INNISFAIL – When Susan Roy finished high school and set her eyes on what was believed to be the best post-secondary option her first choice was journalism.
Yes, a scribbler. But after one year she thought again.
“I decided, ‘yeah, that's not going to be for me,” said Roy. “I think I would have enjoyed it but I don't know. Telling stories with numbers was maybe more my style.”
She became an accountant, and the treasurer for Chinook’s Edge School Division in 1995; immediately following the amalgamation of the school boards from Red Deer and Mountain View counties.
In 2021 she officially retired, but has stayed on in a part-time role.
Nevertheless, the board of the school division had to recognize her outstanding work through the years on May 10 with the Roy E. Cope Award for 2023.
Cope was the superintendent of schools for Red Deer prior to the creation of Chinook’s Edge. The award is given to any person who, in the opinion of the board, has made a significant contribution to the educational welfare of students.
Roy follows in the footsteps of many notable past winners, such as Tom Christensen, former principal of Olds High School; Jim Brittain, former educational assistant at Innisfail High School and Ron Fisher, a former trustee and educator from Sundre.
She was officially told of her award at a board meeting on May 10.
“They made me cry because they were so sweet,” Roy told the Albertan. "I think of all the great individuals who have won the award in the past, and I think, 'I am in the company of those people, who I truly respect. Wow. It's quite an honour."
Kurt Sacher, the division’s current superintendent of schools, said Roy deserved the award on many levels.
“She is known, first and foremost, for just having tremendous skills when it comes to being a treasurer. Susan always operated with the highest level of integrity, and has seen us through repetitive audits that come off without a glitch,” said Sacher.
“As a person what sets her apart was that she has such a passion for support staff and always wanted to make a point of making sure we were taking care of them,” he added. “She's has always been their advocate. She worked very closely with all of our admin support and schools across the jurisdiction; helping them with all of their different financial challenges, and just being easy to read, easy to talk to.”
Roy said it’s been important for her during her almost 30 years at Chinook’s Edge to make a difference for the students, the schools and also the taxpayers.
“I think I spent almost the last 30 years being a steward of those tax dollars on behalf of the kids that are in the classroom, each and every year,” said Roy. “And making sure that every dollar goes to those kids we're serving as best we possibly can.
“We have a $131 million budget, and you're constantly trying to build a budget that serves kids,” added Roy, who was ultimately responsible for the fiscal health of up to 42 division schools during her time as treasurer.
But there was something else that drove her to succeed – working with people through a special assignment handed down to her by Sacher.
She noted that when Sacher came to the division about 13 years he immediately made it widely known that relationships mattered with everybody across the division.
Roy takes great pride being appointed by Sacher to be chair of the Support Staff Matters Committee from 2011 to 2021; a committee that had about 35 support staff representatives for the more than 600 total support staff members across the division.
“I was always that person in a meeting where they'd be talking and often focused on teachers, and I’d be the one holding up my hand and going, ’don't forget about the bus drivers and the custodians and the school administrative staff and the library techs,” said Roy. “Yes, teaching and learning is incredibly important and that's our core purpose but you can't do it without those other groups as well.
“We would come together twice a year. They could ask anything they wanted and we would find the answer,” added Roy. “And then I would work with Kurt and the rest of the team to make sure we had answers to them. We would share them back to the whole committee.
“We would spend time together on important issues facing the division and I think together we made a difference for all support staff,” she said. “It’s important that they all have a voice and that committee gave them that voice.”
