b'MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENTWith summer upon us, and another school year complete we have time to take a deep breath and reflect on the past year. During our annual National Trustees Gathering and CSBA Congress, I relish in the opportunity to engage with fellow trustees from all corners of our fantastic country to discuss the work of the CSBA and to also learn more about whats happening around board tables nationwide. Regardless of the region, district, community, or province we come from, everyone wants to support the best public education system possible for our students. The locally elected voice which school boards bring to public education is key to having a systemthat serves the community. This truth is foundational to our advocacy work, mindful that in someparts of our country, there remains a very real threat to the very existence of school boards and atthe same time in other regions, local partnerships between provincial governments and schoolboards remain strong and collaborative. The task of the CSBA is to adapt our advocacy focusdepending on which member we are working with, to ensure that our national voice and influence isoffering the greatest benefit possible. As always, the year has flown by. While all of us around the CSBA board table have all been busywith our provincial and territorial associations and the work of our local school boards, I am soproud of the progress our team has made on the Associations strategic priorities. We have receivedreports from both Daniel Brandt on Indigenous Education, and Dr. Katina Pollock on the currentstate of locally elected school boards in Canada. These two pieces of work have been hugeundertakings and will guide important activities and initiatives of the Association in both the shortand long term. We greatly appreciate all of the researchers who were involved in this work. We were also pleased to offer a set of Anti-Racism modules through the University of Regina. TheirEquity and Racial Justice Project involves three modules available online, and are excellent forgoverning school board members. These modules stemmed from the work with Dr. JeromeCranston, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. CSBA maintains ourcommitment to support our member associations in examination of their own actions and policieson anti-racism.The CSBA has just completed year two of a joint project with Canadian Association of School SystemAdministrators, Fdration nationale des conseils scolaires francophones, and Regroupementnational des directions gnrales de lducation. Putting Data to WorkFaisons parler les donnesis funded by Canadian Heritage, with the goal of developing a national database to providestatistical information on the French teacher shortage. The French Minority Language teacherdatabase has been the focus. The database is ready for expansion to anglophone boards - FrenchSecond Language teacher shortage. We are awaiting a decision from Canadian Heritage regardingfunding for 2024-2026.'