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Tofield Library pinata making ~ story inside
Your LOCAL Media since 1918! VOLUME 107: ISSUE 01
www.tofieldmerc.com
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
New Tofield School principal looks forward to school year Kari Janzen Staff Reporter
Tofield School’s new principal Gordon Thompson comes with 21 years of experience as a principal, and has worked for Battle River School Division (BRSD) for 27 years. “I've been school administrator in three different schools in BRSD, and then I moved into Division office two years ago. There I fulfilled the role of safety coordinator, crisis manager, and then I worked with WCB (Workers Compensation Board) and HR (Human Resources). And now I'm back into the school principal role,” Thompson said. “With different changes that have happened in the world of education, I felt that maybe it was better for me in my career to go back out into a school, and Tofield was an option that I was really intrigued by,” he said. Thompson was previously the principal of Allan Johnstone School, serving Kindergarten to Grade 9 in Hardisty for 12 years, which the BRSD Board of Trustees later voted to close in 2020, he was principal of the K to 9 Killam Public School for three years, and he spent six years as the principal of Forestburg School, which teaches K-12. Thompson and his wife live in the City of Camrose, and have three adult children. “I lived in Killam for 19
years, and then in 2020, we moved to Camrose. My wife is a dance teacher with a studio in Sedgewick that she's operated for 30 years, and Camrose is about as close as we could get where she drives east and I drive north now,” he said. Thompson’s teaching background includes junior and senior high math and science, but said Tofield is the first place he’s been principal where he won’t also be teaching a few classes. “My first degree was in psychology, and I started off in my adult career thinking I was going into mental health, and decided, with some different influences, that education is the right path for me,” he said. Thompson said he enjoys the culture of schools and is looking forward to being back in that environment for the new school year. “I've been a junior high and senior high teacher my entire career, and this school, being Grade 5 to 12, really fits in my wheelhouse with my experiences of teaching and education. The whole idea of students being vulnerable to learning, and the baggage they sometimes have, which then prevents learning; I've always held that psychological, social safety piece. It's kind of where my focus is for working with youth,” he said. Thompson said there
are not many changes coming into the new school year. There were plans to pilot some new curriculum, but that has since changed. “There's new curriculum for K-3 and there's pieces of the K-6, and we were going to be doing some piloting of the new junior high program, but we're not now. The provincial government has slowed down on that. “This year we're really trying to tighten up on the instructional minutes and educational hours, which are required by Alberta Education. I've made a couple of minor changes coming in. We’ve tweaked a couple of things; trying to tighten up our options. It's really important for me that there's a number of different ways that students can get their high school graduation diploma and we have a pretty good success rate right now, so I just want to build on that. I really respect the previous administrator that was here. (Zenovia Lazaruik) did a really good job, and it was quite easy to come in after her,” Thompson said. Thompson said his previous schools were smaller than Tofield School, and he appreciates the variety of options that Tofield School offers. “One of the things that I really like about this school is the number of options that the school is able to provide for students. That's new to me,
Gordon Thompson. KARI JANZEN PHOTO
Tofield School. LISA KUFLAY PHOTO
coming from smaller rural schools. It is always a fight to try to build that programming, and this school does a really good job of that. So hopefully we can maintain those pieces,” he said. As an encouragement to students returning to the classroom, Thompson said he wants each student to know that every teacher is on their side. “The biggest thing is to know that every teacher in this building advocates for them in their own ways. We have many communities: we have the classroom commu-
nity, we have the Division community, we have the school community, and then we have the broader Tofield community. School starts for teachers Wednesday, August 27 and I've met virtually everybody already, which really shows the dedication to the kids. They’ve been asking great questions, wanting to get to know me a little bit, see where I fit into things because I am new for them as well, shaking up the environment a little bit,” he said. “I'm really happy to be here. I'm in the later por-
tion of my career, and I really want this to be a successful venture for myself and for the community. I've been watching to see where the community is at. My whole life and career has been in the Flagstaff area, and coming to Beaver County is a little bit different. But small communities are small communities, and so I look forward to getting involved with a few things and seeing where this section of my journey takes me,” Thompson said.