traditional. Giving up some control to develop competencies in our students should be a focus of every school improvement plan and teacher professional growth plan. The impact is not only a greater sense of efficacy for teachers but improved whole scale learning for students.

 

 

 

May 01

From the Desk of the Superintendent- May 2015

Less than two months to final exams, year-end field trips, closing masses and to saying goodbye to our classes of 2015. For some reason, maybe it is just my age, each year seems to pass more quickly than the previous one. The next two months will see all of us hurdling with break neck speed to the end of the school year and summer vacation. For graduates in one of our four high schools, this will be their last dash as a Holy Spirit Catholic Schools’ student. During the month of May, graduation ceremonies are held for students at Catholic Central High School, St. Michael’s Pincher Creek and, our newest addition, St. Michael’s Bow Island.  St. Mary School in Taber holds their graduation at the end of June. It is important for me to attend all of the ceremonies, to provide greetings and wish our graduates the best of luck in their future endeavours. Regardless of the school they attend, they are all graduating as part of the Holy Spirit family. As we prepare for this season, I would ask that you say a special prayer for our graduates; for their safety, their future success and most of all for knowing the love of God is ever-present in their lives.

On May 5th, the Board of Trustees hosts the annual Long Service Awards at St. Martha’s Church. Like the appreciation lunches held at each school, these awards are provided by the Board to recognize the excellent service of our staff – from the rookies of five years to the veterans of 40 years. It is a small token of appreciation for the work that each of you do, day in and day out. I am hopeful that, if you are an award recipient, you will be able to attend this evening, which is an important part of the culture of our division. For all those receiving awards, please accept my sincere gratitude for your dedication to Catholic Education in Holy Spirit Catholic School Division.

While there are so many things to celebrate in our schools, it is hard not to discuss funding in this message. Earlier this month, I wrote a blog outlining the impact of the budget on our division. The news was not positive and the mixed messaging received on the use of reserves has caused undue stress and frustration. But rather than play victim, we went to work, rolled up our sleeves and began to make as many cuts away from staff as we possibly could. I’m so proud of our school administrators.  They came to the table solution-focused and looked at non-staffing areas within their resource allocations that could be reduced to reverse the negative impact of the provincial budget. I reviewed the budgets of each of our senior administration team and asked them to carve out more money to support front-line staff. We took the same approach as we’ve done with curriculum, ascertaining the difference between ‘need to know’ and ‘nice to know’ and focused on the ‘need to have’ instead of the ‘nice to have.’ The result was significant reductions in travel and professional development, further efficiencies in operations, and bare bones budgeting away from the classroom.  The Board also motioned to use (if approved by the Minister) up to $855,000 in reserves to support front-line staff and balance a devastated plant operations and maintenance budget. There is still much work to do before a balanced budget is passed and submitted to Alberta Education at the end of the month, but what we’ve accomplished so far recognizes the commitment to all involved. With that said, please make sure you cast your ballot on May 5th.

To finish off, I want to share some of my favourite articles that I’ve come across through my Twitter feed. Enjoy and have a wonderful May!

  1. Top Six Tips for Instilling Pride in High Performing Teams
  2. Pushing Past Groupthink
  3. Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity is in Everything, Especially Teaching
  4. Pediatricians urge province to make early education top priority

Apr 23

Getting your Thoughts

The following article was written for the Lethbridge Herald and published on April 22, 2015.

In the past, schools and school divisions have typically been very good at communicating to parents, students and the general community. This communication, by and large, includes simple information that stakeholders need to know. Events like parent teacher interviews or other special evenings allowed for the conversation to be a little more two-sided. With the inception of school councils, there is now a place written right in the School Act that gives this body the authority to advise. Unfortunately, the busy pace of life sometimes makes attendance at school council meetings difficult.

With that in mind, schools and school systems need to actively communicate with multiple stakeholders. Information sharing has always come easy. E-mails, blogs, and other social media applications make these messages even more available. However, information receiving has been more difficult.

