Bells Point School. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

One opening

LLRIB schools nearly fully-staffed for start of classes next week

Aug 27, 2019 | 4:32 PM

Lac La Ronge Indian Band schools in La Ronge, Sucker River and Hall Lake will be ready for students when classes resume Sept. 5.

According to Director of Education Simon Bird, all teaching positions with the exception of a Grades 6 and 7 teacher at Chief Moses Ratt School in Sucker River have been filled. That means there are no openings at Bells Point School and Senator Myles Venne School near La Ronge or at Sally Ross School in Hall Lake. Bird stated staff members worked hard to recruit teachers for the upcoming academic year.

“A lot of this is due to the pool of candidates needs to be at the level of what our school’s demand,” he said. “We are getting some candidates, but education is a small world and we need to make sure the teachers who we have are going to be meeting the demands of the classroom and be a good fit in our communities.”

The Lac La Ronge Indian Band was also able to find a full complement of teachers for the 2018-2019 academic year and seemed to avoid the shortfall of staffing at the Northern Lights School Division (NLSD). In an attempt to repeat the success they found while hiring in 2018, the LLRIB continued to spend more time in the year recruiting and even called back potential teachers who applied then, but didn’t accept an offer because they felt the timing wasn’t right.

“When you compare NLSD and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, our number of positions is definitely lower and when you are able to work with a smaller group, your ability to have a little bit more of an intimate relationship with your pool of candidates serves to be an advantage,” Bird said.

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Superintendent of School Tanis Crawford also wanted parents to know through a partnership with NLSD and the LLRIB, a second female success coach will be hired to serve Senator Myles Venne School and Churchill Community High School in La Ronge. In November 2018, Shane Bird was hired for the same job and it was determined the program was so successful, both sides decided it would be beneficial to hire a second person.

Crawford also mentioned the LLRIB continues to look for ways to bring innovation and creativity to education. One area in particular she is proud of is the work being done in land-based education.

“There is a really strong focus on language and culture, and we’re excited for the direction of our programming,” Crawford said. “Our land-based programming just got approved for another year with some grant money, so we will be further investing into our land-based education program because it aligns with our curriculum outcomes.”

As for the NLSD, it appears the organization isn’t short as many teachers as it was last year. The school division is reporting nine current openings with five of them in Sandy Bay. Jans Bay, La Loche and Pinehouse Lake each have one opening, while a Grade 4 position is still open at La Ronge’s Pre-Cam Community School.

larongeNOW reached out to NLSD Director of Education Jason Young for an interview, but he was unavailable by the time of publication.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno