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| Governor General David Johnston and his wife Sharon at his swearing in ceremony |
It was inspiring to hear our new Governor-General encourage Canadians to "cherish our teachers", as he was sworn in to his new role.
It is, after all, our classroom teachers who spend the most time with our children and have the greatest impact on their learning and ultimate success. As a school board, Edmonton Public has a number of strategies in place to recognize our teachers, as well as our non teaching staff who carry out many important functions that support the work of teachers. For example, we have a program called "An Act to Follow" where our outstanding staff members are recognized at Board meetings for their contributions and initiatives. We also have long service award evenings to honour those employees who have given many years of loyal service in the education of our young people. And we encourage the nomination of teachers for the provincial "Excellence in Teaching" awards, and other external recognition programs.
Trustees have many opportunities to speak at school or community events. Never let these pass without taking advantage of the occasion to "cherish" our hard working teachers and other staff members. And by all means take advantage of Word Teachers Day on Oct 5th to let our teachers know how much we value their contribution to our children's success.
Not to express any disrespect to teachers, but we also need to cherish our Educational Assistants, our clerical staff, maintenance and trades and custodians. All of the above do an outstanding job and play a critical role in making schools special. Teachers tend to get lots of credit (with good reason) but they can't do their jobs without a lot of good support.
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