Pembina Pipeline June, 2010 “Our purpose is to ensure the delivery of an excellent education to our students so they become good citizens who contribute to society.” Excitement in the air as school year winds down The school year seems to slip by quicker every year! It certainly was a busy year and our staff and students’ achievements are many and varied. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of your accomplishments. The key measure of our success is student achievement, and by that I do not mean simply the outcomes of the Diploma and Provincial Exams, but everything that makes a successful student. Our school division’s goal is successful high school completion and we want our students to graduate to be good citizens and contributing members of their School Superintendent Richard Harvey and Westlock Elementary students wave goodbye to the school year. communities. on that relationship throughout the months to come. We certainly know there is a lot of work to be done in preparing our summative assessments (final grades) and determining the Enjoy the month of June and as you reflect on the year you should Grade Level Achievement for our Grade 1 to 9 students and this be proud of all that we have achieved. Our school improvement is certainly a major focus. But June is also one of the busiest initiatives are proving successful and our coaching model is months of the year with final concerts, field trips, graduations and accomplishing what we had hoped. I have noticed a greater use of parent meetings, just to mention a few. formative assessment as I visit our classrooms; our students are getting in tune with formative assessment language and ideals as Although it is hectic and at times stressful it is also well as our parents. exciting to see all that our students have achieved. Thank you to our Trustees, parents and our So as June winds down make sure you are planning to enjoy the communities for supporting our students summer and spend more time relaxing than working! and teachers. Without your help we would not be successful and we will build Richard Harvey Superintendent of Schools W elcome to the following new staff of the Pembina Hills Regional Division: Heather Decksheimer Digital Designer ADLC-Barrhead Gordon Klassen Associate Principal Fort Assiniboine Marjorie Malenfant Administrative Assistant ADLC-Barrhead Heather McMillan Teacher ADLC Sarah Sterling Summer Reading/Math Program WES Tessa Troock Administrative Assistant ADLC-Barrhead Marielle Vandekamp Painter Support Services Natasha Wierenga Teacher ADLC School Board approves Teacher Stabilization Plan An innovative early retirement package will teachers leaving at the same time.” help Pembina Hills keep more teachers in the classroom. Faced with declining enrollment and provincial One of the biggest budget considerations this year is a 2.92% wage funding cuts, the School Board increase for teachers. The increase was implemented by the provincial recently adopted the Teacher Stabilization government, which initially said it would Plan. take responsibility for the extra costs. I don’t want people to “The government right now is saying it Under the program, teachers over 50 see this as a perk or “ won’t fund the increase, but we are still years old, with at least five years consecu- golden handshake for staff lobbying hard for that funding. It was an tive experience in Pembina Hills, were of- agreement they made and they assured us fered a payment over two years. The cost of leaving the system. It’s they would take care of it.” the payment is recovered through savings strictly a management within the same two-year period. Sixteen “tool. Clayton wants people to be clear that the teachers accepted the one-time package, program was a special one-time offer which will help the school district drive Clayton implemented strictly as a cost-cutting down costs without resorting to teacher lay- Jespersen measure to help the school district deal offs. with a sudden shortfall in funding. “This will allow us to maintain a healthy “I don’t want people to see this as a perk or golden handshake for balance between young teachers recently out of university and older, staff leaving the system. It’s strictly a management tool. The savings more mature teachers with years of experience in the classroom,” we achieve are greater than what we are paying out. It’s actually a explains School Board Chair Clayton Jespersen. “Our teaching force cost savings for us in the short term and a cost savings over the long is aging, which is good because it gives us a great degree of term.” expertise, but we are also afraid of having this bubble of mature Education icons retire after 77 years in Barrhead They met when Maureen was first starting gladly shared that enthusiasm with her career as a teacher and have been together their students. James coached for 19 ever since. years for the junior high school, everything from basketball to Maureen and James Tansowny were volleyball. “We used to take all of introduced when Maureen arrived at the our children on the bus to Swan Hills Barrhead high school as a student teacher in or Edmonton or wherever the event May, 1971. After a whirlwind romance that was. Our kids grew up with sports. summer, the pair fell in love and were They were around it all the time,” married by the start of the new school year says Maureen. in September. The teaching profession has changed “I met her in May, we were engaged in June considerably over the years – James and we eloped in September,” says James. and Maureen have 77 years experience “We went to a ball game on our first date in between them – but the couple have Slave Lake and we have been together ever always been eager to adopt new since.” technology and always went out of their way to connect with their The couple raised five children in the students. community and have become fixtures in the Barrhead school system, with Maureen “School has been our life – totally. teaching for 35 years at Barrhead Elementary We run into former students all the Maureen and James Tansowny have 77 years of time. It just happened at a garage sale experience between them. The husband and wife are and junior high, and James teaching for 42 retiring this year. years in junior and senior high. the other day when a former student came up to us to chat. We must have done many former students remember us in such a fond way,” says Maureen. They always had a passion for sports and something right over the years to have so Following family’s footsteps Ken ends career Driving bus is in the blood of Evelyn Stenzel. Her uncle was one of the first drivers in on high note Barrhead County, using a Ken Stoski first started teaching at Westlock horse-driven wagon in 1949 Elementary only to be closer to the city and his to take kids to school. Her family, but he stayed at the school for 34 years father was a driver as well and because of the exceptional staff and wonderful taught her to drive one of the community. big rigs in the early ‘70s. “The staff at the school has always been great to Evelyn’s passion for the work with. Many people have changed, but there profession is reflected in the has always been a good group of people there,” painstaking effort she says Ken. “That’s a big reason why I stayed at the school for so long.” devoted to a history book she Evelyn Stenzel is retiring after 34 years as a bus finished in 1995. She spent driver. He father and uncle were bus drivers as well. three years putting together Ken graduated from the University of Alberta in the book, called A Look in the back then were considerably more 1974. He spent two years in the Spirit River School Rearview Mirror, that featured photos challenging, but she drove for 34 years Division and then moved to Westlock. He taught of virtually every driver in the history with no major incidents. Grade 2 when he first arrived, when the school was of Barrhead County, as well as stories located where the junior high is now. The school and personal accounts of the men and “I remember the mud back then. moved to its current location in 1989 and Ken women responsible for getting students Sometimes it would get so thick it was eventually switched to Grade 4 and has been teaching to school. like gumbo. It would keep piling up Grade 5 for the last 10 years. under the wheels, which would make it “It wasn’t supposed to be a book. It was difficult to even move sometimes, but I “There have been a lot of changes over the years, supposed to be a photo album, but I put never got stuck, except for once at the with curriculum and report cards, but the one a lot of work into it and gathered a lot of end of my own driveway.” constant is the kids. They are always interesting information,” says Evelyn. “It took and inquisitive. For me, there has been enough of a about three years to complete and I put Evelyn is now turning the final page change, going from Grade 2 to Grade 4 and then on a lot of miles gathering the on her own career as a bus driver. After Grade 5, to keep it interesting and challenging.” information and getting the photos.