An updated set of guiding principles have been developed for Border Land School Division. 

While the Board reviews these documents annually, trustee Patty Wiebe said it had been about 14 years since the Division's mission, vision and belief statements, along with its core values, had been revised.

"We went into this not necessarily believing that they needed to change, but believing that they needed to be reviewed," she added.

Ultimately all of the division trustees, senior administrators and department managers convened for an annual retreat where they hired a facilitator and took a day to go through the policies with a fine-toothed comb. Wiebe said the group quickly came to realize that changes needed to happen so a subcommittee was formed to get the process started.

Wiebe explained the revised statements are visually shorter than the previous set and have been modernized to "fit the Border Land of today".

"We felt (they) need to be very to the point and that they needed to make sense for everybody...so that they can read them and understand what our vision and mission for Border Land is."

She added that the modernized statements feature several main points. They are to inspire educational opportunities for students, highlight the importance of relationships and to provide opportunities for students to become engaged and responsible citizens.

Krista Curry, BLSD Superintendent, said everybody in the division had input and explained that each representative had a group of people they need to select feedback from. For example, the transportation manager gathered input from the bus drivers, the maintenance managers consulted with school custodians and the student services manager worked with the clinical services team.

"We thought it was important that yes, it's a board policy but people need to understand why decisions are being made, what the basis for those decisions is and what we believe as a school board and as a division," added Curry. "And then everybody knows going forward this is what our long term vision is for the division and when we're making short term decisions, these are the guiding principles that will guide those decisions."

Eventually, the updated policies will be stencilled on to the walls within the BLSD head office and board room in Altona.

"Sometimes we need to ground ourselves (and) go back to what our beliefs are, what our values are, what our vision/mission are. And to have them there beside you, it pulls you back and makes you realizes this is why we're here and that we need to make decisions based on these guidelines," said Wiebe.