Going the Extra Mile for the Kids

Quick Facts - Glen is currently the vice principal of the high school in I'le a la Crosse. You will find him coaching various teams after school, relaxing at home, or out on the Lake having a good time with his wife and family.

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After I finished high school I worked at Cluff Lake in the mines. I decided early on that I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life even though the money was good. I didn't like being away from my family all the time. I started my post sececondary education in Forestry - I have a 3 year degree. But that too, I didn't find too challenging. With my wife being a teacher, I sort of knew what kind of work was involved. I also liked the idea of working in my own community. I knew deep down that this was the direction that I wanted to move to.

I started university when I was 29 years old. I received my teaching degree from the University of Saskatchewan when I was 34. I know that many times I wanted to quit, especially since my family was in ILe X, and I was in Saskatoon. Every weekend I travelled home. I put a lot of miles on my old bomb. It helped me to keep my goal of being a teacher upper most in my mind. That was my motivation to stay in school. My family was truly supportive of me, and that was the key. This is my 6th year of teaching. In my first year I taught PhysEd, and middle years Math and Language Arts in Patunak. After that I moved back to I'le X Crosse and taught grade 6.

I started my administrative career in August of 2001. Its been a challenge since the school split into two distinct parts - a high school and elementary. I teach grade 8 - 55% of the time, and have 45% for administration. I hope to make changes in every little area of teaching - attendance policy, sport policy for example, and in so doing improve our kids education. There's a lot of little things that are important to running the school. Substitute teachers are in short supply, and you have to match the substitute to the class. For sports, I take care of the vans, and make sure all the manifests are correct, I also make sure locks and lockers are taken care of. Perhaps the most important job I have is attendance. I have to make sure there is a connection between the school and the home. Parents need to know how their kids are not only doing in school, but that they are attending.

Because this is a new office, there is a lot of challenges in seeing that proper policies are in place, and that everyone is aware of their duties. When I started, a lot of the older staff member commented on "you're in for it now". They meant that there were a lot of challenges out there. I now know what they mean. I teach grade 8 Math, Language Arts, Health, and michif. On top of that, I have one of the largest classes in the school with 34 students.

The biggest challenge I have is trying to find time to do everything. It can be frustrating at times. I take all my marking home which is considerable with 34 students, and then when I take up the work assignment, I get caught up with an administrative problem like discipline. Its hard making the time to meet everyones needs. I am finding my evenings and weekends are taken up with extra curricular events, or catching up on administration needs. I coach volleyball - both junior and senior, and because our teams our successful, it means more weekend tournaments.

I really want to promote the team concept with the staff. It takes a lot of work to develop a good school climate. This year for example, I see a big turn around in attitude in our students. They are more respectfully of the school. I am glad to be a part of that turn around. Phyically our school is old, and we are really restricted by space. I hope that in three years time that we will have a new school, I assume that we will be physically split from the elementary school. In that regard we would have a decent track and field, outdoor courts, and so on. Five years from now I want to be still involved in administration. It will be interesting to see the changes that have occurred in that time.