Celebrating our teachers

Education is important to me. I would not be a school board trustee if it wasn't. When I think back to the days I attended school, I have some fond memories and not so fond memories, but one constant that remains is that teachers were a large part of my life. From about ages five to 18, students are in front of teachers just shy of 200 days a year. That's about 2,600 days at seven hours per day, which equals roughly 18,000 hours of our lives with a teacher in front of us. I was fortunate to attend university which added many more hours of instruction and dedication to my studies, and although I have more fond memories of post-secondary education, I wouldn't have gotten there without my K-12 teachers.

There are about 276 full-time equivalent teachers hired by St. Paul Education and 381 support staff who are here to ensure your children have the best education possible. Enrolment numbers go up and down, but we usually have around 4,000 students who attend our schools across the division. St. Paul Education is the largest employer in the region and we are very proud of all of our staff. Parents are the primary educators of our children, but these teachers and support staff help shape our future generations.


October 5 is World Teachers' Day across the globe and today we celebrate the important impact teachers make in students' lives everyday across the world. Education has been proclaimed a fundamental human right and this special day acknowledges the essential role of teachers in our society.

In our ever-evolving world, teachers have been tasked with keeping up with technology while continually using new and time-tested techniques to assess our students and prepare them for their future lives. It is up to us as parents, grandparents, and community members to be there to support our children in all other facets of life. As Bob Dylan said, "the times, they are a-changin'" and at a pace that is mind-blowing and sometimes difficult for us to grasp, but it up to us to help our teachers and support staff make the best of our children's education.

As author C.S. Lewis stated, "The task of the modern education is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts."