b'Message from the PresidentAs we come to the end of another school year, marked by celebrations,graduations, sighs of relief and of course our annual Congress, the work of the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) continues to evolve and adapt to best meet the needs of our member associations and by extension, their member boards across the country. At a time when partisan political discourse andideological differences monopolize so much of the conversation in ourcommunities, locally elected school boards in all regions of Canada remain, for the most part, voices for measured and non-partisan democratic governanceresponsible for arguably the most important social service that our tax dollars can pay for; our public education system. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the dedication andcontributions of our executive director, Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, our interim Alan Campbell executive director, Mike Roberts, our CSBA board of directors, as well as their respective executive directors from the provincial associations. The CSBA is often assumed to be a large national entity with a scaled-up Canada-wide operation compared to each of our provincialassociations. In fact, the CSBA operation both in terms of staffing and overall budget, is a fraction the size of most of ourprovincial associations. This is noteworthy, because the outputs and presence of CSBA continue to diversify more in line with what one might expect from that large national entity. This important reality is a testament to those listed above because they can be relied upon to consistently go above and beyond for our national association.Thank you to all of you. You would have read in last years annual report, and may have heard me talk about at some of your provincial association gatherings since then, my work as president and indeed the work of the CSBA board remains focused on our strategic priorities as laid out for the 2022 to 2025 period. As featured in the presidents bulletins over the last year, the CSBA board has remained deliberate in our advocacy work when it comes to building relationships in areas where our presence is most greatly needed. To that end, I am proud of our work in the maritime provinces in the fall of 2022, as we met with valued partners in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to share the offerings and insights of CSBA and also to learn about the changing landscape of public education in this diverse region of the country. Flowing from those valuable conversations in Nova Scotia, particularly in Dartmouth, please join me in welcoming our newest CSBA Associate Memberle Conseil scolaire acadien provincial. Bienvenue! Its been an exciting year of relationship building stemming from our ongoing advocacy work and we are looking forward to a busy schedule in the months ahead as well. Throughout this annual report you will read updates from our work groups and committees. In the spring the board of directors voted to reconfigure some of these groups to increase efficiency. TheAdvocacy CommitteeEmerging Issues Work Team andwill be dissolved and these areas adopted by the board as a whole. The board has also renamed theAnti-Racism Work Team Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to the to better reflect the work they are doing. The CSBA has engaged with Daniel Brant & Associates over the past year in a partnership aimed at generating a strategy with which CSBA can support its membership and by extension local school boards across the country, in advancing and delivering 4 Annual Report'