2025 CASS Summer Learning Pre-conference

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The CASS Summer Learning Pre-Conference provides system education leaders with a valuable professional learning opportunity to complete a Continuing Education Program (CEP) course, contributing to the accreditation requirement of earning five CEP courses within five years of becoming a regulated member. Participation in this pre-conference promotes continuous professional growth and helps members fulfill their CEP accreditation requirements as established by CASS. Additionally, regulated members who register for both the pre-conference and the conference will earn CEP credits for two CEP courses.

Pre-conference Course Options:

1. CEP Course: Sharing Stone Keeper’s Wisdom
2. NEW CEP Course: Supporting Effective Governance

Who Should Attend:
Superintendents and system education leaders interested in building their leadership capacity.

Sharing Stone Keeper’s Wisdom

Please note that this is a land-based course that will be held offsite at the kihcihkaw askî, 14141 A Fox Drive, NW in Edmonton. Transportation to the location will be the responsibility of participants, allowing flexibility in travel arrangements. Free parking is available.

In this course, participants will learn from place alongside an Elder, the course facilitators and one another as they examine a perceived challenges and problems of practice within their own context related to eliminating systemic barriers and creating inclusive and culturally safe work and learning environments. They will learn from local Indigenous wisdom and knowledge as they explore findings in the ATA and CASS Report on Indigenous Teachers and Leaders in Alberta’s Public School System and related research and policy, leading to renewed commitment to action in relation to the course topic and the SLQS / LQS .

As a result of attending this course, participants will:

• develop and embody (spirit, heart, body, mind) resolve to eliminate systemic barriers and create inclusive and culturally safe work and learning environments related to the perceived challenge/problem of practice.
• relate their context to a new story/way forward for their own/their school authority’s learning/unlearning in relation to the perceived challenges and problems of practice.
• represent and articulate their learning process in relation to the perceived challenges and problems of practice towards commitment to action.
  recognize and respect the diversity and strength of Indigenous ways of knowing and being and historical contexts.

This course will be facilitated by:

Elder Calvin Cardinal  is from Saddle Lake Cree Nation. He has been with the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program, or ATEP, since May 2023 as the Elder in Residence whereby he provides cultural teachings and spiritual guidance for the students and staff of the program. Elder Cal actively participates in and is a steadfast presence in the students’ journey towards becoming in-service teachers and provides guidance to advance various research initiatives within the ATEP community and educational landscapes.

Cal is a husband to Mona Cardinal, a father and a mother to many grandchildren.

Jimmi Lou Irvine  is a proud Metis woman with an ongoing quest to further enhance and develop the cultural knowledge that she does not currently carry. Jimmi Lou is the Associate Superintendent of Student Services and Indigenous Relations at Northern Lights School Division in northeastern Alberta in the heart of Lakeland region. She started as a teacher at Bonnyville Centralized High School in 2000, earning a nomination for the Alberta School Boards’ Association’s Edwin Parr Award. She became an administrator in 2004, serving as Assistant Principal and then Principal at Glendon School and Iron River School. She co-chaired a team that developed an Inclusive Education model, served as a Student Support Coordinator, Learning Coach, and on the Division’s Site-Based Management Committee. In 2016, she became Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, handling FNMI Services, Literacy and Numeracy, and Assessment and Instruction. In 2020, her title changed to her current role, focusing on Student Services, Indigenous Relations, mental health, inclusive education, preschool care, and HR. Jimmi Lou’s personal life details following her chuckwagon driving husband on his professional circuit and paying for tuition, ‘winning bids’ on various auction sites or pet expenses for her 3 children.

Dr. Dianne Roulson  is a white settler of Icelandic and French roots and a grandmother to three wonderful girls. She was born in Treaty 7 near the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers. She had the privilege of working in public education for 34 years with the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) holding various portfolios in her role as Education Director including Indigenous education, curriculum & assessment, languages, and SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity). She has worked closely with Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers over time who opened their arms and hearts to her and shared many teachings. Because of their love and guidance, she continues to work in public education in her current role as a Leadership Consultant with the College of Alberta School Superintendents (CASS) to support success for Indigenous students and Indigenous education for the benefit of all students.

Appuyer la gouvernance efficace

Ce cours est conçu pour amener les participants à lire, discuter et réfléchir à leur rôle et à leurs responsabilités dans le soutien d’une gouvernance efficace dans le contexte minoritaire francophone. Le cours permet aux participants la planification d’actions concrètes et appliquées pour la gouvernance scolaire francophone en milieu minoritaire.

Le participant sera en mesure de:

• Énoncer concrètement leur rôle dans la gouvernance efficace au sein d’une autorité scolaire francophone et d’identifier les actions dans la gouvernance efficace au sein de l’autorité scolaire francophone en milieu minoritaire.
• Apprivoiser les stratégies visant à développer la compréhension de la gouvernance d’une autorité scolaire francophone par les leaders scolaires.
• Acquérir des compétences en communication nécessaires pour les aider à atteindre les résultats d’apprentissage.
• Élaborer leur propre « feuille de route » pour travailler de manière productive avec le Conseil scolaire francophone en milieu minoritaire tout en maîtrisant les concepts associés à l’analyse des risques.
• Comprendre l’impact de la jurisprudence des droits linguistiques en matière d’éducation au Canada.

Animateurs de cours:

Alain Vachon – Avec plus de 30 ans d’expérience en gestion des affaires et en leadership, Alain a développé une grande capacité à reconnaître comment les organisations se retrouvent embourbées dans la dysfonction, la confusion et la mauvaise communication, et comment les réorganiser pour devenir plus saines et performantes. Alain possède une vaste expérience au service de plusieurs secteurs, dont l’éducation, les sociétés de services professionnels, les organisations à but non lucratif et le secteur privé. En tant que consultant chez Discitus, Alain consacre la majeure partie de son temps à travailler avec des PDG, des membres de conseils d’administration, des cadres et des membres d’équipes à tous les niveaux afin d’évaluer rapidement et efficacement les problèmes complexes et d’identifier des solutions pour maximiser leur efficacité. Son approche accélère les résultats, menant à une véritable croissance organisationnelle. Qu’il dirige une session de deux jours avec une équipe de direction, qu’il s’adresse à un groupe de gestionnaires ou qu’il coach individuellement des leaders, l’enthousiasme et l’engagement d’Alain envers les résultats sont indéniables.

Valérie Morand has been the Executive Director of the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones (FNCSF) and the Regroupement national des directions générales de l’éducation since December 2018. Previously, she served as Communications Manager for both organizations for six years. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of School Board Administrators (ACGCS/CASSA). She also served on the Advisory Council of the pan-Canadian educational network EdCan from 2019 to 2022. A journalist for 20 years at Radio-Canada, covering the Crown corporation’s French and English networks and internationally (RCI), she was notably a parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa. She studied literature and communications at the Université du Québec à Montréal and electronic journalism at Metropolitan University of Toronto, formerly Ryerson. In 1995, she founded the Guignolée des médias in the National Capital Region, which, over the years, has raised more than a million dollars for the disadvantaged in the National Capital Region.