The official magazine for the College of Alberta School Superintendents the Fall 2020 Volume 16, Issue 2 Identifying Opportunities Canada Post Publications Agreement Number: 40609661 DURING TIMES OF CHANGEMessages: Message from the Minister of Education Message from the CASS President Message from the CASS Executive Director FOCUS ON…IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES DURING TIMES OF CHANGE Features: Change as Opportunity Engagement and Communication is a Key to Change Creating a Psychologically Safe Environment in Schools Emergency Distance Education Brings School and Division Leaders Closer Process and Structure to Support Challenging Times Healthy People, Healthy Workplace: Navigating the Waters of Change Index to Advertisers 5 7 9 10 12 14 16 18 21 22 The CASS Connection The official magazine for the College of Alberta School Superintendents Fall 2020 Published for: The College of Alberta School Superintendents #1200, 9925 – 109 Street Edmonton AB T5K 2J8 Phone: (780) 451-7126 Fax: (780) 482-5659 admin@cass.ab.ca www.cass.ab.ca Published by: Matrix Group Publishing Inc. 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Disclaimer: The College of Alberta School Superintendents does not necessarily endorse the products of services presented in paid advertisements. contents The College of Alberta School Superintendents 3Adriana LaGrange | Alberta Minister of Education Message from the Minister of Education A s we all know, this is a school year like no other—and you, our superintendents, have been essen- tial partners in helping our government pre- pare for a safe return of Albertans to schools. When COVID-19 led to the cancellation of in-school classes in March, you provided strong leadership in a time of significant change for students, parents, and school staff. You helped families and staff adjust to at-home learning in a short period of time and adapted to unique local situations and cir- cumstances. And you provided essential input into Alberta’s re-entry plan and prepared for schools to reopen this fall, including develop- ing and enhancing at-home learning options. I feel superintendents are in a unique role to be an example of calmness and prepared- ness in your community beyond the walls of your schools. In a time of heightened anxiety and fear of the unknown that the return to school in a pandemic brings, I ask that you continue to look for ways to spread your level of comfort to help everyone have as successful a school year as possible. Because we all understand, as does Alber- ta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and other experts, including the Canadian Pediatrics Society, the importance of school to the over- all well-being of children and families. With support and advice from partners like you, we will look at the whole picture, including the benefits of school to students. With the school year underway, the safety of students and staff continues to be our top priority. As you know, we have committed to refine our re-entry plan and guidelines whenever necessary to ensure they reflect the latest medical evidence, and to work with partners like you to do so. I thank you for the work you’ve done to ensure school authorities are ready to adjust should the need arise. While COVID-19 prevention and response remain at the forefront, my Ministry continues to advance many other educational priorities. Updating Alberta’s curriculum will emphasize the values, learning foundations, and outcomes stu- dents need for rich personal and working lives. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to work on curriculum and have a realistic timeline in place, and continue to work improve student assess- ment and how progress is reported to parents. We also continue to strengthen education for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students. Recently, we introduced a new Ministe- rial Order to teach essential knowledge and help students develop foundational com- petencies. This order offers a new vision to guide education that will help transform student learning, update the curriculum, and strengthen the system at every grade level. This vision emphasizes fundamentals like civic virtues, core knowledge, and the outcomes that students need to succeed, in education and in life. We also put forward the Choice in Education Act , which came into effect on September 1, with input from more than 50,000 Albertans, to protect parental choice within our robust and diverse edu- cation system while also ensuring strong public education. Alberta has one of the best education systems in the world, which is a testament to the hard work of everyone who works in the sector, including superintendents. If we are to maintain the world-class, high-quality education Albertans have come to expect of our system, we need partners like CASS to help us do so. Education is a collaborative effort, and in these times of uncertainty, your leadership is required now more than ever to help us continue to uphold the reputation we have developed. Based on my experience as both a trustee and as Minister, I know you are up to this challenge. On behalf of Alberta’s Government, I want to thank you again for your support, insight, dedication, and leadership during this challenging time. I look forward to continued collaboration and wish you all the best this year. Adriana LaGrange Alberta Minister of Education Across our province, thousands of students and school staff recently headed back to school. For many, this is a chance to see friends and colleagues again—to learn, inspire, and connect. As a mother, grandmother, and longtime school trustee, I spent many years preparing for this annual time myself, and the anticipation and excitement that comes with it. The College of Alberta School Superintendents 5Bevan Daverne | College of Alberta School Superintendents Message from the President T he past six months has been one of the most remarkable time periods for education and schools across the world. Our province has not been immune from the challenges accompanying this global pandemic. Alberta schools and school division staff have been working overtime during the learning at home period in the spring and through the summer, as well as continuing into this new school year. The number of unique challenges school divisions are facing are unprecedented, but here in Alberta, educa- tional leaders at every level—from the system to the classroom—have responded to ease fears and establish new routines to welcome students back to safe environments after five months at home. If we all weren’t so immersed in this work it would be interesting to explore the process system leaders have followed in their plan- ning and implementation for everything new this year. Most certainly this would provide researchers with some excellent data to explore best practices of change management. It has been uplifting to be sure, during the challenges of a pandemic, to see our CASS members working collaboratively