< Previous10 MASS Journal Spring 2023 MASS 2022-2023 Executive TABLE OFFICERS: Krista Curry, President Superintendent/CEO Border Land School Division Tyson MacGillivray, North Superintendent Area #3, Frontier School Division Troy Scott, Metro Assistant Superintendent Pembina Trails School Division René Déquier, Southeast Interlake Assistant Superintendent Division scolaire franco- manitobaine (DSFM) Jenness Moffatt, Metro Acting Superintendent St. James-Assiniboia School Division Stephen David, Southwest Superintendent/CEO Park West School Division Barb Isaak Executive Director Karen Wohlgemuth Executive Assistant Matt Henderson, Metro Assistant Superintendent Seven Oaks School Division Stephen Ross, South Central Superintendent Western School Division Tammy Mitchell, Metro Assistant Superintendent River East Transcona School Division Carolyn Cory, Professional Learning Chair Superintendent Southwest Horizon School Division Pauline Clarke, At-Large Chief Superintendent/CEO Winnipeg School Division Christian Michalik Vice-President Superintendent Louis Riel School Division Jason Young Treasurer Superintendent/CEO Beautiful Plains School Division DIRECTORS: STAFF: Lorie Henderson, At-Large Co-Superintendent School District of Mystery LakeManitoba Association of School Superintendents 11 MASS 2022/2023 PRIORITIES The Early Learning Committee will take leadership to ensure that MASS: • Advocates for full implementation of the Calls to Action in the MASS position paper on Early Childhood Education. The Indigenous Education Committee will take leadership to ensure that MASS: • Builds capacity in MASS and school divisions to address the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. • Promotes ever increasing academic achievement, graduation, school completion and positive life outcomes for Indigenous students, informed by collective inquiry into evidence. • Actively supports the teaching of Indigenous perspectives, corrective history and culture and the use of Indigenous languages. The Mental Health and Well-Being Committee will take leadership to ensure that MASS: • Advocates for an implementation of a comprehensive provincial Children and Youth Mental Health Strategy. • Collaborates with The Education for Sustainable Well- Being Research Group at the University of Manitoba and Manitoba Education and Training to develop tools and indicators for assessing the well-being and well-becoming of students in schools. • Pursues inter-sectoral liaisons with public and mental health organizations and agencies. • Contributes to a national voice on mental health through CASSA and through input into the Canadian Mental Health Strategy. • Promotes Mental Health Literacy in mental health for all educators and pre-service educators. • Sharing of Mental Health & Well-being paper with community and provincial partners. n 1. Early Learning 2. Indigenous Education 3. Mental Health and Well-Being Mission: MASS provides leadership for public education by advocating in the best interests of learners and supports its members through professional services. MASS believes that our mandate is to be leaders of learning, in our local school systems and in the broader domains of provincial, national, and global public education. MASS believes a quality education empowers the whole child to constructively participate in global society. We model learning that is: • Active and visible; • Based on robust research; • Tested through purposeful application in the field; and • Evaluated using a wide range of meaningful data. We take responsibility for our own continuous learning and the learning of everyone we lead: • Creating and fostering safe, supportive, inclusive and challenging environments; • Ensuring essential learning for each and every child; and • Preparing others to go beyond our own learning. We are guided by our learning in shaping policy and practice to achieve what is best for the learners in our care. MASS believes that improved achievement and well-being for all our students requires a shared commitment to raising both equity and quality. • A conscious and persistent commitment to equity, system- wide and across sectors, leads to poverty reduction, greater inclusion, and an appreciation for the riches that diversity brings. • A purposeful and sustained commitment to quality education for every student increases the capacity for teaching, learning, and leading throughout the system. • A strong grounding in literacy and numeracy and a rich learning experience involving inquiry, curiosity, creativity, and artistic expression enables all students to achieve success and to flourish in life, academics and career. • A respect for and openness to authentic youth voices and support for meaningful student action are critical for building capacity and self-efficacy in our students. MASS actively works towards equity and quality throughout the public education system, with a special focus on three action areas:Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 13 The MASS Journal reaches readers every spring and fall, sharing stories of best practices, challenges and how they’ve been overcome, thoughts on leadership, and much more! If you would like to write for the Fall 2023 issue, please send an abstract to Executive Director Barb Isaak (barb.isaak@mass.mb.ca) and copy editor Jenna Collignon (jcollignon@matrixgroupinc.net). Include your name, position, and division, and two to three sentences on your topic. Notes: If your abstract is accepted, you will be notified and provided with a word count and further details. Articles cannot be company or product promotional. The preference is to have articles written by school and division senior leadership (superintendents, principals, etc.). If you do not fall within this category but have a great idea, please work with your senior leadership on the abstract and, if accepted, the final submission. Write for the MASS Journal! Here are details for the Fall 2023 issue: Theme: Welcoming Newcomers to Manitoba Schools Abstracts due May 26, 2023 Final articles due September 8, 202314 MASS Journal Spring 2023Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 15 