Red Deer Public School District superintendent Stu Henry is set to retire from the role at the conclusion of this school year in 2020.

By Sheldon Spackman

moving on

Red Deer Public Schools superintendent to retire next year

Sep 4, 2019 | 3:18 PM

The superintendent for Red Deer Public Schools has announced that this school year will be his last at the helm.

Stu Henry confirms he will retire in 2020.

“When I took the job five years ago, I made it very clear to everybody in the District that I wanted to get in and do my best for that five-year term, but I wasn’t interested in continuing beyond that,” he explains. “I think the District will be served great by having somebody else come along with new ideas and some new blood, so I’m happy to step aside from that.”

Looking back over his term, Henry says he’s most proud of the improvements seen in literacy and mental health initiatives across the District.

“Our staff has really embraced kind of a universal way of approaching literacy and the results we’re getting are just terrific these days, really great increased literacy levels across the city” he exclaims. “Then our really great work on our Valuing Mental Health project. Creating partnerships with Alberta Health Services Mental Health, having mental health therapists right in our buildings I think has just been a real positive step.”

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Henry admits, however, that education is always changing and evolving and will continue to do so moving forward.

“I would say that our city is becoming increasingly complex and our classrooms are a reflection of that complexity,” explains Henry. “But what I’m really heartened by is that we’re getting some of the best results we’ve ever seen in our District. Our literacy rates, our numeracy rates and some of our provincial achievement data, so I’m encouraged that despite the fact that our classrooms are getting more complex, our teachers and support staff seem to be doing a better job than ever of meeting the needs of all the kids.”

Henry says his plans after the school year include staying in Red Deer and helping out in the community.

“I’ve been lucky enough to learn a lot of skills in my leadership over the years and I’m hoping I can work with some of the organizations in town to help them out in some way,” adds Henry. “I really do feel fortunate to have worked in a school district that’s just made up of an amazing bunch of human beings that care so much about kids and also in a community where I could look to other organizations for partnership and they always seem to be willing to lend a hand when it comes to helping kids out, so I’m a pretty luck guy.”