Chief Superintendent Lynnette Anderson's June 2026 Message
It’s hard to believe the 2025-2026 school year is almost over. As always, it has been an honour to write these monthly messages about the amazing happenings within Edmonton Catholic Schools. We are blessed to share this wonderful journey with our students, filling their minds with truth, their souls with beauty, and their hearts with goodness.
TRUTH. As we prepare to celebrate the 30th anniversary of National Indigenous Peoples Day, I encourage the ECSD community to complete the 15-day Virtual Calendar. Created by ECSD’s Indigenous Learning Services, the calendar features a short video for each school day beginning on June 1 and leading up to National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21. These daily videos spark curiosity, encourage respectful learning, and support meaningful conversations about the diverse cultures and experiences of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples across Canada.
BEAUTY. With the end of the school year approaching, many of our schools have been beautifully decorated for farewells and graduation ceremonies. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the ECSD Honouring Ceremony, where over 200 of our First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students celebrated their high school graduation, with many wearing beautiful moccasins, ribbon skirts, and beaded caps. I also recently attended the ECSD Retirement Gala, which is hosted each year by our Board of Trustees. As we celebrated the distinguished careers of our retirees, I was filled with gratitude for their many years of service to the ECSD community. I had the opportunity to speak with many of the retirees at the gala. Most of them expressed their gratitude for having worked with such amazing students and colleagues. Many of the retirees were also thankful to have had the opportunity to share the Gospel message as Catholic educators.
GOODNESS.
This has been the final year of our two-year journey as People of Hope. During this journey, our schools pondered hope through liturgy, prayer, classroom discussions, and various learning activities.
Students now better understand how hope sustains us and gives us confidence in God’s providence. Students learned that although we can’t control everything that happens to us, we can, with God’s grace, make the hopeful choice to respond with goodness. Therefore, as we look forward to next year’s theme, Rooted in Joy, we thank God for our blessings and our obstacles. Life is a gift from God, whose eternal love for us is revealed through His Son Jesus, and we participate in God’s love through our joys and our challenges.
Since this is the last monthly message for the school year, I would like to thank you for choosing Edmonton Catholic Schools. For those of you moving on from the ECSD community, we wish you great success in all your ventures. For those of you returning, we look forward to journeying with you again in the 2026-2027 school year. Please note that the first day of classes for Year-Round Calendar schools (St. Catherine, St. Alphonsus, and St. Teresa of Calcutta) is Monday, August 17. For our regular calendar schools, classes resume on Wednesday, September 2.
Have a great summer!
Sincerely,
Lynnette Anderson
Chief Superintendent
- Read Bishop David Motiuk's message, Summer Memories and Praising God for the Gift of Rest.
- To see our upcoming Division events, visit ecsd.net/calendar