Northland School Division

Ward 11 Trustee Karen Telford writing down feedback from Tom Durocher, an Elder from Fishing Lake Métis Settlement

Engagement, sharing, passion, and excitement!

Those are a few words to describe the Northland Council of School Councils Workshop at the Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre in Edmonton. The annual gathering, which took place on April 26, 2019, is an opportunity for the Board of Trustee to engage and to hear from school community representatives. The list of guests in attendance included school council representatives, local Elders invited by the trustees and members from the Métis Settlements General Council (MSGC). 

The workshop began with area associate superintendents sharing land-based learning experiences taking place at NSD schools. Many of the examples showed students learning traditional knowledge and survival skills and understanding how to connect the knowledge to the curriculum. Following those discussions, the Board presented an idea they believe could help address long-standing barriers such as student attendance, student retention, academic success, and high school completion. The "Every Season Learning Calendar" (year-round calendar) concept is an idea the Board first learned about at the National School Boards Association Conference in 2018. They discussed the idea further during a Board Retreat last fall and learned from other school boards. 

While presenting the idea to the school council chairs, local Elders and MSGC, the Board showed videos to introduce the concept and talked about potential benefits for an "Every Season Learning Calendar". The potential benefits include: 

• reduced learning loss
• holidays distributed throughout the school year, 
• modify the schedule to suit the needs of the community,
• improve school climate, 
• better curriculum alignment with First Nations, Métis perspectives. 

During the presentation, facilitated conversations were organized by NSD's First Nations, Métis, and Inuit team. The invited guests were asked to share what excited them and what concerns them about the idea. 

"The Board of Trustees would like to thank the school council chairs, local Elders and the Métis Settlements General Council for attending the workshop," said Maddy Daniels, Board Chair. "The knowledge and input you shared with us is an important step as we move forward to ensure students graduate and are successful in life."

Daniels says the next step is hosting community meetings in the fall to discuss and gauge interest in relation to the "Every Season Learning Calendar" idea.