REGINA – After being selected to win this year’s Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge, ten schools in Saskatchewan will each receive a $15,000 grant to support student nutrition.

“The Mosaic School Nutrition Challenge has supported student nutrition across Saskatchewan for 18 years, making it one of our longest partnerships,” says Marnel Jones, Mosaic’s Director of Government and Public Affairs – Canada. “Through the Challenge, students learn first-hand to grow food, the importance of nutrition, and have the opportunity to create healthy environments in their schools. Congratulations to this year’s ten winning schools.”

The winning projects have goals including implementing or expanding nutrition programs, promoting cooking and gardening, enhancing facilities, increasing educational opportunities, and supporting projects with cultural components. These will be supported by the grants.

For the total of $150,000 in prizes provided by Mosaic, schools from across the province submitted their projects to compete. Schools receiving grants this year are governed by the Horizon, Ile-a-la Crosse, North East, Prairie Spirit, Prairie Valley, Regina Catholic, Regina Public, Saskatchewan Rivers, and Saskatoon Public school boards and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council.

This program began in 2006 to encourage grassroots initiatives to help improve student nutrition.

“We see amazing ideas and initiatives continue to come forward in this 18th year of the Mosaic Challenge,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA.  “We are grateful for Mosaic’s ongoing commitment.”

For a list of the winners, see the backgrounder accompanying this media release.

REGINA – Today’s announcement of the 2024-25 provincial budget is expected to help school boards catch up on growth and to offer a path forward to providing stability in the education sector, according to the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA).

“School boards have long been calling for predictability, sustainability and investment in education,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “This budget acknowledges enrolment growth, inflationary costs, non-teacher salaries, rising costs of fuel, and includes unprecedented plans for multi-year funding, which is welcome and will support boards in planning for the future.”

Whether this budget ultimately leads to a level of funding that is sustainable and provides much-needed investment will be determined by boards over the coming weeks as they unpack the numbers. Significant capital spending announcements are certainly welcomed.

“School boards are dealing with the pressures of a growing province, which is a good thing, but we need facilities and operating budgets to support increasing numbers of students,” said Smith-Windsor. “We know building new schools and renovating schools is an important aspect. With record growth comes challenges in terms of diversity and we know education funding needs to keep pace with both growth and diversity in our province.”

Increased operating dollars for classroom supports will help meet needs that differ from community to community and division to division throughout the province.

“This is the kind of budget we need to see on a regular basis to ensure stability,” said Smith-Windsor, noting that inflation continues to be a significant pressure throughout the province on many fronts. “The multi-year commitment for classroom supports represents a floor, not a ceiling, for funding.”

The SSBA will be working with its member boards going forward to understand the implications of their budgets in the local context. Boards are starting to prepare for the 2024-25 school year, with their draft school division budgets due in the coming months.

The following statement is attributable to Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association:
• 80 per cent of grants to school boards are allocated to staff salaries and benefits.
• Boards believe in local decision-making, as communities in Saskatchewan are very diverse.
• We have urban, rural, and northern divisions all with unique characteristics and needs.
• Boards believe class complexity should be dealt with at a local level and not in a provincial CBA.
• Building on Government’s recent funding commitment of $53.1 million, a dedicated fund for local boards will be established to address classroom complexity.
• Local committees representing local teachers’ associations, trustees, and senior administration will be established to identify and address priorities.
• A framework for reporting will be developed by the Boards of Education, the Ministry of Education, and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, with a mandate to report at the local level and to aggregate at the provincial level as part of the Provincial Education Plan.
• We believe this meets the needs of students and addresses the concerns of teachers.
• This opportunity, outside of bargaining, allows the parties to return to the table.
• We look forward to continued collaboration with our partners, and further, to returning to the bargaining table to reach a fair and reasonable agreement.

REGINA – The Ile-a-la Crosse School Division Board of Education has received the 2023 Premier’s Board of Education Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education for its “Historic Submission for the First Indigenous controlled Board of Education in Saskatchewan: Ile-a-la Crosse Northern School Administration Area No. 1 formed by Minister’s order May 6, 1974”.

The Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) co-ordinates the Premier’s Award each year. The award was presented on behalf of Premier Scott Moe during the SSBA’s Annual General Assembly on Monday.

“The Government of Saskatchewan is pleased to recognize Ile-a-la Crosse School Division Board of Education as this year’s award winner,” Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill said on behalf of Premier Scott Moe. “The formation of the board in 1974 was a profound moment in Saskatchewan’s history and one that has had lasting positive impacts on northern students, families, and communities.”

In its application for the award, Ile-a-la Crosse said of its submission: “Ile-a-la Crosse Northern School Administration Area No. 1 was formed by Minister’s order May 6, 1974. The school board made decisions about the construction of the new school, which was designed by Metis architect Douglas Cardinal. They hired 21 new teachers that first year with only 1 teacher remaining from the previous year. No longer was it forbidden to speak Cree at school and resources with racist ideas were weeded out. By January 1, 1975, all assets of the school division were controlled by the new board. This was the first-time Indigenous people were making decisions about who would teach their child and administer the school, the responsiveness of school, the school’s awareness of colonization and oppression and most people were enthusiastic. Ile-a-la Crosse Temporary Education Committee and the subsequent elected Board of Education were the first Indigenous controlled boards of education in Saskatchewan.”

“We are proud of the history of our division,” said Board Chair Duane Favel. “Those leaders of our temporary education committee and our first board had the right ideas. Honouring our culture and language, having teachers involved in our community and empowering our parents to be involved in education are still goals we hold onto. It is because of their vision and our 50 years of being an Indigenous-run school board that we have had our successes.”

Xerox Canada has sponsored this award since its development in 1999 and increased the prize amount to $5,000 this year. The award recipient is recommended by a panel of education sector partners. Xerox is pleased to continue the long-standing partnership with the SSBA through the sponsorship of the Premier’s Award.

“For more than 100 years, Xerox has continually redefined the workplace experience” said John Brightwell, Vice-President Channel Sales. “Today, Xerox is continuing its legacy of innovation to deliver client-centric and digitally-driven technology solutions to schools all over North America. It is a great honour to be once again associated with the prestigious Premier’s Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education. Congratulations to the Ile-a-la Crosse School Board on behalf of Xerox Canada.”

To view a video about the award recipients, please visit: https://youtu.be/bSwl1dh3jyQ.

At its assembly, the SSBA also recognized:

• Award of Distinction – Lois Smandych (Good Spirit School Division)
• Life Membership – Janet Kotylak (Prairie Valley School Division)
• Honorary Life Membership – Kelly Berlinic (in recognition of her work supporting school nutrition)
• Degree Program Scholarship sponsored by Aon – AbdurRahman Khawaja (Regina Public)
• Technical/Trades Program Scholarship sponsored by Manulife – Mackenzie Miller (South East Cornerstone)

REGINA – Together with communities across the country, school boards throughout the province will again officially recognize “Orange Shirt Day” on Saturday, Sept. 30, as requested annually by the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA).

Sept. 30 has also been proclaimed federally in Canada as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“On behalf of our 27 member boards of education, the SSBA is encouraging school communities, and all residents of the province, to participate in Orange Shirt Day by wearing orange and taking the time to reflect on the history and harmful legacy of residential schools,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “This day represents an opportunity to expand our understandings and commit to growing together and toward reconciliation.”

Orange Shirt Day is part of a larger movement in the country to provide opportunity to unite in a spirit of reconciliation and hope for our future generations.

This day was first proclaimed in Saskatchewan in 2016 and the Government of Saskatchewan proclaims the day every year at the request of the SSBA.