COCHRANE— RancheView School will be under new leadership next year as Lynette LePan-Smith will be taking over as the new principal at the school for the 2021-22 school year.
LePan-Smith began her teaching career in New Zealand nearly 20 years ago.
She graduated from the University of Calgary with a Kinesiology degree in 1994 and travelled to New Zealand that same year with her husband who was on a basketball scholarship.
While abroad she began to teach without an education degree but quickly felt drawn to the profession because of the strong connections she formed with her students.
Whether it is a small success like seeing a student enjoy a single day of school, or a large success, like seeing a student go off to Harvard, the connections formed with student “fill her bucket,” she said.
In 1995 she came back to Canada to get a Bachelor of Education from the University of Calgary and began her career.
She returned to New Zealand for a few years before returning home to teach in Calgary. A former basketball player herself, she got a job as a physical education teacher at William Aberhart High School with the Calgary Board of Education.
She also held a position as a teacher at the Young Offenders Centre in Calgary, and a teaching job with the Rocky View Learning Connection School in Cochrane before moving from teaching to administration.
She first joined Rocky View Schools administration in 2011, when she became the assistant principal at Springbank Middle School.
She was in that role until 2018, when she accepted the position of assistant principal at Herons Crossing School in Airdrie which is the position she has held until her most recent appointment to RancheView School.
As an administrator, LePan-Smith said she feels the same connection with families and she did with her students.
“As I grew into administration it was the connection with families that I found. As a teacher, you are connecting with parents and you are connecting with students, but I found that I could extend that care and compassion that I feel for all,” she said.
As she prepares for her first year in a new school, LePan-Smith said forming connections will remain among her top priorities.
“Connection with students, and relationships and connection with staff will be my first priority, and when I say staff I mean the teaching staff, the office staff, the caretaking staff, the before and after care staff. I need to learn that piece and see who all of those people are.”
She said she hopes to see volunteers and parents return to schools as the pandemic eases and life returns to normal. The connection between community, staff and parents forms a “triangle of connection” that is critical to student success.
The culture of learning is already very strong at RancheView School, and LePan-Smith said she feels fortunate to be stepping into a school with such a solid foundation already in place.
LePan-Smith first moved to Cochrane 18 years ago but was taken out of the community by her career into Springbank and Airdrie.
Although she enjoyed her time in those communities, she is excited to be back in Cochrane.
“I love the town of Cochrane, I love the program, I loved raising all four of my kids in Cochrane. I’m super excited to be back in the community that we chose. I’m really grateful to Rocky View [Schools] for that,” she said.
