Keep the faith.
Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools plans to continue their high-standard of education for 2016, which is part and parcel for having a caring environment which stays true to faith-based education.
“The biggest highlight for us in 2015 was continued success academically and the satisfaction among our students, parents and teachers,” said CTR Catholic superintendent of schools Scott Morrison. “Our accountability pillar rating from the province were incredibly strong. It’s good to see our stakeholders continue to think we are performing at high levels.”
The division is now looking at 2016 with a keen-eye looking east of Okotoks with the scheduled opening of the new K-Grade 7 school St. Francis of Assisi Academy at Davisburg in September.
“Davisburg is probably the biggest news in the Okotoks area, getting the building done and getting kids in there is important,” Morrison said. “But, what is most important is continuing our focus on academic excellence and that the faith focus remains strong… With Christ the Redeemer it’s always been faith and academics.”
The division has put an emphasis on increased literacy ability for students for the past few years. While it’s not closing the book on that project, it has turned the page and will now focus on numeracy skills.
“Five years ago we might have had our kids reading between three and five books a year, now we are closer to 10 or 30 a year,” Morrison said. “In terms of literacy, I don’t think we have ever been better. Now we are moving onto numeracy, so kids have number sense and our math programs are strong.”
The division must also have a policy in place for LGBTQ clubs by March 31 as mandated by Alberta Education. At present, there is not a gay-straight alliance at Holy Trinity Academy.
“We have our policies in place,” Morrison said. “Our kids can form clubs and any kind of student group. They are facilitated by Catholic educators and usually counsellors. We have our policy in place, but haven’t sent them off (to Edmonton) yet.”
He said while there are no gay-straight alliances at CTR Catholic schools, there are clubs that deal with creating safe-and-caring schools.
“They focus on different issues which might make kids feel marginalized, including the issue of kids who have same-sex attractions,” Morrison said. “But that’s not the only issue they focus on.
“There are all kinds of reasons that kids can feel unsafe or marginalized in school. Let’s make sure it’s not just limited to one issue.”
Morrison takes a wait-and-see approach to bargaining with teachers, whose contracts expires on Aug. 31. Teachers’ salary will be negotiated province-wide with Alberta Education and board representatives from across the province at the table with teachers.
“The next stage is in the Province’s hands,” Morrison said. “The government controls the funding and the government controls the big deals like teachers’ contracts. We will be interested of course, but once we get to the second round of negotiations, that will be at the local level and will be very important to us.”
The local issues have not yet been determined.
Other Okotoks area highlights for CTR Catholic was the opening of the Centre for Learning at Home facility in the southeast corner of town.
“It was exciting to see all those teachers together for the first time,” Morrison said. “I don’t think people understand that is the biggest school in Okotoks. All of those kids being educated all across Alberta are being educated who live, eat and shop out of Okotoks… We are proud Okotoks supports us and we support Okotoks.”
