SECPSD Director of Education says school year went smoothly despite potential disruptions

The southeast is wrapping up its school year soon, with the final day for classes in the Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) set for June 26th.

With summer vacation set to start next week, SECPSD Director of Education Keith Keating had nothing but positive messages about the 2024-25 school year.

"I think it was an excellent year. We saw a lot of good things happen in school, a lot of accomplishments from kids across the system."

As the provincial government has been writing up a new provincial education plan, Keating says the division has been hard at work getting the program into alignment with their own division.

"There are lots of exciting events happening at our schools, some movement on the provincial education plan. We saw a lot of engagement with the First Nations portion of the plan, as well as some of the transition pieces and the reading and mathematics pieces."

Schools across the province were anxious about the negotiations between teachers and the provincial government over their bargaining agreement for the year.

Keating says the year went smoothly once more progress was made on the topic.

"Once it went to arbitration, things seemed to calm down a fair bit in the school. So there was an arbitrated settlement that came forward for the teachers for this school year and for next school year as well. So we appreciated the fact that it was a bit more of a calm school year with all kids in the schools for the entire year."

With another year just about wrapped up, Keating says that students and teachers were glad to have a more consistent school experience compared to the pandemic years.

"We're very excited that they've had an opportunity to be in school all year round. Towards the end of the school year, they always look forward to the summer coming up."

With the 2025-26 school year just a few months away, Keating says they're preparing for some new standards coming from the province.

"There will be a few more changes coming to the provincial education plan as they solidify some of those metrics. So we'll see a few changes there. Looking forward to a lot of the work, I know teachers are going to be doing around those, particularly around reading results and mathematics."

Keating wished everyone a great summer while looking forward to a fresh start for the 2025-26 school year.