Wolf Creek trustees are moving forward with the first portion of a plan they hope will help get a look into the future.
At their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, the Wolf Creek Public Schools Board of Trustees approved the recommendation from administration to hire Hugh Skinner to provide a report into what the school division could be looking at as future needs and challenges over the next five years.
The report will delve into issues such as population growth, student transportation, economic pressures and how each school will be affected by these and other factors.
Trustees chose Skinner as he has done similar work previously for the division and was also the lowest bidder for the task among the estimates provided. It’s anticipated his report will be back before the board by the end of January.
However, the board was advised administration is still searching for someone that can look into the other side of the long-term planning issue - how many and what specialized teachers along with what kind of programming are going to be necessary for the division.
Administration stated it’s easy to find someone to do the business, demographic side of the long-term plan, but since they typically don’t focus much on education issues, there is a need to find someone with that kind of a background like a former superintendent. The board was told it could take some time to get that done.
Division recognized
Some province-wide recognition came as a bit of a surprise for the Wolf Creek Public School Division.
During the annual Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) meeting in Edmonton two weeks ago, the division was congratulated for its work on a program to generate more leaders within the division.
Board chair Trudy Bratland then presented Assistant Superintendent Jayson Lovell the certificate that recognized Wolf Creek for their nomination for the Premier’s Award for School Board Innovation and Excellence.
The nomination came as a result of its partnership with three other school divisions on a program called Aspiring Leaders that is designed to identify and train school board staff wanting to move into administrative leadership roles. The program was started three years ago and is about building capacity for strong leaders within the division in order to fill posts that will begin to open at the various schools and in division administration over the next several years.
Lovell stated the division wanted to be proactive and that the program which focuses on what it means to be a leader has been very well received.
SRO Program
The board received a presentation from Lacombe City Police Chief Steve Murray on just what they do in providing the School Resource Officer (SRO) program at the seven schools in their jurisdiction as part of board’s investigation into what various services are received through the program.
Both the trustees and Chief Murray said they were pleased with how the program is currently being operated and hope to continue their partnership, which costs the City of Lacombe more than $50,000 annually and the division a little more than $45,000 along with a contribution from the County of Lacombe of $28,500.
It is hoped the board will also be able to get a presentation from the RCMP on their SRO program that is provided to some of the division’s other schools.