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Three exceptional educational leaders from Alberta have been chosen to join Canada’s Outstanding Principals for 2007 by the Learning Partnership, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to championing a strong public education system in Canada.
The program honours principals from publicly funded schools who have made a measurable difference in the lives of their students and communities and who are helping to ensure that Canada’s youth continue to receive a quality education.
In Alberta, the Learning Partnership selected Jean Stiles, J. Percy Page High School, Edmonton; Ted Thorne, Millarville Community School, Millarville; and Wayne Tuff, Terry Fox Junior High, Calgary.
Jean Stiles believes that student success is based on students learning to accept their individuality and actively participating in the learning process. As principal of a multicultural school, Stiles embraces diversity and encourages all members of the school community to do the same. She supports academic rigour and a commitment to excellence in teaching. Students in her school excel in academics, athletics and the arts.
Ted Thorne’s accomplishments include initiating an ungraded curriculum; creating a progressive learning environment that allows students to work on subjects at an appropriate level of challenge while still spending part of each day with their own age group; incorporating the Outward Bound Program throughout Millarville School’s curriculum; and initiating Millarville School’s application process to become an International Baccalaureate school.
Wayne Tuff is known for his strategic leadership and commitment to improving the lives of his students. English as a second language students at Terry Fox Junior High attain outstanding academic achievement. This is quite an accomplishment in a school where, over the past three years, a transition has been made from a multitrack, year-round program that had five separate groups of students each on a different calendar to a single-track, year-round school.
Stiles, Thorne and Tuff will participate in a year-long development experience that includes a five-day executive leadership training program at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Over the course of the next year, through online dialogue, they will communicate with their colleagues in moderated discussions, the results of which will form a body of material available to members of the National Academy of Principals.
Strike up the band
The Alberta Band Association announced the recipients of its awards for the 2005–06 school year during the association’s fall conference.
Erin Bodnar, Band Director at St. Francis of Assisi Middle School in Red Deer, was awarded the Keith Mann Young Band Director Award.
Arnold Pitcher, Band Director at Cardston High School in Cardston, received the Vondis Miller Legacy Award.
Kevin Willms, Band Director at Ernest Manning High School in Calgary, received the Elkhorn Award.
