Submitted by Chair Amanda Amaral
January 14, 2026
Welcome to 2026! We are excited to welcome you, our learning community, back into our schools and hope that you all enjoyed the winter holiday with your favorite people celebrating beloved traditions and rituals. As the days get longer, we can start to see the end of the school year on the distance.
Over the next six months, the Board will begin to formally reflect on the past term—sharing our learning, highlighting accomplishments, and recognizing areas of growth as we continue to advance our strategic plan. This reflective work supports strong governance and helps ensure our decisions remain aligned with our mission, vision, affirmation, and aspirational learning goal and hold us accountable for the mandate provided by the Provincial Government.
In January we explore our value of equity. Equity, as all our values are, is foundational to supporting our mission, vision, affirmation and aspirational learning goal. As we take time to reflected on what equity means to us in our daily work and what we want it to mean as we move towards our vision of a thriving community of lifelong learners, it is important to pause and explore how we have defined the value of equity. In our learning community equity is:
Equity: Committing to diversity as a strength and inclusion as a right.
Equity: Advancing Belonging, Opportunity, and Collective Strength
Equity
Equity is foundational to our vision for a thriving learning community where every learner and employee are supported to reach their full potential. We understand equity as the intentional commitment to ensure that each person has access to the opportunities, resources, and conditions they need to participate fully and meaningfully. This work calls us to move beyond sameness toward fairness, this means recognizing difference, addressing barriers, and responding with care, responsibility, and purpose. By grounding our work in equity, we affirm that belonging and opportunity are essential to learning, well-being, and success.
Diversity as a Strength
The diversity of our learning community is a powerful asset that enriches learning and strengthens our collective future. Diverse identities, perspectives, and lived experiences broaden understanding, inspire creativity, and deepen empathy. When we intentionally welcome difference of culture, of identity, of thought, and of experience, we expand what is possible for learners and for our system as a whole. By cultivating environments where diversity is visible, valued, and celebrated, we unlock greater collaboration, innovation, and shared success.
Inclusion as a Right
Inclusion is both a right and a responsibility. An inclusive learning community is one where every individual is seen, respected, and empowered to contribute. This commitment invites us into brave and hopeful spaces—where we listen deeply, reflect honestly, and adapt our practices to ensure no one is pushed to the margins. When inclusion is embedded in our decisions and actions, we strengthen trust, connection, and a shared sense of purpose across our learning community.
As we continue to advance the implementation of our strategic plan, we are guided by the value of equity– a learning community where equity is lived daily, diversity fuels our growth, and inclusion is braided into every aspect of our system. We invite ongoing reflection on how these commitments shape our decisions, our leadership, and our strategic direction. Where does equity show up for you?
Amanda Amaral
Chair