This October our Board of Directors gathered in Ottawa for meetings and our annual federal advocacy event. While the summer passed quickly as it always tends to, it did offer some time to reflect on the success of the 2024 National Trustees Gathering on Indigenous Education and CSBA Congress in Toronto, hosted by the Ontario Public School Boards Association.
The event had many highpoints, including the presentation of the first CSBA National Reconciliation Partnership Award to Cowichan Tribes and Cowichan School District.
Click the following link to check out some fantastic photos from the event: 2024 NTGIE & CSBA Congress Photo Album. We look forward to seeing everyone in Winnipeg in 2025!
CSBA has engaged with education partners and contacts in government, ensuring that school boards locally and provincially, as well as associations provincially and nationally, are brought to the table on the operationalization of the National School Food Program. It was an honour to be able to discuss this policy with the Prime Minister at the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence in Ottawa on June 18. With the school year now fully underway, we are looking forward to hearing in the coming weeks and months about how the program is rolling out throughout the country.
I’d like to highlight the work of both our Executive Director, Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, and our Project Manager, Mary-Ann Zauhar-Hiscock, as they continue to advance the Putting Data to Work project. We are excited about the continued work in French Minority Language systems and the announced pilot planned for Alberta school boards in the coming school year.
We have had ongoing communications with the Prince Edward Island Public Schools Branch Board
of Directors, the New Brunswick District Education Council Chairs (NBDEC), and Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (YK1). We are very pleased to have passed motions approving YK1 as a new member and NBCDEC as a returning member.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the CSBA members and board for the support in my re- election as President for the current year. The work and responsibility of this position have defined much of my life over the past two years, and I look forward to working with all of you as we continue this incredible journey together.
Sincerely,
Alan Campbell, President