Saskatchewan Rivers School Division trustees are continuing professional development despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Usually there are provincial gatherings to help trustees, but they’ve stopped since the start of the pandemic. Some discussion about that issue took place at the board’s regular meeting on Monday.
Education director Robert Bratvold said they’re really focusing on learning and development, even though the circumstances can make it challenging.
The board will engage in a planning seminar on Jan. 15 and 16 to review and discuss a number of items related to effective governance and leadership. One topic of conversation will be a letter the board received from the School Community Council of Wild Rose School about their trustee representative in the school clusters.
“It came as a correspondence item that the board was informed about and then further discussion about that will happen at the seminar,” Bratvold explained.
The letter states that another meeting should be held between the parties on Jan. 19.
“Obviously, there is some communication and some understanding of what the role of the school clusters are and what a role of a trustee is and those sorts of things, so (there are) lots of opportunities for communication,” Bratvold explained.
Bratvold added that trustees will be participating in over 20 online modules scheduled in 90-minute blocks over the next month through the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA).
He said these sessions will support new and returning trustees in their role as educational leaders and as effective voices in local government.
“I know there are going to be over 20 sessions on everything from legal aspects of being a trustee to student support services to anything you can imagine to make them a better trustee. Our trustees are taking part in those sessions in a big way,” Bratvold said.
