LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Record speaks for itself at HSD

Ken Klassen has again taken to these pages to criticize the Hanover School Division board (“Our choice, our responsibility,” Oct. 8). But there is a fundamental problem with his argument.

A board’s purpose is to bring community perspectives to the table, debate them openly and work toward decisions on behalf of the people it represents. Deliberating and ultimately making decisions is how a board is supposed to function.

Mr. Klassen knows the governance structure of a school division better than most. He once occupied the superintendent’s chair himself.

The problem appears in the claim that this board is not transparent. That claim is false. The board does not arbitrarily and unilaterally set the agenda. The superintendent and board chair develop agendas together. Agendas and minutes are made available, and in-camera minutes are read aloud at public meetings.

The division should be judged by its record, not by hasty, consistently negative and far-fetched conclusions.

Under the current leadership, Hanover added more students in the province’s latest enrolment count than any other division: 222, growing from 8,934 to 9,156. That growth has continued.

The graduation rate was 96 percent in 2024 and 95 percent in 2025, compared with a provincial average of about 88 percent.

The division spends approximately $13,560 per student, compared with a provincial average of $15,645. Administration accounts for 2.3 percent of spending, versus 3.1 percent provincially.

Affordability mattered in the budget. Working together, the board and senior administration kept the mill-rate increase below eight percent, compared with approximately 8.7 percent in Border Land School Division, 9.9 percent in Garden Valley School Division and 11.4 percent in Seine River School Division.

At the direct request of principals and senior administration, the board committed $500,000 to Grade 1 literacy, added six literacy and numeracy teachers, and provided two hours of educational assistant support in every Grade 1 classroom each day. We anticipate that stronger early literacy will benefit students beyond reading achievement, helping them build confidence, participate more fully in the classroom and develop a stronger foundation for future learning.

The 2026–27 budget funds approximately 28 additional teaching positions and 22 additional educational assistants.

The board and senior administration have also initiated a study into expanding vocational opportunities at rural high schools beyond the SRSS. Multiple student councils have asked for opportunities that would allow more students to access vocational programming while remaining in their home schools with the friends they grew up with. The division is listening and examining what can reasonably be provided.

A new five-year learning plan has also been implemented following nearly two years of development under the current superintendent’s leadership. It establishes a common, research-based approach: review what students already know, ensure they understand it and then move forward. The goal is caring educators, consistent practice from one grade to the next and engaged learners, without scripting the classroom. The Hanover Teachers’ Association has expressed support for the plan.

The division also created the Bridges program to support students. Its success is rooted not solely in program design but also in the leadership decisions that made it possible. From the outset, Hanover prioritized meaningful partnerships with outside organizations and agencies, including mental health and social supports, to build a more holistic model of care for students. The current school board provided the financial resources necessary to launch the program.

The record shows trustees and administration working together to manage substantial growth, exercise spending restraint and direct additional resources into classrooms while addressing difficult situations.

Approximately 1,000 children in Hanover are homeschooled, a number equivalent to roughly 11 percent of divisional enrolment and second only to Garden Valley School Division. Yet for some families, public school is the only option. That makes it especially important that policy serve all students, as this board has sought to ensure, rather than solely the loudest or most powerful lobby groups.

This board has advocated for its constituents at their request, including when doing so involved opposition from powerful unions or lobby groups. Questions arising from the mature-minor debate were brought to elected trustees by the constituents they represent. Raising those questions is not a rejection of public education; it is part of representative governance.

The board weighed the consequences of representing those concerns and chose to move ahead despite negativity from the media, Mr. Klassen and lobby groups. That is fundamentally an act of upholding democracy.

One further point deserves acknowledgement. Hanover School Division’s accomplishments belong neither to trustees nor administrators alone. They are the product of teachers, educational assistants, principals, senior administrators, trustees and many others working within their respective responsibilities.

Mr. Klassen is entitled to criticize the school division and view its direction negatively. But opinion does not erase the record. The facts speak for themselves.