The Good Spirit School Division has changed its rules in order to honour a deserving member of the community who is not a staff member with one of its most prestigious awards.
Normally only GSSD employees are eligible for the Sea Stars (Sparkling Examples of Accomplished Skillful Talented and Radiant Staff) Dedicated Service Award, but this year school counsellors unanimously brought forward Kathy Connors for the honour.
For sixteen years Connors, through Soup Haven, has made sure Yorkton school children have been able to have a good lunch.
The award was presented to Connors during the Good Spirit School Division Annual General Meeting (AGM) for Electors February 11 at Yorkton Regional High School.
“In the true spirit of the award, we would like to take this time to highlight and honour the work that Kathy Conners has done through Soup Haven,” said board member Bob Simpson, who chaired the meeting. “She most definitely exemplifies the criteria of dedicated service which reads as ‘an individual that portrays an exemplary record of integrity and commitment to the school environment. He/she works tirelessly to do their best to ensure a positive education experience for students, regarding them with respect and true caring’.”
The AGM is a legislated opportunity for board electors to get a detailed overview of the operations of the school division for the past year including financial reports.
The division also tries to highlight interesting initiatives with presentations.
This year, one of the highlights of the meeting was a presentation by Davison School (Melville) on their “Bump it Up” program, said Lynel Martinuk, GSSD communications coordinator.
The program uses graphic representations to allow children to visualize progress in their outcomes-based report card.
Martinuk cited the example of a burger where a bare patty represents level one (bare minimum). Level two gives the student cheese and a bun and level three is the toppings. For level four (exceeding expectations) they get fries and a drink.
“They’re noticing really good things because of it,” Martinuk said.
