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Teachers and staff lauded for efforts this week

Local schools and school divisions celebrate the ways staff go above and beyond their jobs during Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week.
Matthew Gourlie
Holy Trinity School Division
Major turnout from the Holy Trinity School Division in support of Battle of the Books. (Sasha-Gay Lobban)

Staff and teachers at local schools go above and beyond the scope of their job descriptions on a regular basis.

It is Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week in Saskatchewan and it was fitting — albeit unfortunate — that the week started with the school community at King George pitching in Sunday after a flood to make sure that the school was immaculate by time the students arrived on Monday morning.

Several inches of water seeped into the gym, the music room and pre-Kindergarten room. Tony Baldwin, director of education with the Prairie South School Division, said that by time he arrived at lunch on Sunday, there were teachers, maintenance staff, the administrative assistant and many others cleaning up.

Baldwin said it was a great example of the commitment that teachers and staff show all year.

"Hannah (Tyminski), the pre-Kindergarten teacher, spent all day Saturday working there in the school in her room, just doing what teachers do on the weekends: getting ready for the next week and dealing with whatever was left over from the week before," Baldwin said. "We had the flood Saturday night and when I was there at lunch on Sunday, she was back, the principal Jill Tressel was there, the school secretary was there, the caretaker was there. Jill's husband was there and he doesn't have anything to do with the school, except he thought we might have to haul some boxes or something.

"It's just normal stuff. Regardless of what the thing is, they just make it happen and kids and families are better for it everywhere. That's just the kind of family atmosphere that exists in schools in Prairie South and around the province."

While Sunday's emergency clean-up was an unusual occurrence, it was just one example of things that teachers and staff do behind the scenes that aren't always seen.

"I know that the majority of people have no idea how much work a teacher does in a day. They have no idea how much our other staff members do in a day," Baldwin said. "The guy we had driving the Bobcat, chipping ice, Sunday morning, he wasn't thinking he was going to be spending his weekend away from his kids fighting through minus-30 weather and a foot of ice. 

"We're pretty fortunate to have the crew of people that we have, with the world view that they have. 'Let's just get busy and get this stuff done.'"

Those things that need to get done around a school community go well beyond the classroom and it is only expanding as the years go on with technology and social media changing some of the traditional roles and concerns of teachers and staff.

"Nothing that we do really equates to all of the extras that go on with our staff," said Sean Chase, director of education for Holy Trinity Catholic School Division. "We had a board meeting (Monday night) and we were discussing that with our trustees who are out and about this week delivering some little care packages to the staff at our various schools as a reminder and a thank you, a piece of gratitude on our behalf. It's never enough to really, truly encapsulate all of the great things that they are doing for our students and families."

Chase said their respective School Community Councils treat their teachers and staff well during this annual week to recognize the contributions of their staff.

"Our school community councils are essential to the work that we do," Chase said. "Those parents who volunteer their time are really close and recognize all of the extra efforts from our staff at the school. Our SCC typically plan some type of event or a variety of events over the course of the week."

Baldwin said a lot of recognition for their staff and teachers are done at the school level as well. 

"Kids and school community councils are really good at coming up with neat ways of celebrating that with the staff that are closest to them," Baldwin said.

Schools and staff took to twitter to acknowledge and celebrate the week: 

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