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Living Sky School District Celebrates 10 Years

Feb 24, 2016 | 12:06 PM

Staff at the Living Sky School Division celebrated the district’s tenth anniversary Tuesday, Feb. 23 in North Battleford.

Living Sky was one of twelve new school districts created a decade ago when 70 districts were reorganized and amalgamated into 28. Living Sky is an amalgamation of Landswest, Cando, Sonningdale and the former Battlefords school divisions.  

Randy Weekes, MLA for Biggar, spoke on behalf of Education Minister Don Morgan during celebrations at the Living Sky School District offices in North Battleford.

“I think the board members need to take a lot of credit, people who have stepped forward to serve on the board, and of course the staff,” Weekes said. “Whenever there is change there can be challenges and I think they have performed very well and it’s been a great success and it has been an improvement to the education system.”

 “I thought back to the most important people we serve and that’s our students; they are number one,” Ronna Pethick, vice chair for the Living Sky School District, said.

“I would say at the end of the day, ten years into the amalgamation, that our students are better served, they have better access to specialized people,” she said. “There was [initially] some concern about the large area, but I think our students are better served today.”

Pethick describes the biggest challenge to establishing the Living Sky district as one of culture.

“Creating a living sky culture, that doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time. Culture is created. You can’t force culture on anyone,” she said. “When I talk to some of the principals out in the rural areas there is a culture of Living Sky. I’m very proud of the people because it has taken some time, but change takes time and it’s not easy, but 10 years later I’m very proud of what we’ve created.”

dcairnsbrenner@jpbg.ca