REGINA – The Northern Lights School Division Board of Education has received the 2024 Premier’s Board of Education Award for Innovation and Excellence in Education for its submission of “Indigenization in Northern Lights School Division No. 113”.

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.

“I am pleased to see the Northern Lights School Division Board of Education’s innovative approaches to promoting indigenous culture in education,” said Education Minister Everett Hindley. “The Government of Saskatchewan applauds the division for its leadership in reconciliation through education.”

In its application for the award, Northern Lights said of its submission: “The focus on Indigenization permeates the school division, evident in all schools and in every partnership … The journey to addressing (Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action), Indigenization and decolonization was developed to engage our students in the context and historical place inhabited by our people since time immemorial. There has been a concerted effort to engage our students in cultural activities on the land, in their language and honouring their knowledge, values and history.”

“Almost 90 per cent of our nearly 4,000 students identify as Indigenous, so this work for us has significance that extends far beyond test results and memorizing textbooks,” said NLSD board chair Joey McCallum. “It is our great honour and privilege to receive this award tonight and we thank the province for its recognition of such a vital project.”

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

At its assembly, the SSBA also recognized:

• Award of Distinction – David Thompson (Lloydminster Public)
• Award of Distinction – Audrey Trombley (South East Cornerstone)
• Degree Program Scholarship sponsored by Aon – Gurseerat Sandhu (Saskatoon Public)
• Technical/Trades Program Scholarship sponsored by Manulife – Ava Gasper (Sun West)

The SSBA is also selecting a new 2024-25 Provincial Executive, which will be led by Dr. Shawn Davidson (Prairie South), who was elected to the position of President by acclamation.

REGINA – School boards throughout the province will again officially recognize “Orange Shirt Day”, on Monday, Sept. 30, together with communities across the country, 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 Saskatchewan’s 27 school boards, the SSBA is encouraging everyone to participate in Orange Shirt Day,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “This day represents an opportunity for our school communities, and all residents of the province, to expand our understandings, to reflect on the history and harmful legacy of residential schools, and to commit to growing together and toward reconciliation.”

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

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.

REGINA – The Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) applauds the funding commitment and principles outlined in the National School Food Policy announced by the Government of Canada today.

School food and nutritional programming is a priority for Saskatchewan’s 27 locally elected boards of education who adopted a resolution in 2023 to advocate provincially and nationally with the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA) for the development of a healthy, universal, cost-shared school food program funded by the federal and provincial governments in consultation with all school boards.

“We know there is a universal need in this country and this commitment to school food and student nutrition is really important for Saskatchewan students,” said Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA. “This policy acknowledges the need and the opportunity to work collaboratively with partners and all levels of government to implement locally designed food programs that meet the unique needs of our school communities.”

School boards are ideally positioned to work with the Government of Canada, the Government of Saskatchewan, and First Nations and Indigenous Communities to operationalize the National School Food Program to ensure it is as effective and efficient as possible through a community-by-community approach that continues to leverage and build upon the many existing partnerships along with cultural and local expertise.

The National School Food Policy, resulting from national engagement with diverse stakeholders and the public, builds on the commitment of $1 billion in the 2024 Federal Budget to create a new National School Food Program. It recognizes that collaboration with other orders of government will be essential and there is a commitment to work with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to deliver a National School Food Program, with support beginning as early as the 2024-25 school year.

School boards look forward to further discussions and collaboration on the implementation of the program. SSBA School Food Program Advocacy information available here: https://saskschoolboards.ca/advocacy/advocacy-activity/.

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.