Jason Neville, left, director of education at Lloydminster Public School Division, mingled with grads from Lloydminster Comprehensive High School at the Lloyd Ex’s WLS Convention Centre on June 28, the last day of school. Classes resume on Sept. 5. Supplied Photo
When’s lunch? That’s what most students in the Lloydminster Public School Division (LPSD) were asking teachers on the final day of school with early dismissal at noon on June 28.
The clock was also ticking for Jason Neville, director of education at LPSD with less than two hours to go before the cap and gown ceremony for Lloydminster Comprehensive High School grads at the WLS Convention Centre.
His role there each year is to support the Grade 12 grads.
“I have a niece graduating so that’s exciting for me too,” said Neville that morning.
He was also set to take in the grand march for grads the very next evening.
Neville revealed his general message for grads would be to just make sure they took some time to celebrate their accomplishments and enjoy the journey on whatever path they choose.
Neville recollects his own graduation from North Battleford Comprehensive High School and what the day means for grads.
“It’s more just enjoying that time spent with friends and family—kind of basking in the glory of being done—a huge piece of your life,” he said.
Neville went on to obtain an undergraduate degree at the University of Saskatchewan and his masters at the University of Alberta.
This was Neville’s first year heading LPSD and he had a message ready to share with employees including teachers.
“For staff especially being in my first year, a huge message of appreciation for all the work they do for our students and make sure they enjoy their summer,” he said.
Looking back, he says one of the highlights this year at LPSD is the division’s booming arts, sports and hockey academies.
“The numbers there going into next year have exploded, so that’s good,” he said.
Neville was also pleased to see a huge number of schools resume extracurricular activities coming out of the pandemic.
“That really bounced back,” he said.
Another notable highlight for him was having multiple schools in the division host Treaty 6 and flag-raising ceremonies throughout the year.
With summer vacations underway, construction crews will be back on site this week to resume work on the $28.8 million expansion at the high school.
Neville says the renovations are progressing well.
“We just did a tour last week and it seems like everything is kind of falling into place,” he reported.
“We’ll be able to close up the whole building and we’ll see what it looks like come Sept. 1.”
The overall project includes the construction of a new wing that will house 17 classrooms, a new home economics lab and the Synergy Place gym.
The expansion will accommodate about 330 Grade 9 students starting in the fall of 2024.
“The Grade 10 to 12s will be able to access the building prior to that in the second semester of the next 2023-24 school year,” said Neville.
Enrolment numbers at LPSD are also expected to be a bit higher this fall.
“I like to be a little conservative on that. We had to project our enrolment for next year back in January. We’ll be over 4,400. We crossed that threshold this year,” said Neville.
“We had a very big Kindergarten group come in this year so that was kind of our big jump there we weren’t anticipating. We’ll see where our Kindergarten numbers come in this year if that trend continues or was a one-time blip.”
Students go back to school on Sept. 5 for the 2023-24 season.