together with each other and with our Ministry partners to solve challenges, refine processes, and proactively prepare for the potential road ahead. While we are working to manage those challenges that have been imposed on us, we are also actively working towards what we see as a potentially positive change for CASS members, Alberta school boards, and the pub- lic. Currently, our government is engaging in consultations as they consider legislation to recognize CASS as a professional association. CASS has been working towards this end for the better part of the last 20 years and sees this as a very positive step with benefits for all stakeholders. In addition to providing member support and assurance on professional stan- dards and increasing the pool of Alberta candi- dates for School division leadership positions, professional associate status will also provide additional assurance to the public. In a world of challenging changes, it is good to have something potentially positive to look forward to as well. Here at CASS, we eagerly await the outcome of the consulta- tions and potential government legislation. Bevan Daverne College of Alberta School Superintendents President Bevan Daverne Superintendent of Schools Golden Hills School Division Past President Kurt Sacher Superintendent of Schools Chinook’s Edge School Division 1 st Vice-President Dr. Wilco Tymensen Superintendent Horizon School Division 2 nd Vice-President Dr. Rhonda Nixon Assistant Superintendent Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools Zone 1 Director Sandy McDonald Superintendent Grande Prairie Public School District Zone 2/3 Director Neil O’Shea Superintendent Aspen View Public Schools Zone 4 Director Rita Marler Superintendent of Schools Battle River School Division Zone 5 Director Dr. Scott Morrison Superintendent of Schools Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools Zone 6 Director Scott Brandt Superintendent Grasslands Public Schools Director – Metro School Authority Chris Usih Chief Superintendent Calgary Board of Education Director – First Nations School Authority (Treaty 7) Cam Shade Superintendent of Schools Kainai Board of Education Director – First Nations School Authority (Treaty 8) Daphne Mai’Stoina Superintendent Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council Education Director – Francophone School Authority Robert Lessard Superintendent Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord Executive Director David Keohane Executive Director College of Alberta School Superintendents CASS Board of Directors The number of unique challenges school divisions are facing are unprecedented, but here in Alberta, educational leaders at every level—from the system to the classroom—have responded to ease fears and establish new routines to welcome students back to safe environments after five months at home. The College of Alberta School Superintendents 78 Fall 2020 • The CASS ConnectionA t one point in my career, I was tasked with leading a group that was contemplating a much need- ed change initiative for a school. When the group met and explored possibilities for moving forward, one of the partici- pants opined, “why change… things are bad enough just as they are!” Years later, when I read the outstanding book, Immunity to Change , the authors, Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey explained in a provoking and caring way why people can struggle with overcoming their own change immunities. Kegan and Lahey’s work reveals a pathway to discovering dynamics resting within all of us that can interfere with making productive change in our lives. As they explain, unpacking the com- plexities of what makes us “stuck” requires a way to challenge our personal assump- tions about ourselves that get in the way of discovering new ways of doing things. And while that process would require a far more detailed description than what this space can provide, the following is probably true: when we dare to take the safe, modest, yet actionable steps in overcoming our fears and uncertainties together, it helps to know when the better future that we long to cre- ate has already been explored and realized by someone else. Those innovators who have done such work can inspire us to take the next big steps in furthering worthwhile change for ourselves and others. This is why I know that you will all be encouraged to read the features within this edition of The CASS Connection , all of which are dedicated to addressing stories of change. Collaboration, communication, respect, and responsiveness are powerful motivators that are the undercurrents of the six articles featured in this publication. What all stories have in common is their reliance upon different methodologies to enable these motivators to take hold of opportunities, reveal growth, and ultimately determine success. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to provide restraints for how we live our lives and engage with each other, we are thankful that these stories and countless others that you create as system leaders are being told and lived every day. Better yet, how encour- aging it is that when given the opportunity, leaders among us will commit these stories to a publication that not only enriches a broader educational community of practice but demonstrates improvement in learning for students. So why change? Because evidence exists that great possibilities await those who find ways to value each other, work together, accept set-backs as a sacrifice readily made for the sake of progress, persevere, and cel- ebrate successes in the journey of learning. That’s a great starting point. That is what this edition of The CASS Connection points out through the stories that are presented. Thank you to those who work together at CAPE Public Charter School, the Calgary Catholic School District, our Ministry of Education, Foothills School Division, Greater St. Albert and Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, and the Big Stone Cree Nation Edu- cation Authority for documenting your most important stories of change. Best wishes to all other change agents among us for the dif- ferences that you make, whether big or small. Thank you for learning and living your profes- sional practice with the CASS community and for continuing to inspire us all! David Keohane Executive Director David Keohane | College of Alberta School Superintendents Message from the Executive Director As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to provide restraints for how we live our lives and engage with each other, we are thankful that these stories and countless others that you create as system leaders are being told and lived every day. Better yet, how encouraging it is that when given the opportunity, leaders among us will commit these stories to a publication that not only enriches a broader educational community of practice but demonstrates improvement in learning for students. The College of Alberta School Superintendents 9Next >