W ithin the Manitoba’s School System, clini- cians provide impor- tant support for both staff and students. Speech and Language Pathologists, School Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Mental Health Specialists, and many others all work alongside the core school staff to ensure the success and well-being of all students. For example, school psychologists help with identifying and supporting appropriate programming, provide professional development opportunities, consult with teachers and parents, create and support inter- ventions, respond to crises, support behavioral management, and assess the needs of students. According to the National Association of School Psychologists, the recommended ratio of students to school psychologists is 500:1. The ratio should not exceed 1,000:1 to ensure the best outcomes for students. In Manitoba our rural school divisions have a severe shortage of clinicians, including school psychologists. One rural school division has a ratio of 960:1, while another has a ratio of 1,720:1. Frontier School Division cur- rently has a ratio of students to school psychologists of 3,579:1, which is one seventh of the recommended number. Many rural school divisions, includ- ing Frontier School Division, have open positions that are not being filled due to recruiting challenges. There are plenty of potential causes for these shortages in rural divisions, including the difficulty of encouraging new clinicians to move By Tyson MacGillivray and Jonathan Berrington, Frontier School Division Meeting the Clinician Challenges from a Northern and Rural Perspective The School Pyschology Practicum Team, Norway House Fall 2022. Pictured from left to right: Silpa Sasikumar, Danika Wiens, Kyla Smorang, Jonathan Berrington, Janine Montgomery, and Kimberly Merasty. Photos courtesy of Frontier School Division.16 MASS Journal Spring 2023 outside of the metro area and the low number of new clinicians entering the field. There are often fewer new school psychologists looking for jobs than there are positions available. The abundance of available positions leads to new cli- nicians accepting jobs closer to home. Living rurally can pose its own challeng- es, which can make it difficult to entice new clinicians to pack up their lives and relocate to a new town. To enhance equity in education, the schools that have the highest need would need additional support. Analysis of American schools found that schools in lower socio-economic status neighbour- hoods had fewer school psychologists per 100 students than schools in higher socio-economic status neighbourhoods. This inequity of service contributes to an ever-widening gap between these two neighbourhoods. Schools that frequently have the greatest needs often have the least access to support. In Manitoba, our northern and rural schools will continue to experience challenges when they do not have appropriate access to the support provided by a strong number of clinicians. Pictured from left to right: Denise Hunnie-Menow, Danika Wiens, Jonathan Berrington, Janine Montgomery, Silpa Sasikumar, and Kyla Smorang.Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 17 Frontier School Division hopes to expand the program to engage more students, with the potential to expand to other faculties at the University of Manitoba to provide practicum experienc- es for additional graduate programs. As the need for clinicians rises, creative programs and initiatives will help to enhance equity in communities we serve. n Tyson MacGillivray is the Superintendent, and Jonathan Berrington is the School Psychologist for Frontier School Division. The professional development provided staff with tangible tools to effectively sup- port the needs of their students. This initiative has in some cases benefited recruitment efforts, as students get to experience new communities and areas of the province, showing the beauty and vibrancy of Northern Manitoba and what is has to offer. Frontier School Division has hired a recent graduate because of the northern pract- icum experience, and we hope many more will join the growing student sup- port team at Frontier School Division. Northern and rural school divisions are aware of the shortage of clinicians. Many programs and incentives are ini- tiated each year in the hopes of hir- ing and retaining more clinicians. The Department of Education provides the northern and rural bursary, which cre- ates an important financial incentive, this incentive on its own has not proven to meet the staffing gaps. Divisions continue to focus on intensive recruitment and retention campaigns with limited success. Frontier School Division works closely with Jordan’s Principle to hire Mental Wellness Workers who provide essential mental health support to students. Given the shortages of clinicians in Manitoba and more specifically in northern and rural divisions, a provincial strategy needs to be initiated with input from all sectors to reduce clinician workloads and be able to better support students needs. Recently, Frontier School Division has partnered with the University of Manitoba to create a practicum expe- rience for students in the School Psychology Graduate Program. Frontier School Division’s student services coor- dinator, school psychologist, and the Program Coordinator of the School Psychology Graduate Program have supervised a group of students on week- long practicum experiences in northern schools. There have been three of these practicums completed to date with the next one being planned for Spring 2023. The upcoming practicum will include nine graduate students working with both of our schools in Norway House. Previous practicums have provided much needed assessments in several of our northern schools and have proven to be a huge success. The graduate students received valuable practical experience in rural and northern schools that augment- ed their academic learning. Many schools in rural and northern Manitoba have diffi- culty accessing Educational Psychologist’s and the essential supports they provide to both staff, students, and parents. This model has proven to be a stop gap helpful measure until