Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
Peace River School Division is amped up for a new school year, with many exciting and new items being offered to its students.
“Returning to Grimshaw Public School this year is a hockey academy,” says Supt. Adam Murray.
“I started this program when I was principal at Grimshaw Public and I am excited to see it return under the leadership of principal Jessica Shaw and teacher Kyle Weaver. I’m really excited to be offering our junior high students something different in their schedules.”
Murray says they are also excited about a sports academy starting at Peace River High School under the leadership of principal Wade Johnson and teacher Taylor Hulme.
“Unlike Grimshaw’s program, Peace River’s program will take a multi-disciplinary approach and be applicable to all student athletes,” Murray notes.
“Peace High is offering this program to its Grade 9 students.”
Murray says the team is eager to see the continued success of their Hockey Academy in Manning at Paul Rowe Jr./Sr. High School and the involvement of their CTS instructor from Northwestern Polytechnic in our schools on the west-side of the division (Hines Creek, Worsley and Menno Simons).
“Finally, the North Peace Commercial Driving Academy is up and running and has already provided a way for two PRSD students to successfully complete the course and obtain their Class 1 MELT license,” he says.
“Both recent graduates are now driving professionally.”
Several new teachers are gracing the schools across the Division, and Murray says on Aug. 27 they were welcomed with a new teacher orientation day at Central Operations in Grimshaw.
“We are excited to have these teachers join us on our mission of ‘Learning Together ~ Success for All!’,” Murray says.
Murray anticipates a great upcoming school year for all of his students, as the Division has worked hard to foster a sense of community in the schools with pep rallies and school-wide Remembrance Day ceremonies, experiences that he says help to form the students into great Canadian citizens.
“I am wishing for every one of our students to see success in their academics, particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy as those are the first two goals of our Five-Year Education plan,” he says.
“As a Division, we are committed to leveraging our culture of Collaborative Response to ensure all students are successful. I also hope that through our inclusionary practices, that every student feels at home and included within their schools.”
He explains as a Division, they are committed to inclusive education ensuring that regardless of a student’s physical or academic needs they are supported and included within their classrooms.”
“The provincial government has created a mandate prohibiting the use of mobile devices and social media in schools by students,” he explains.
“While PRSD has always had a procedure restricting the use of mobile devices by students in schools, we have made a few amendments to this procedure (AP-145) that will make it easier for our staff to enforce. We have also blocked all social media sites on our networks, preventing students from accessing these sites while they are using our Internet connections.”
Murray says PRSD was working on restrictions for mobile devices ahead of the provincial mandate.
“In May of the last school year, we actually heard from a group of our students that they wanted these clear restrictions on mobile devices in their schools,” he explains.
“These students were part of our annual Student Engagement Teams, and they said the distractions are real, it interrupts their learning, and it interrupts the learning of students around them. They also spoke about how these devices had negatively affected younger students’ ability to interact with each other in face-to-face situations.”
Overall, Murray says he and his team expect the new ministerial order to result in a positive impact on student learning across the Division.
“We know that students can be addicted to their phones, and while there were definitely times in previous school years when students used their personal devices to access the Internet for educational purposes, at the Peace River School Division we have a 1-1 ratio for student to Chromebooks,” he says. “This means that each of our students is assigned a Chromebook at the beginning of the school year, and they have access to this Chromebook during school hours to complete all their research and assignments, as required. By providing our students with reliable access to technology we can easily step forward with implementing this ministerial order, eliminating the distractions that social media and text messages can create for students, while maintaining their access to the Internet and assistive technology.”
The new ministerial order was implemented effective Sept. 1 across PRSD. He says the Divisional procedure lays out the basic guidelines but does leave room for principals to create accommodations or more specific rules based on their specific student population.
“At every school it may look a little different because every school has a unique character and culture,” Murray acknowledges.
“Additionally, when you read our AP, it’s going to look different for a student in Grade 3 than it does in a student in Grade 12. At the Peace River School Division, we believe strongly in site-based decision making. So, while AP-145 does included guidelines and lay out a series of disciplinary actions, we do leave the actual enforcement of our procedures up to our individual principals, as we always have.”
Murray says volunteers are an important part of success at the Division’s schools. He urges anyone with special skills or extra time to reach out to school principals to see how you may be able to get involved.
He notes nutritional programs depend on volunteers, as do many other programs. Volunteers interested in helping PRSD schools must fill out an annual volunteer registration form, which can be downloaded from the “Family and Community” page on their website.
“We continue to encourage parents to support our schools and their students by encouraging their regular attendance at school,” Murray says.
“Regular attendance allows students to have meaningful interactions with their teachers and peers. It also provides students an opportunity to get involved and become a part of the school’s culture and family through participating in spirit days, outdoor learning opportunities and school assemblies.”
Murray says this encouragement can also help students to develop a good sense of routine, which he says kids thrive on routine.
“Daily attendance and regular routines can help to reduce the anxiety and stress a student might feel about tests and assignments and increases their self-confidence,” he says.
“All of this lays a strong foundation for academic success in their future.”
Off to Yellowknife in the New Year with his pride.