Over the past number of years, Alberta Education has provided surveys to random parents and specific grades of students. These surveys have formed part of the Accountability Pillar results for both individual schools and the entire school division. Unfortunately, if you are a high performing system, they often only reaffirm what you are doing instead of informing you of what you might “pivot” to accentuate your system.

Our school division has offered a number of public consultations to gather feedback and also provided our own locally developed survey. Our consultations have provided an excellent opportunity to dialogue and seek feedback and we’ve received some valuable information from our local surveys. However, in true continuous improvement fashion, we are aiming to gather more data from a wider cross-section of stakeholders and especially our students.

Engaging our students about their learning environment through the “Tell Them From Me” surveys has been instrumental in guiding our ever-changing educational world. Students have provided tremendous feedback on how they learn, what teaching strategies work for them and how they can best demonstrate their learning. It has re-emphasized the need for our division to continually enhance engaging strategies, implement project-based learning opportunities and make learning more contextual.

For our staff, parents and community members, this year we’ve initiated an online process entitled, ‘ThoughtExchange.’ It allows us to reach out to everyone affected by the decisions made in our division, hear their thoughts and better understand what is important. The three step process invites participants to: (1) Share – answer open-ended questions about education in our schools; (2) Star – review ideas from other stakeholders and star the ideas they like best; and (3) Discover – learn what is important to the community as a whole.

With ongoing shifts in education, there is a greater requirement for schools and divisions to not only inform but be informed. Using the ‘Tell Them From Me’ surveys and the ThoughtExchange process addresses both of these needs. If you’ve not done so already, please join us in our online consultation (http://holyspirit.thoughtexchange.info/invitation).

Apr 15

Budget 2015

Those who know me well understand that I’m more of a glass half full than half empty person but, I also tend to shoot from the hip as much as possible. So in giving this update I hope to stay true to both of those qualities.

I’ll begin by recognizing the government for three positives in the education budget. First, I applaud their commitment to funding the negotiated settlement with teaching staff.  This contract was fairly negotiated between the Government of Alberta and the Alberta Teachers’ Association and as such, needs to be honoured.  The government’s move to ensure that no front line teaching position can be eliminated unless a decrease in enrolment is also a positive step. We all fully understand the importance of having teachers in our classrooms, building strong relationships with students and providing face to face instruction. And finally, the continued commitment to addressing the infrastructure needs in the province is noteworthy. For a division like ours, that is constantly growing and with limited to no space available, our modernization project in Pincher Creek, our new elementary school in Lethbridge and hopefully the release of full funding for our project is Taber is welcomed news.  The province is expected to grow by approximately 90,000 people per year and to adequately support that growth, infrastructure needs to continue to be a priority!

And now for those old enough to remember legendary radio personality Paul Harvey, “The rest of the story!” Although I’ve heard that the budget could have been worse or the cuts weren’t as deep as they could have been, quite frankly I’m disappointed by those comments. It sounds to me that children, our future leaders are being considered as second class citizens! Regardless of whether a barrel of oil is selling for $45.00 or $120.00, education must always be a funded as a priority! Interestingly, since beginning in education in 1985, I’ve yet to say, “You know, I think we have enough money in education.” That’s quite a sad statement in itself!

Below I’ve listed some of the major impacts of this budget to our system as well as the implications of funding cuts on the 2015/16 operating budget.

