I often find it a paradox that to succeed, you must be flexible. Yet, flexibility is a crucial factor in our successes that we often tend to under appreciate. A book I often refer to as a reminder of this is Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap and others don't, written by author Jim Collins. In it, Collins explores how organizations manage to transform themselves from within and outpace the pack. One of the arguments he makes is that people who are adjustable and able to explore what they are passionate about are typically also the ones who are able to move from good to great.
A few weeks ago, I was reminded of this after attending a professional learning day. There, I had the privilege of speaking with a number of our staff from our various schools. Something we all spoke about was the incredible wealth of expertise that exists throughout our Division. For the most part, however, that expertise is isolated in our individual schools in either our people or in our facilities. For example, in our high schools, we have a wide range of programming for all of our students, but that programming differs from school to school. The same is true in our junior high schools. The problem lies where a student is registered at and attends because that programming may not be available to them at that school.
What if, however, programming within the Division was more flexible? What if a student attending one of our schools could take a course at another school? What if everyone could explore a topic they're passionate about, or genuinely interested in?
The reality is, our Division is large so there are some real challenges to this but, for the most part, the barriers are only technical and not insurmountable. The key will be fostering a more fluid mindset around looking at our Division as a whole. With that ingenuity and flexibility we can then leverage all of our talents in different ways. I look forward to the possibilities that we can achieve together.
In the meantime, over the next few weeks, our schools, teachers, and students will be welcoming new students from the Fort McMurray area who have been evacuated from their homes. Our hope is by getting back to school it will help them resume some sort of normalcy in their lives. Division wide, our staff will continue to do the amazing work they do with all of our students to ensure they achieve to the best of their ability.
Mark Liguori
Superintendent
