Springbank Community High School will be welcoming back a familiar face and Cochrane High School will be seeing a change in roles as Rocky View Schools (RVS) announced new principals for both schools on June 10.
The Springbank High School community will welcome current Bert Church High School Principal Pam Davidson, who will take over the helm as the new principal beginning in August.
Davidson, who has been the principal at Bert Church in Airdrie for the last three years, may be a familiar face to some as she served as principal at the Springbank Middle School from 2007 to 2011.
“As a strong advocate of shared leadership, trust, and vision with a student-centric focus, Pam is an exemplary team leader and a perfect fit to assume the role of principal of Springbank High School,” said Rocky View Schools (RVS) Superintendent of Schools Don Hoium in a press release.
“Although I am sure the Bert Church school community will miss her, I am very excited to watch Pam collaboratively lead the staff through its high school redesign project and help introduce the school’s dual credit program on Natural Resources Management and Environmental Science in partnership with Mount Royal University and Bow Point Nursery,” he added.
Davidson has been with RVS since 1992 and has served as teacher, assistant principal and principal. Along with Bert Church and Springbank Middle School, she also served as principal at Meadowbrook School from 2005 to 2007.
She holds a masters of education degree specializing in Adult, Community and Higher Education from the University of Calgary and a bachelor with distinction from the University of Alberta.
“I am very pleased that Pam is returning to the Springbank area in this new capacity,” said RVS Board of Trustees Chair Colleen Munro in the press release.
“I know her track record of being a conscientious, collaborative and innovative leader will serve the Springbank community well.”
Laurie Johnston-Drebert will be replacing Davidson at Bert Church by taking on the role of acting principal at the school in September.
Cochrane High School students will recognize their new acting principal, as the school’s current Assistant Principal Shirley Pepper will move into the role in August.
“Shirley is a firm advocate and strong leader having worked at Cochrane High for over two decades,” Hoium said. “We are very grateful to be able to draw on her talent in the role of acting principal.”
Pepper’s career in education has spanned several decades with it beginning as a teacher at Morley School for grades 2 to 6 with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in the late 1970s. From there she moved to the Foothills Academy in Calgary were she taught middle school.
After almost a decade teaching children, Pepper made the switch to adult education and taught at Alberta Vocational College until 1990 at which time she joined RVS as a teacher at Cochrane High School.
She holds a masters of education from the University of Calgary and she also earned an Elementary Education Certificate from the University of Regina.
“Shirley is known for her ability to develop trusting and positive relationships with staff, students and parents,” Munro said.
“On behalf of the board, I extend my sincere thanks to Shirley for stepping up to the plate to serve as acting principal.”
A formal competition for the principalship of Cochrane High will take place in November.