the staffing shortages can be addressed. Staff in these rural schools were also able to receive valuable profes- sional development from The University of Manitoba Program Coordinator of the School Psychologist Graduate Program. Nurturing the Culture of Career 12 3 4 5Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 19 entrusts that the right students are being placed that will fit the company’s needs and values. This partnership is further empha- sized in the High School Apprentice- ship Program. Students earn up to eight credits toward high school grad- uation and authentic apprenticeship hours toward certification in a trade. This program requires a cheerleader to promote its benefits to students, parents, and employers. Without this essential piece, high school appren- ticeship remains education’s best-kept secret in most divisions. This pro- gram involves a lot of communication and accommodation on the school and employer’s part. Navigating this path and balancing the needs of employer, student, and school only works when everyone is “on the bus” and work- ing together to meet the needs of all involved. The skilled trades are at the forefront of many divisional initia- tives, including the most recent pilot of an Intro to Skilled Trades intensive workshop geared towards encouraging and supporting Indigenous and female students considering careers in the skilled trades. This Teacher Idea Fund-spon- sored project is being piloted this year and is being offered with the assistance of the Manitoba Construction Sector Council. This initiative will see students getting hands-on exposure to various trade-related careers, including carpentry, plumbing, and heavy-duty construction. We have had many success stories of our apprenticeship students in the field – the importance of knowing that the students are receiving information and skills first-hand from a red-sealed trade journeyperson. The student is learning the R elationships! Relationships! Relationships! The Portage la Prairie School Divi- sion’s (PLPSD) approach to career development is deeply rooted in relationships. It is an indisputable fact that all com- munity career credits, whether high school apprenticeship credits, career development credits, or credits for employment, depend entirely on the support of employers and community partners. This programming provides “real-world” learning opportunities that can only be experienced outside the school’s walls. The working relationship between student, school, and employer can be related to a three-legged stool that can only provide stability when everyone works together to support the needs of all invested. PLPSD sees the value in career development pro- gramming. It supports the transition of its students into the world of work, most notably in a mandated Grade 9 Career Development course taken by all students. The system is delivered as a year-long offering opposite Grade 9 Eng- lish Language Arts. It recognizes that students at this age are considering their first job and provides them with the tools to take the first steps towards this goal as safely as possible. The course has students creating resumes, participating in mock interviews, completing Young Workers Readiness Certification, and learning about their rights as an employ- ee. This front-loading provides students with the prerequisite to earning up to two credits for employment. These credits are an excellent means to acknowledge the hard work that students are doing regarding balancing school and part-time employment. Employment provides the means for students to learn and practice several critical soft and hard skills, such as working effectively as part of a team, following a schedule, and demonstrating responsibility. In addition, the credits for employment immediately make all employers community partners. All aspects of career education need to be explored during a student’s for- mative years. Students need to know the local career development programs, the requirements and how to access the different programs. The division man- dating the Grade 9 career development course has opened opportunities for all our students. By having students take this prerequisite, many career credits options are now available to the student when they want to access them. The barriers are removed for the student in Grade 9. In the 2021/2022 school year, over 300 career credits were earned by our students. Breaking down the barriers between employers and students is essential to a healthy career development program. Events and opportunities to invite employers into the school are a welcomed occurrence. Being receptive to the needs of employers and truly listening helps foster these positive relationships. The strong working relationship between the career development coordinator and the employer is one of the most critical components for the success of the career development program. The employer needs to know and trust that the career development coordinator understands each company’s individual needs and is placing students to fit those needs. The employer trusts that the career devel- opment coordinator is listening to the needs and demands of the company and Breaking down the barriers between employers and students is essential to a healthy career development program. By Blair Hordeski and Pam Garnham, Portage School Division 1. Portage Collegiate student Colton Olafson gets an opportunity to experience a flight simulator with KF Aero Site Manager Jeff Fletcher. 2. Portage Collegiate Ag Technician High School Apprentice Parker McCutcheon. 3. Portage Collegiate students who participated in the Red River College/ Portage Collegiate Health Care Aide Program, where they attend Red River College full-time semester two of their Grade 12 year, and earn Health Care Aide Certification. 4. Portage Collegiate students who participated in the Intro to Building Construction Trades series of workshops, at the Plumbers and Pipefitters training center. 5. Portage Collegiate students who participated in the Intro to Building Construction Trades series of workshops, at Century Union Local 343. Photos courtesy of Blair Hordeski.Next >