  • Holy Spirit is expected to grow by 3.12% or about 150 students next year. The provincial government budget will provide NO funding for enrolment growth! In other words, we will have 150 more students in our system without receiving ANY funding for ANY of them! The decision not to fund student growth will result in a funding shortfall of $1.014 million. The impact is very simple- larger class sizes and less support for students!
  • The Board of Trustees have been excellent stewards of finances over the years. They have always been wise at how money is spent to both support today’s students and save a little for a “rainy” day. Good budgeting always suggests that you put away for a rainy day… well it is pouring right now! We have used a limited amount of reserves to balance previous budgets to ensure high quality learning continues in the system. This is a normal procedure for many school divisions across the province and in the past, required no formal approval to use those reserves. This year however, the use of school division reserves requires Ministerial approval, and can only be requested after a balanced budget is submitted. Furthermore, reserves are expected to be approved for only non-operational and one-time only expenditures. In other words, we are anticipating that reserves to support staffing costs WILL NOT BE APPROVED!
  • Here are the anticipated decreases in funding for our division:
    • Funding for First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) students will decrease by 3.1% or $18,000
    • English Language Learners (ELL) funding will decrease by 3.1% or $27,000
    • Inclusive Education funding will decrease by 1.9% or $137,000
    • Outreach programs will be cut by 3.1% or $4000
    • The grants for transportation will decrease by 1.4% or $40,000
    • Plant Operations and Maintenance funding will decrease by 3.1% or $118,000
    • Socio Economic Status funding will decrease by 3.1% or $16,000
    • Equity of Opportunity grants will decrease by 3.1% or $19,000
    • Early Learning Program Unit Funding will decrease by 3.1% or $54,000
    • Further reductions in administration spending of $4000
    • Although the base funding rate for teachers will increase by 2%, the rate for non-teaching staff will decrease by 3.1% or $98,000
  • The shortfall in funding from the government is expected to be $1,549,000.
  • Normal cost escalation like utilities, licensing, and insurance will be approximately an additional $500,000.

Budget 2015 is not a favourable budget for education and without any flexibility permitted, some very tough decisions will need to be made. While I’ve never said we have enough money in education, this year’s budget is the worst I’ve faced during my time in education. It is not good for students and therefore, it is not good for our future as Albertans!

Apr 08

From the Desk of the Superintendent- April 2015

The Easter weekend has come and gone. We’ve passed through a most solemn time where we experienced the crucifixion of Christ and then witnessed the joyous event of the resurrection. The importance of this past weekend is why we define ourselves as a resurrection people and believers of eternal life. With schools closed for the remainder of the week, staff and students continue to rest, rejuvenate and gather strength for the last months of the academic year. Even with the odd snow storm, spring is right around the corner and the end of the year will come before we know it. It is hard to believe that we are already in April but as I’ve said before, the school year passes like a sprint and not a marathon.

The March board meeting had two valuable presentations on the importance of international education and global citizenship. The first presentation highlighted the ongoing sister school partnership that exists between Catholic Central High School and St. Ursula School in Sendai, Japan. Carol Koran, principal of CCH and two teachers from St. Ursula spoke of the value of this exchange program and the lessons learned by both students and staff over the years. Following this presentation, the Board of Trustees heard about our own international program from Wendy Urquhart, French Language and International Education Consultant. Our international program continues to grow and provides wonderful global opportunities for our students. In fact, international education aligns perfectly with the goal of developing an ethical citizen as stated in the Ministerial Order on Student Learning, “WHEREAS an Ethical Citizen understands that it is not all about them…engages with many cultures, religions and languages, values diversity in all people and adapts to any situation;” While international education will generate revenue, the reason for the program will always need to be about enhancing the educational experience of our students.

Another highlight for March was our involvement in the international uLead conference held in Banff. Twenty system and school leaders attended this conference where we heard keynote presentations from some of the best known educators around the world. The conference provided for some excellent learning as well as further opportunities to engage with other provincial, national and international leaders. The exceptional work that our Division is doing is well recognized on an increasingly global stage and it is one of the reasons why we provided four presentations about that work at the conference. Since our return from uLead I have received requests to partner with and share our expertise with other jurisdictions both nationally and internationally.

It is sometimes hard to imagine why a small Catholic school division from southwest Alberta can garner so much attention, but quite simply it is a credit to everyone within. While it may be seen internally as that is “just how we do it,” others want to know more about our innovative practices. I would suggest that part of our success comes from our desire to be constant adult learners. The high quality and number of professional learning opportunities in our system is not the norm. Learning is a priority in our system and this fact is demonstrated in that a third of all teacher absences are directly linked to professional development.  Success for students in this 21st Century requires ongoing learning for all educators and Holy Spirit Catholic Schools continues to put a premium on this fact!

