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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
City manager announces resignation Noble looking forward to opportunity in Saskatchewan By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
newsroom@merrittherald.com
The City of Merritt has filled its economic development and financial services manager positions, but will soon say goodbye to its chief administrative officer. The city announced Matt Noble’s resignation this week as he moves on to a similar position with the City of Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. “I never in my life expected that I’d be going back to that province,” Noble said, referencing his time spent at the City of Swift Current. “It just works out that way, and the opportunity was something I could not say no to. I see it as being a tremendous move, especially at this stage in my career, to practice at the highest level and I’m pretty excited to experience management at that level.” Noble said the new position will use many of the skills and experience he’s acquired acting as both chief administrative officer and corporate services manager for the City of Merritt. This will be the biggest city he’s
managed, Noble said. “It’s definitely an upwardlymobile thing to do,” he said. “It’s a large number of employees and a much, much larger budget. It’s the same position, only much bigger.” Noble said he expects the move to benefit his family as well as his professional goals. Before he moves, Noble said all there’s left to do before his last day at the City of Merritt on Sept. 13 is tie up loose ends. “Now there’s really nothing left to do except tend to affairs here, conduct an orderly transition, and prepare to accept the new responsibilities. In my absence, I’ll be splitting up some of the files while they wait on an interim until competitions are held,” he said, adding that he feels confident leaving the files to other managers. “We still have a pretty strong management team here.” Noble said it will be hard to leave the Merritt team, of which he has been a part for the last three years. “I feel fortunate, from an administration perspective, that I’ve had an opportunity to work with these guys. They’re a small crew but they
Matt Noble will spend his last day as the City of Merritt’s chief administrative officer on Sept. 13. Herald file photo
handle a lot on behalf of the citizens,” he said. Merritt Mayor Susan Roline said the sentiment is mutual.
“He’s been a big asset to our community,” Roline said. “He’s done a lot for this city. The community he’s going to is very fortunate
to be getting a person like that, with that knowledge base that he has and just his commitment. He will be missed, that’s for sure.”
MSS taking action on attendance issues By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
With the new school year just around the corner, Merritt Secondary School is taking steps to ensure once its students start attending classes again, they continue to do so throughout the year. Principal Bill Lawrence told the Herald attendance is an area of concern this
year because in-house stats show a correlation between missed days and failing grades. Over the past three years, 36 per cent of MSS students have missed 16 or more days of school per year. The students in that 36 per cent account for 70 per cent of courses that have failing grades in them. “Overall, we just have a lot not attending,” Lawrence
said. Lawrence said to deal with the attendance issue, MSS plans to implement some action items such as surveying students on why they attend regulary or why they miss classes. “We’re going to actively look at, as a staff, strategies that promote student engagement. Really, what you’re talking about is students disengaging from
school and that’s an attendance issue,” Lawrence said. “And there are all kinds of reasons for that. Sometimes there are things going on at home they need to be home for, sometimes there’s drug issues, sometimes there’s mental health issues. There are all kinds of different reasons why kids don’t attend, and so we’re going to do a real strong examination of those [reasons] and do
something about the factors we can do something about,” Lawrence said. Lawrence said because MSS students live in a rural community, it’s understandable students might have to miss some school days to access services for which they need to leave town. MSS is also consulting Stepping up the Pace: Improving Attendance, a How-to MiniGuide and the University of
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Alberta publication Student Engagement: What do we know and what should we do? to help guide the actions they take regarding attendance this year. Stepping up the Pace says Grade 9 students who miss five of the first 30 days of school are at serious risk of not graduating, Lawrence told the Herald.
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