There’s a certain circularity to David Keohane’s career as head of St. Albert’s Catholic schools: it started, and will end, in the midst of a pandemic.
The Gazette spoke with outgoing Greater St. Albert Catholic superintendent David Keohane this week about his 11 years as head of what was once St. Albert’s public school district.
Keohane announced his retirement March 30. Ten days later on April 9, the College of Alberta School Superintendents revealed he had stepped up to become the group’s executive director.
“Timing is everything,” Keohane said, and the position at the college just happened to open up after he decided to retire.
“I still believe I have a lot left to give,” he said, and he believes his experience as superintendent for three school divisions could help other school officials.
Busy career
Keohane came in as GSACRD superintendent in March 2009 to replace Jerry Zimmer, having previously served as superintendent of the Holy Spirit Catholic system in Lethbridge. He told the Gazette at the time that the move was a “full circle experience” for him, as he was originally from Edmonton.
Keohane started his new job in the midst of the H1N1 flu pandemic. St. Albert Catholic schools cancelled dances and non-essential extra-curricular outings to limit its spread as vaccines rolled out that fall, and saw spikes in absentee rates.
“When COVID-19 came in, we actually ran to get the pandemic plan that was put in place that year,” Keohane said, when reminded of the H1N1 outbreak, adding said plan helped shape the district’s current response to the coronavirus.
2010 saw more upheaval come to GSACRD in the form of a human rights complaint from Morinville parents who wished to have their children excluded from Catholic education. At the time, GSACRD was the public board in St. Albert and Morinville and ran all the schools in Morinville.
That complaint led to new legislation in 2012 that made GSACRD the separate board in Morinville and St. Albert and Sturgeon Schools and St. Albert Protestant the public ones.
“It was an interesting time and interesting work that in hindsight needed to be done,” Keohane said of the transition.
“Public education relies on being responsive to the public and its needs, and there just wasn’t a pathway at the time to do it.”
Keohane also oversaw the district’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2015 and more recently the construction of two new schools.
Keohane’s time with GSACRD earned him many accolades, including two Gallup Manager of the Year awards and the 2018 Canadian Superintendent of the Year award from the Canadian Association of School System Administrators.
Challenges ahead
Keohane said his biggest challenge as superintendent has been how to meet the needs of students and families with limited funds.
“We have to work within the funding framework,” he said, and that means getting at the core educational needs of students.
More recently, that’s meant major shakeups such as the Faith in Our Future proposal, which in its original form would have shuffled students between five school sites in part to save money.
“I see Faith in Our Future as more of an opportunity than a challenge,” Keohane said – if the district can bring its school utilization rates to 85 per cent, it could earn about $1 million more a year under the new education funding formula.
Keohane said the district is reworking the proposal based on public comments and would start a new round of consultation after the coronavirus situation passes. Succession plans, education plans and the next budget are other items he has to clear off his desk before he heads to his new job.
Keohane is set to stay as GSACRD’s superintendent until the end of August as the board seeks his replacement, said board chair Joe Becigneul. Keohane has left the district in excellent shape, having assembled a top-notch of school administrators and officials that has made GSACRD one of the top academic districts in Alberta.
“We’re going to miss him, and miss him terribly,” Becigneul said.
“He’s been a godsend to Catholic education and our school division. He’s been a strong leader and we wish him all the best.”
Keohane starts his new position with the college this summer. He said he plans to keep living in St. Albert.