Beginning April 13th, we will be engaging in an online survey tool called ThoughtExchange to gather information about our schools and system. Over the years we have used various methods to seek public consultation and feedback and now will be trying a format that divisions in the province, piloting the assurance model, are employing. We will be asking parents, staff and community members three straightforward questions:

  • What concerns do you have about our school(s)?
  • What do you appreciate about our school(s)?
  • What are your thoughts about the direction of our school division?

ThoughtExchange uses open-ended questions to gather a broad range of perspectives and we encourage you to contribute your thoughts. It is a three-step process. Stakeholders begin by sharing their thoughts. Then they review and star the thoughts of others before discovering what the community values. The process is confidential. The names and email addresses of participants will never be publicly associated with a thought or response. However, participants will see each other’s thoughts. A number of our schools have utilized this tool in the past and have been provided excellent data and we are hoping the same.

The provincial budget was also released in late March. Rather than wreck the positive message about our work, I will submit a separate blog post on the impacts of the budget on the education system. So, I applaud everyone again who ensures that learning is a priority for their students and themselves. Enjoy April!

Mar 29

Lenten Message- Holy Week

I remember taking my mother to the movie The Passion of the Christ when it first came out. It was a movie she wanted to see and so we went. As a cradle Catholic, I’ve heard the passion story for as long as I can remember, but when I saw this version play on the big screen, it provided me a deeper understanding. Hollywood aside, the movie graphically depicted the brutality of the events leading up to and including the crucifixion. I still remember the hush in the theatre at the conclusion of the movie.

The treatment of Jesus was inhuman to say the least. There was so much hatred and gang mentality. Even with the gospel readings and the various art depictions of the crucifixion, one can only slightly imagine the suffering Christ endured for us. And yet, that is exactly what we must remember as we begin this Holy Week and final journey before the wondrous season of Easter. Christ suffered for us, died for us and rose from the dead, all for us!

We all have our own crosses but they pale in comparison to the one that Christ carried for us. Think closely at Jesus washing the feet of twelve of his closest friends knowing they would all desert him in his hour of need. Remember the taunting and the beating he endured. Reflect on the long walk carrying a heavy wooden cross. And finally, imagine the nails piercing his hands and his feet. Here is the picture of our Lord in all his vulnerability. That is suffering! No matter the sacrifices we made this past Lent, it does not compare to His sacrifice.

As we enter this Holy Week, may we be reminded of this journey of the cross. May we die a little with Christ on Friday only to be reborn again with him on Easter Sunday. And finally, may God bless you this coming Easter Season!

 

Mar 22

Lenten Message- Covering up Jesus

At yesterday’s mass, Fr Salvador reminded us that the body of Jesus on the crucifix is covered. With the fifth week of Lent upon us, it is a reminder of our yearning as Christian people to see Christ again, in all his glory.

It is not in the brutality of the crucifixion that we want to see Christ, but rather as the risen Lord. We desire to see Christ, alive and well, having conquered death for our salvation!

While it took someone to climb a ladder and place a cloth over Jesus this time, we are all guilty of covering him up on our own. For some it is a purposeful act. We choose for many reasons to cover up Jesus in our lives. It may be a result of being angry with God or the church or even our own parish priest. Regardless, we cover up Jesus, not really wanting to see who he is and certainly not wanting him to be part of our lives.

But there is a much more common reason that we cover up Jesus. It comes from our actions that are far from Christ-like. It surfaces in our pride and our ego, and it is often reflected in our treatment of others. It is quite easy for us to make that negative comment about someone, think the worst of another or act with impatience and disgust. While none of these behaviours are acceptable, we recognize that it is in our human nature to be sinners and perfection only arrives when we enter heaven. We must realize however, that in those actions, it is us who are covering Jesus and not someone else.

Jesus was pretty adamant when he stated that the two greatest commandments were to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbour as yourself. Each time we deviate from those two commandments we cover Jesus up in our lives. We place a barrier between us and the love of God. 

Entering this fifth week of Lent, we want to tear away that cover that we self impose. We can only accomplish this by being more aligned with the two greatest commandments, love of God and love of they neighbour. This is challenging, especially when there are people in our lives who just simply tick us off but, it is what we all must strive to do! May this last week before we enter Holy Week be one where we keep Jesus from being covered in our lives!

