OLDS — Losing retiring École Olds High School (ÉOHS) principal Tom Christensen will be like ripping tree roots out.
He’s had that great an impact on the school and school division, according to Chinook’s Edge School Division superintendent Kurt Sacher.
Christensen is retiring after a 38-year career. Twenty-two of those years were spent as ÉOHS principal. His retirement will take effect on June 30.
He will be replaced by Meaghan Reist, a former ÉOHS student, beginning in the 2022-23 school year.
“I had warned him a few years ago, that when he leaves – when principals leave a building, it’s like pulling tree roots out," Sacher said during an interview.
“That’s when you’re going to find out the true impact he's made, because people will come out in droves and they’ll have just great things to say about him and his support for kids over the years.”
Sacher said he came to know and admire Christensen over the past 12 years.
“I would say to you that he’s the principal I always wanted to be when I was a school principal and I wish I would have had the opportunity to learn from him in my early years as a principal,” Sacher said.
“He often comments that his work at Olds High was his life’s work and I just have great admiration for the investment he put into his life’s work.”
Sacher served as principal of a school in Trochu from 1994 to 1997 and at Lacombe Composite High from 1997 to 2002.
Sacher said during those years, and again when he became CESD superintendent, he grew to admire Christensen’s leadership skills and his strong regard for his students.
“He’s a big leader, a big proponent of leading by example, so he typically would teach more than it would be reasonable to expect of a high school principal. He would coach more than it would be reasonable to expect of a high school principal,” Sacher said.
“He was right in there, making a difference with kids and I think his staff admire that and admire him. Because of the way he is, who he is, they just want to follow him.
“He would find exceptionally appropriate ways to engage his staff in decision-making and looking to the future and involving them.
“And he brought in just a tremendous balance of showing care and reasonableness for his staff with having high expectations, that there’s a lot at stake.
“He took a high school over the years to a place where it has for many, many years, had elite levels of student achievement outcomes.
“It is recognized not only across the province and across Canada, but Olds High is actually recognized on the world stage.”
Sacher said Christensen’s leadership and compassion for his students really came to the fore when COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions were imposed.
For example, he really felt for students who were graduating during those years but wouldn’t be able to have the grad ceremonies they anticipated, due to COVID restrictions.
He found a way to enable them to have grad ceremonies anyway, albeit restricted ones.
“He’s very student-centred, so he was always concerned about the mental health impact of the COVID protocols with his kids,” Sacher said.
“He recognized the tremendous power associated with graduation and he was always trying to find a balance between safety and sustaining these traditions like extracurricular activities that are so important to the kids.
“And so when we were pretty fearful and clamped down, he struggled with that at times and would push back.
“I think that’s a great example of what great leaders do, is they question and he would question some of that and he wanted – always at the core of it, he wanted what was best for his students and his staff.”
Sacher noted Christensen was heavily involved in the planning and creation of the Community Learning Campus – a common space between Olds College and the high school.
"He’s always been a team player, understanding where the jurisdiction’s wanting to go, supporting our goals and bringing them to life.
“But at the same time, as a principal, an effective principal, you have an influence on other principals and you have an influence on us at central office, the superintendents’ team, challenging us,” Sacher said.
“Tom played that balance for the sake of the school division, for the sake of the school itself.”
Christensen and his wife plan to settle in Edmonton because all of their children and grandchildren are in that area.
“We’re going to miss him and we wish him all the best,” Sacher said.
