Superintendent's Message - September 2021

Welcome back to our students, families, staff, and school communities.  We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful summer break and are ready to start an exciting new school year.  To our new families and staff, welcome to the Peace River School Division family.

As you may be aware, my name is Adam Murray, and I am the new Superintendent for the Peace River School Division. I very much look forward to working with our students, staff, families, and communities to continue to provide high-quality educational experiences in safe, caring and inclusive schools. I believe that no dream is too big, and I am very passionate about ensuring our students are supported, engaged, and nurtured so that they can reach their goals and their full potential. 

As outlined in our Education Plan, numeracy, literacy and student health and wellness are top priorities for PRSD, in addition to providing students with a broad range of academic and engaging extra-curricular programming. Wellness in our schools is also a top priority as we know that students need to feel happy and well for students to reach their full potential. Encouraging our students to be a part of a team, a group at school, or in the community is essential. These opportunities help to grow and develop important life skills and attributes such as teamwork, community-mindedness and shared responsibility.

Of course, our parents and guardians play a crucial role in education, and we welcome, value and appreciate your involvement and input. We understand that parental involvement looks different for many families, and as a division, we will continue to ensure parents are aware of ways they can be involved and feel at home in our schools.  This November, we also look forward to celebrating our parents and guardians during PRSD’s annual “Parents Matter Appreciation Week.”

I would also like to take this time to reassure our families and school communities that we take the safety and well-being of students very seriously. We will continue with enhanced cleaning in our schools and facilities, and encourage thorough and frequent hand washing. We respect and support any student or staff who want to continue wearing a mask in school, we will continue to encourage our students and staff to stay home when they are not feeling well and, we are committed to work with Alberta Health Services and the Alberta Government should the nature of the pandemic change.  We understand that for some of our families, in-person learning may not be the preferred choice. For our families that would like to learn more about online learning options, please be aware that we offer virtual learning programming for students from grades 1-12 by skilled and dedicated teachers, support staff and our District Principal.  Please visit our website at prsd.ab.ca to learn more.

Schools are the hub of our communities, and our students make up the communities of tomorrow. Together as educators, parents, support staff, community members, organizations and businesses, we are given an incredible opportunity to encourage, empower and enable students to develop their unique talents and gifts. Thank you all in advance for your support and involvement in student learning and well-being.

I wish you all a wonderful 2021-2022 school year. 

Adam Murray
Superintendent of Schools