PRINCE ALBERT — The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division continues to honour the legacy of the late Victor Thunderchild.
During their regular meeting on Monday, March 24, the board of education approved the establishment of a new scholarship in Thunderchild’s memory. The Victor Thunderchild Legacy Scholarship will provide an annual award of $500 available to the graduating students of Victor Thunderchild Public High School.
“The board approved that as a new scholarship that we offered,” Saskatchewan Rivers executive director Neil Finch said. “(The) policy is that any time scholarship comes forward, the board needs to approve it or deny it if they so choose.”
The scholarship will see either one recipient receiving $500 or two recipients receiving $250 each. The criteria for the scholarship include demonstrating exemplary personal growth, embodying the qualities Thunderchild was known for, and being a member of the current Victor Thunderchild Public High School graduating class.
In 2024 the former Won Ska Cultural School became known as Victor Thunderchild Public High School following a re-naming ceremony. The change came from work the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Elder’s Advisory Council and the Board of Education did to revitalise the school as a first-choice high school that offers a full high school program rooted in an Indigenous model of education.
Thunderchild was a longtime teacher and counsellor at Carlton Comprehensive High School. He passed away from COVID-19 in April, 2021.
Sask Rivers updates bus cancellations policy
The board of education approved an updated administrative procedure to clarify expectations for school bus cancellations during the regular meeting on Monday, March 24.
Going forward, the transportation department will streamline this process by using a single weather source—the Weather Network—along with the Saskatchewan Highway Hotline to determine whether buses can operate safely.
“(It’s) a big change here,” Director of Education Neil Finch said. “One is changing where we get our information from to make sure it's accurate but also not relying on predictions of what the weather will do in a few hours and taking the actual weather at that time and making a decision by actual temperature.”
Finch said the old system was not accurate enough because of the size of the school division.
“We're no longer going to try to predict what it's going to look like in an hour's time,” he said. “We're going to take actual (conditions) for that time.”
Previously, school division decisions relied on cross-referencing multiple weather and road
condition reports from Environment Canada stations in Prince Albert, Melfort, and Spiritwood, as well as the Saskatchewan Highway Hotline.
"We check in the networks from around the division, not just Prince Albert,” Finch said.
The administrative procedure was passed as a consent agenda item. [email protected]
