Interview with Principal
We sat down with Father Lacombe School Principal Curt Baron and asked him a few questions about what he thought of his school, his staff and his students. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What are some of the unique features of your school?
A: It’s a real unique atmosphere here. I think parents can feel that when they come in, that we’re all in this together and we work together. Our uniforms are also kind of a unique thing. The reason behind it is that we really stress community. That’s our focus as a school. It’s building relationships amongst the kids, the parents, and the staff.
Q: How do you define student success?
A: My goal is to build good citizens. And I think that’s the entire staff’s goal as well. Academics are great and of course that’s our focus and we want them to be the best students they can be but I also want them to be the best people they can be.
Q: What are you most proud of at your school?
A: I just think the whole school in itself is a place that I love to come to every day. To me it’s like utopia, it’s just such a special place. I don’t think it has anything to do with me, it’s the whole mix of kids and parents and staff. If I had to pin it down on something though, I’d be the most proud of our kids. We have incredible students here.
Q: What makes your school “good” and how do you know?
A: The reputation is out there that this is a good school and it’s the place to be. I think that the kids are happy, the staff is happy and the parents are happy. To me that’s the measure of success. That people really like the school.
Q: Why do you value a Catholic-based education?
A: For myself, I’ve never known anything different and I wouldn’t want to know anything different. From the moment the kids come in the morning, it’s Catholic school. We have very strong Catholic teachers here, real faith-based people. You can go into any class and you just know that that’s permeated throughout everything they do. They’re not just teaching them math, they’re teaching them life skills and gospel values.
Q: How does a Catholic education benefit students?
A: I just think it adds a whole other dimension to their character. Not that other schools are not teaching their kids values and character education but I think approaching it from that gospel aspect just leads to a whole different side of things. Really it comes down to treating other people how you would like to be treated. It just makes it so much easier if you can link that to some kind of faith and as a teacher I like the fact that the morals that I have, I don’t have to keep those hidden away. I think it just frees the teachers up and kids up to explore that other side of themselves, that whole spiritual dimension. To be able to be yourself is such a gift.
Q: Describe the school’s sense of community.
A: To me as a principal, that is my number one goal, is to just have a strong community and to build relationships. In life, it all comes down to relationships. If I can instil that in the kids, they’re going to go so far in life. Obviously we strive to have the top academic students but if that’s my only focus then I’ve really failed. We build the sense of community with the kids but we also do it with the parents as well.
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