PRINCE ALBERT — The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division board of education attended the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) Spring Assembly in Saskatoon on April 3 and 4.
Board chair Cher Bloom gave a verbal update on the assembly during the board’s regular meeting on April 14.
Bloom said the highlight of the assembly was the announcement that Grade 12 provincial examinations will be discontinued by the Ministry of Education in the 2025-26 school year.
"I think there are lots of different highlights, but for sure the sigh of relief was the announcement that provincial examinations being discontinued by the Ministry of Education starting next year,” director of education Neil Finch said.
Both the Sask Rivers board and the Saskatchewan Rivers Student for Change (SRSC) advocated for this change after seeing the impacts the system had on wrote the exams, particularly on rural students.
"The SRSC advocated for departmental exams to be discontinued, and their voice would have been a part of the decision, I'm sure,” Finch explained.
According to Finch’s report to the board, this will create a more equitable system for Grade 12 students. In the 2023-24 school year, only 25 per cent of students needed to complete a provincial exam. Most of these students were from rural areas, which have fewer accredited teachers.
With this change, certified teachers will no longer have to be accredited to determine course marks for students, beginning in 2025-26, all Grade 12 course marks will be determined by the teacher as they are in other grades.
The theme of the SSBA assembly was “good governance and local voices: keeping students at the heart of every decision.”
According to a press release from the division, trustees had the opportunity to gain valuable professional development and learn alongside their colleagues from across the province.
During the meeting, the board also approved a revised board policy on Trustee Code of Conduct. The revision included the addition of a written policy about conflict of interest for trustees, which included a new appendix to the policy.
"It was fairly absent,” Finch said. “There's been a pretty good practice around conflict of interest around the board table. Appendix A in that policy that was approved, all that language is new to the board policy.”
The new written policy also acts as a general background on conflict of interest.
"It helps both individual trustees and the entire board to take some risk away from themselves if there is a conflict that arises — or potential conflict that arises — because a lot of it is around perception as well,” he explained.
The policy changes were reviewed and revised during a board policy workshop on April 14.
