C. Ian McLaren ~ January Brings Changes

There are a few new faces at school...


It was almost like the first day of school in September when we returned to school on January 9th with all of our new faces at C. Ian McLaren and the reconfigured classes. We are pleased to welcome four new staff members to our school. First of all, we would like to welcome Ms. Jill Alexander, our new vice principal. She comes most recently from Blackie. She has taught every grade from grades one to six in a variety of schools in Foothills School Division and comes with a wealth of experience. Ms. Alexander has previously taught at McLaren School and we welcome her back. We would also like to welcome Miss Brande Manzer. Miss Manzer is teaching our new grade two class. Miss Manzer has taught in Fairview and in Innisfail in grade two and three classrooms. She is also a McLaren “returnee”. Miss Manzer did her student teaching in Ms. Anderson's grade six class four years ago. We welcome two new Education Assistants. Mrs. Judee Merkley was hired to replace the sadly missed, Mrs. Diane Bray, in our Diversity Program. She also comes with a wealth of experience with special needs children, coming most recently from Breton, Alberta. Our fourth new staff member is also a returning “McLaren” staff member, Mrs. Jo-Anne Smith. Mrs. Smith worked in the kindergarten program last year and is now working in the Diversity program. Welcome to all!
We were able to hire a new teacher with the “Redford” dollars. The transition from all multi-age classrooms to the mostly single grade classrooms was a smooth one and seems to be going well for all. The teachers and students are benefitting from smaller classes. Most of the class sizes are between 20 and 25 students per class. The teachers have more individual time for students with the lower numbers and the students are also benefitting from classrooms that are less congested and calmer. We thank all the families of McLaren students for being so supportive of all of the changes.