By Matt Kelly

Living Sky ready for another school year

Aug 29, 2016 | 5:00 PM

It’s the time of year again when public schools in the Battlefords and the northwest begin to show signs of life with students making their way back to class.

Schools within the Living Sky School Division are re-opening this week with teachers returning Monday, Aug. 29 for Professional Days. The students will be back for the first day of classes on Thursday, Sept. 1.

New Director of Education for Living Sky, Dave Hutchinson said it’s a time filled with anticipation.

“It’s always exciting especially for those students who are new to school, particularly our kindergarten kids,” Hutchinson said. “But as far as I know everything is good to go. The schools are ready; our maintenance folks have done an excellent job to make sure they are ready to go.”

Much like some students, Hutchinson himself is also entering his first year with Living Sky, to take over the position from Randy Fox, and said he’s looking forward to being back in Saskatchewan.

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“It feels pretty good. I had some experience in Saskatchewan a number of years ago before I went out to B.C. I worked for Regina Public for a number of years so it’s nice to come back. Saskatchewan has an excellent public education community,” he said.

Coming into a new school division, Hutchinson said he had meetings with senior members of Living Sky to learn about improvement planning of the board, including initiatives the division is continuing.

“I think the system’s carrying on with the plan that it had last year strategically in terms of improving learning. So we’re still focused on improving reading and graduation rates for all students, but First Nations and Métis students in particular. Those things are constant and they will continue,” he said.

Hutchinson added he is happy to be with the division and is looking at a good year ahead.

Matt Kelly is battlefordsNOW’s town municipal affairs and community reporter. He can be reached at mkelly@jpbg.ca or tweet him @mattjkelly2.