b'2024-2025 Annual ReportMessage from thePresidentThis will be my third contribution to a CSBA Annual Report and every year, as I sit down to write it, I have the same thought; How has another year gone by?!I am truly privileged to hold his role as president of our Association. As partner to my wife and parent of our two children who attend public schools here in Manitoba, as a trustee in a capital region school division and as president of the Manitoba School Boards Association as well, I have countless opportunities to have the promise of public education manifest before my eyes every day. In a time in our country and indeed on ourplanet which is fraught with reasons to despair, I am consistently sustained by all the good thatcomes from what we accomplish collectively, as school boards across Canada.This juxtaposition of the good in public education with the despair in the world around us, playedout in a stark reminder here in Manitoba this spring as we made final preparations to host the 2025Congress and National Trustee Gathering on Indigenous Education in Winnipeg. With over 21000Manitobans evacuated from their homes and communities in rural and northern Manitoba due tounprecedented wildfires, the decision was made to shift Congress and the NTGIE to a virtualformat. On behalf of all of us who hosted and attended the event, I will take this opportunity toacknowledge the hardworking MSBA staff and our keynote and workshop presenters who allpivoted so seamlessly to the new format. While that two-day event via Zoom certainly had a very2020 feel to it, to quote a fellow board member, it was a resounding success. Over two days inearly July, the hundreds who were able to attend the virtual event benefited immeasurably fromsome of the greatest minds and voices that Canada has to offer. Please check out the details of the2025 Congress and NTGIE, also in this annual report, which is unique to this year, given the laterthan usual scheduling of the AGMagain, due to the shift to a virtual Congress.For the CSBA Board, the past year has been one of review and reflection on our current strategicpriorities; an engaging and dynamic process which I am pleased to report is well underway underthe leadership of Michel Collette of CSAP, who graciously agreed to lead us through this importantwork.As weve balanced our time on this vital strategic planning work while pushing forward on variousprojects, we have also successfully undertaken the monumental task of filling some extremelyimportant shoes in our organization. As we shared earlier this year, Nancy Pynch-Worthylakenotified the CSBA Board in late 2024 that she would seek to end her time as our AssociationsExecutive Director in mid-2025. We have therefore since engaged in a nation-wide recruitmenteffort, structured and carried out entirely by the experts around our membership table.continued4'