Jayson Lovell will continue to serve as Wolf Creek Public Schools superintendent through 2024 after the Minister of Education and the Wolf Creek Public School Board approved a contract extension beyond the three-year term he is currently serving.
“It is an honour and privilege for sure. This is my 26th year with Wolf Creek, so I have been here my whole career and three years ago, when I was fortunate enough to move into this position, I came in very eager and excited to serve.
“To now be in a position where the board has extended my contract five years beyond current is great news.”
Lovell credits his team for the success they have had over the last three years and he said being able to create and enhance opportunities for students has been the most rewarding part of that journey.
“We now have an International Learning Program that involves students from China both visiting Wolf Creek and our students visiting China. That program is definitely a highlight,” he said. “Our enhanced learning model, which is a different program delivery program for our high school students, is another program that is highly successful.
“The third program and one of the most important aspects we focus on is student and staff safety and well being.”
Going forward, Lovell’s team and the Board are running over possible financial scenarios that could result from the upcoming Provincial Election.
“The most important focus for us is doing our best to anticipate and prepare where we need to allocate our resources and invest,” he said. “Investment comes down to ensuring that kids are in classrooms and our schools with great support and great conditions for learning.”
“That is something we hold very sacred to the planning we do in our school division.”
Despite a levelling off of growth, the vast majority of schools in Wolf Creek are either maintaining or increasing in number — which reflects positively on the school division, according to Lovell.
“We are in a great division as a school division because when we see that growth and welcome new students into the school division. It really speaks well for the school division and what we offer,” he said.
Lovell cited the International Learning Program and an expanding trades duel-credit program as areas for growth in the future.
“Duel-credit is a program where we partner with our business community specifically in trades,” he said. “We provide programming and work with them so that students really have a leg-up when moving into a trades-based work path.”
One significant change upcoming in the division will be the introduction of a new curriculum, which will be piloted in three phases beginning with K-4 next year.
“We look forward to refreshing a lot of the curriculum where in some cases it has have been in place for 30 years and has not been changed,” he said. “For our school division, we are well aware of the process that has led towards the refresh. There has been tremendous consultation across the province and this has been a long time coming.
“Even going back beyond the last four years, there has been lots of work done in anticipation of this and quite frankly, we really do believe the curriculum has to reflect modern, contemporary aspects of our world.”
He added the phased pilot system will allow for further collaboration on the new curriculum.
Lovell said he is excited to have the opportunity to continue to serve the students, staff and communities of Wolf Creek.
“I am looking forward to seeing how we will take this to the next level and continue this great work as a school division. I am honoured to be a part of it,” he said.
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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