Aug. 29, 2016
Whether this is your first, fifth or last “back to school” season with the CBE, we look forward to making the 2016-17 school year a great one.
The start of a new year has always been memorable to me. As a student, I looked forward to seeing my friends again after the summer break. As a teacher, I had big dreams and plans to put into motion. As a parent of a CBE student, I wonder what my child will learn and what challenges and successes we will celebrate together. When I was a principal, the first days of school were a whirlwind of activity as I helped families, teachers and students settle in. As chief superintendent, I am responsible for creating the conditions under which each student will learn and grow to the very best of their ability.
This is a natural time to refresh commitments and goals for the year. I’d like to share mine:
Improving student success
I am committed to the success of your child and each of the more than 117,000 students in the CBE. Personalized learning - understanding the interests, accomplishments, needs and goals of each student and planning for their progress and achievement - is the foundation of our work. Success for each student is our goal, and everyone at the CBE is focused on ensuring that each student can be successful. This year we’ll be bringing new focus to our work in literacy and math and our work with Aboriginal students. We will also be renewing our high school success strategy and building on our already improving high school completion rates.
Supporting our staff
For our students to succeed, our teachers and other staff members must also continue to learn. Investing in our teachers and the people who support our schools is critical to our success. During 2016-17 we will be building a new on-boarding process for teachers and building new supports for school leaders.
Building and opening new schools
I am committed to providing enriching learning environments for all our students. We are continuing to build, modernize and operationalize 31 new schools and maintain more than 225 existing ones. Our students deserve the very best places to learn and we are working hard to make that happen.
Providing safe and caring environments
Every student also needs to feel safe in their school environment, and I am committed to ensuring that our schools and workplaces are welcoming, caring, respectful and safe places for everyone.
Listening to your voices
This year, I will work to ensure that you have an opportunity to share your perspectives on issues and decisions that affect you. I look forward to meeting many of you at open houses and other engagement sessions and learning together. We will communicate clearly with you about things that are happening at your child’s school and throughout our system.
2016-17 is already shaping up to be a memorable school year, and I look forward to all we will learn and experience together.
David Stevenson
Chief Superintendent of Schools
