After eight and a half years as superintendent at the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, Tom Michaud will embark on a new challenge in 2025.

Michaud will then assume the role of director of education, secretary-treasurer of the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario.

The school board is the school district administrator for French-language Catholic schools in Greater Sudbury and the districts of Sudbury, Manitoulin and Algoma.

“I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I was informed of this opportunity,” Michaud said. “As I learned a little more about what exactly it was and understood that it was the school division whose schools I attended as a child in Ontario , from kindergarten to 6th grade, I simply decided to continue this process. and see where it goes.

Michaud spent more than 25 years in Prince Albert, including eight and a half years with Saskatchewan Rivers. He said his time with the school division was very beneficial.

“I have really enjoyed my tenure here in Sask Rivers,” he said. “It’s a fantastic organization to be a part of.

Michaud said his wife will finish the school year and then retire from teaching.

“We’re going to figure out what we’re going to do as a family unit,” Michaud said. “We have a son in Quebec. We have another one here in Pennsylvania. It just allows us to be a little more flexible and go both ways and never lose sight of PA, we’re not selling our family home or anything like that. We always want to keep a foothold here in Prince Albert.

In his new role as Director of Education, Secretary-Treasurer, Michaud will assume many of the same duties as a Director of Education.

“The position of secretary-treasurer is just a recognition, if you will, of the ultimate responsibility that the individual has for the overall operations of the division,” Michaud said.

Michaud said this change is an opportunity to engage in a new level of responsibility and he looks forward to it.

“It’s also an opportunity to reconnect with my roots as a French-Canadian French speaker,” he said. “I grew up in the Catholic system as a student. I taught for a year in the Catholic system in Regina, so going to a French-speaking Catholic system in Ontario that has ties to my hometown is pretty cool.

Throughout his tenure, Michaud played a central role in many areas of SRPSD operations, contributing significantly to the success and well-being of our students.

Notably, he led the inclusive learning team, supporting specialist services such as inclusive education consultants and coaches, speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, occupational therapists and social workers. He also led the division’s crisis response, ensuring students and staff were supported in the event of a traumatic event.

Michaud said it wasn’t about the initiatives he led, but rather the team environment fostered in Sask Rivers.

“(It’s) this collaborative model that we have here as a division to try to support our staff, our students and our school communities as well,” he said. “I work with a fantastic group of consultants and coaches in the intensive care world.

“All the work we have done on equity, diversity and inclusion has been phenomenal and has also become a point of reference for others in the province, and all thanks to the team model that we we have in place and to this collaboration which continues here.

Michaud said he was privileged to be part of that team and working with them was one of the highlights of his time in Prince Albert.

Michaud has also championed gender and sexual diversity, French immersion, and English as an additional language programs, and led wellness initiatives such as the SRPSD Mental Health Capacity Building Framework (MHCB) and the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s MHCB pilot project at the Prince Albert Collegiate Institute.

His first official day in his new position is January 6, 2025 and he will remain in his current role until December 20.

Michaud was proud of all the work he and his team did in the division.

“I am very proud to have had the opportunity and privilege to be part of such a fantastic group here in Sask Rivers,” he said. “I carry that with me when I step into my role. I have a lot of appreciation and gratitude for the growth I have seen over the years in myself and that we have seen for the system as a whole and the impact it has had on our students here at Saskatchewan Rivers. That’s what matters most. Nothing we have done would have any credibility if it did not have an impact on students.

In a statement, the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division expressed its sincere thanks to Michaud for over 8 years of service and wished him continued success in this next phase of his professional journey.

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