Mar 15

Lenten Reflection- Moments of conversion

Last week at our Division Spiritual Development Day, Ken Yasinski really challenged me! In fact, I was most grateful to have our SALT and Principal Lenten Retreat the following day  to be able to take some time and really reflect on his message. One of my earliest thoughts was about how I would have taken Ken’s message when I was early in my career, both as a teacher and young administrator. I’m a little embarrassed to say, that I probably would have shut down early in his presentation- my ears would not have heard him and worse, my heart would not have been open to welcome his message. Hearing about conversion moments has never been my cup of tea!

It is not that I don’t believe in what Ken experienced or even the great conversion of St. Paul, but for most of us, I think conversion is a longer process. We don’t have a conversion moment, but rather we experience moments of conversion! The issue many of us face, is whether we acknowledge those moments with eyes, ears and hearts open. God is constantly awaiting an invitation to come into our lives. He is knocking at our door hoping that we will answer and welcome him in. Each time we open our eyes, ears and hearts to God’s presence, we experience moments of conversion!

The conversion journey we are on is not always easy. While we would like it to be a highly private matter, being in a Catholic school division requires us to be a little more public in our faith. That scares most of us since we envision the need to become radical like some hypocritical television evangelist we’ve all seen before. The truth is that our public display of faith needs to be visible in our actions, but not overt. Our passion needs to be subtle not fanatical. Our goal is to welcome in not push away. And finally, we need to remember that faith is about theology not ideology!

Our conversion moments lead us from washing our hands of issues we don’t want to deal with to washing the feet of others who are in need. It shifts our thinking from me to us and from personal ambition to community needs. We are reminded of the words of Pope Francis, “Authentic power is service.” As we continue on our Lenten journey, I pray that we will be more open to those many moments of conversion that are placed in our lives. May we continue to open the door wide to let God into our lives!

Mar 11

Creating an Entrepreneurial Spirit

In Alberta, Inspiring Education is asking school systems to graduate students who are “Engaged Thinkers,” “Ethical Citizens” with an “Entrepreneurial Spirit.” For most of the public, including educators, graduating students who are ‘engaged’ and ‘ethical’ is easily accepted. However, the term ‘entrepreneurial’ causes alarm bells to sound in the education field, mostly because of its business-based connotation.

Part of the apprehension may be alleviated by clarifying what is meant by the phrase, “entrepreneurial spirit.” In the Inspiring Education document, a student with an entrepreneurial spirit is defined as: someone “who creates opportunities and achieves goals through hard work, perseverance and discipline; who strives for excellence and earns success, who explores ideas and challenges the status quo; who is competitive, adaptable and resilient; and who has the confidence to take risks and make bold decisions in the face of adversity.” With that definition, it is difficult to argue that gaining an entrepreneurial spirit is not of the utmost importance for our students.

The significance of developing an entrepreneurial spirit was emphasized a couple of weeks ago when I had the opportunity to hear Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist of ScotiaBank, Warren Jestin, address a national superintendent’s panel. The belief that our students will graduate from high school, complete post secondary studies and then remain in the same job for their entire work life is remote. In fact, many of the jobs of the future do not currently exist today and many jobs of today will disappear tomorrow. With that in mind, preparing students for an ever-changing world requires an education system, and a society in general, that puts a high priority on the development of the skills of the entrepreneur.

While I appreciate the entire definition above, I cannot stress enough the importance of developing the skill of resiliency. Without a resilient nature, students will be ill prepared to adapt to a changing status quo and overcome real or perceived barriers. Clearing the path for our future adults so they do not face challenges or struggle with any adversity does not build resiliency. In fact, this “snowplow effect” creates just the opposite.

The development of an entrepreneurial spirit in our children is a process, not a single event. While the responsibilities we give children to teach them resiliency should always be age-appropriate and must never be without support and guidance, it is so important that these skills are consistently imparted; ensuring that this next generation has the ability to thrive in adversity. It is essential that we give our children wings so that they can fly rather than clip them so they never leave the ground!

This blog post was provided to the Lethbridge Herald and published on March 11, 2015