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.
Pinkoski 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.”