By Sarah Rae

Living Sky School Division wants your feedback

Nov 7, 2016 | 11:00 AM

Administrators from the public school division are reaching out to the communities they serve to find out how the system can improve.

Living Sky School Division started a three-stage public consultation process last week that will last through December and result in several goals for the school division to work with.

Director of Education Dave Hutchinson said the Board of Education must periodically reach out to stakeholders to get feedback on what is going well and what needs to be improved, but this is also an opportunity for students, staff, parents and community members to have their say in how the school division operates.

“We are in the business of improving student learning,” he said. “Right now as a school system we have some pressures. We’re doing really well with reading, but we’re not doing as well with math and writing, and our First Nations and Métis students are not achieving at levels that I think are acceptable, so the goals should have something to say about improving in those areas.”

The first stage of the project is happening right now. Community members can access a survey on the Living Sky School Division website until Nov. 11, where thoughts can be shared anonymously via four open-ended questions about the school division.

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Then from Nov. 18 to 28, participants will have a chance to review their own and other comments and place stars next to the ideas they think are most important.

In December the starred comments will be reviewed and communicated so the school division can formulate a plan on areas to improve.

Hutchinson said the response has been good so far, with 125 online submissions just on the first day, along with face-to-face feedback sessions with the elders’ council, community councils, and principals.

He said he thinks it’s important that the survey is open to the whole community because the public education system belongs to everybody and they want to reach as many people as possible.

“I’m looking forward to the results of the survey and to helping the board finalize some goals that will ultimately result in improving student learning,” Hutchinson said.

Sarah Rae is battlefordsNOW’s court and crime reporter. She can be reached at Sarah.Rae@jpbg.ca or tweet her @sarahjeanrae.