RICHARD FROESE/Independent reporter
BACK TO BACKPACKS — Stettler students returned to classes Tuesday for the opening of the 2012-13 school year. LEFT: Checking in at Stettler Middle School (from left) are Cooper Smyth in Grade 8, Derek Smyth in Grade 7 and Paul Georget in Grade 8. RIGHT: The Hebbes sisters, Grace (left) and Laura, head into Christ-King Catholic School, where Grace is in Grade 4 and Laura is in Grade 2. For more back-to-school photos from the Stettler elementary, middle and senior high schools, see Page A10.
VOLUME ONE HUNDRED SIX
PM40011853 R08546
NUMBER THIRTY-SIX
STETTLER, ALBERTA
September 5, 2012
PRICE – $1.09 Plus GST
Changing of the guard at local schools Campbell takes over at SES LES STULBERG Independent reporter When school doors opened for the first day of classes Tuesday, a new principal greeted more than 500 students at Stettler Elementary School. Denise Campbell has been appointed to the position by the Clearview Public School Division. “Denise brings with her varied experience in education, from teacher to special education co-ordinator to principal,” said Clearview superintendent John Bailey. “We are looking forward to her new ideas to make Stettler Elementary even better and raise it a notch.” Campbell takes over the reins from Pat Johnson, who was appointed interim principal for one year after the sudden passing of principal Rod McElroy just weeks before the 2011-12 school year. “Pat stepped in and did a great job,” Bailey said of Johnson, who returns to her previous position as vice-principal. Campbell recently returned from Saudi Arabia, where she was the lead principal at a private forprofit school. “It was a unique experience, but I am glad to be back in central Alberta,” said Campbell, who is from Blackfalds and has two grown children and three grandchildren. The majority of Campbell’s career has been in Alberta, with much of that experience with the Northland School Division. She is a graduate of the University of Alberta and obtained her master’s degree from Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C. “I’m thrilled to be in Stettler — central Alberta is home to me,” Campbell said. “I’m impressed with the school division, the staff and the school itself.
LES STULBERG/Independent reporter
Veronica Pinkoski, a 31-year teaching veteran, is the new principal of Christ-King Catholic School in Stettler, replacing the departed Sheldon Gallagher. Pinkoski also remains the principal of Mother Teresa Catholic School in Halkirk. LES STULBERG/Independent reporter
After working in Saudi Arabia, Denise Campbell returns to central Alberta as the new principal of Stettler Elementary School. She’s from Blackfalds. “I’m looking forward to working with all the parents.” Campbell believes that there’s a need to build a strong relationship between the school and the community. “It takes a whole community to raise a child,” she said. Campbell advocates an open-door policy at the school and is intent on building bridges to community support. “I’d like Stettler Elementary to be the best elementary school in the division,” Campbell said. Croker to lead colony schools Bailey said the only other change in principal positions in the division is the appointment of Tim Croker as principal of all eight Hutterite colony schools. The Hutterite school population in Clearview is
180 to 190 students. Croker’s career spans 15 years of teaching experience, with 14 of those years spent at the Castor Colony school. “I’m looking forward to the challenge — we have a great staff at the colony schools,” he said. Croker said there’ll be a new teacher at the Byemoor Colony school and a couple of teachers will teach at different colonies this year. Croker, who lives in Stettler, said he’ll continue to teach at Castor Colony, but will be out of the school at least one day a week, either at his office in Stettler, located in the Outreach School, or visiting other colony schools within the division. Last year, the colony schools were overseen by Bailey, after the retirement of the longtime principal for all colony schools, Larry Scheerschmidt.
Catholic school principal to perform double duties LES STULBERG Independent reporter East Central Alberta Catholic Separate Schools Regional Division has appointed Veronica Pinkoski as the principal of two schools in the southern part of the division — Christ-King Catholic School in Stettler and Mother Teresa Catholic School in Halkirk. Pinkoski has been the principal at the Halkirk school for the past three years and now adds Christ-King to her job description. She plans to teach some classes at each school, along with her principal duties. “This is something that is done at a lot of schools, especially in urban areas — it is quite common,”
Pinkoski said of her dual principal role. Pinkoski, who brings 31 years of teaching experience to the position, takes over from past principal Sheldon Gallagher at Christ-King. Gallagher has decided to leave the teaching profession to operate his own business in Vermilion. It’s expected there will be less than 100 students at Christ-King and fewer than 50 at Mother Teresa, but an official count will be taken at the end of September. Pinoski taught for 26 years at Wainwright before making the move to Halkirk. She plans to live in Stettler this school year, after renting in Halkirk in the past. She and her husband, Terry, also have a
home in Red Deer. The week leading up to the start of school Tuesday was a busy one for Pinkoski and other Catholic division teaching staff members, with preparation courses and a three-day training session involving “Stephan Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” filling the final week of August. “It was absolutely fantastic,” Pinkoski said of those sessions. She’s looking forward to implementing the positive personal growth skills taught at the sessions. “I am so excited about the upcoming year,” Pinkoski said. “Plans have been made to offer introductory level French as a second language to all the kindergarten to Grade 9 classes.”
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