The Board Chair for Chinook’s Edge School Division believes they have been very fortunate to have just two Superintendents over the course of the past 25 years.
Kurt Sacher is retiring at the end of the current school calendar after 15 years in that role, so the search for his successor has been ongoing and this week it was announced that CESD has appointed Dr. Ryan Sawula as the Division’s new Superintendent, effective June 2nd. Board Chair Holly Bilton with CESD says “Kurt Sacher has led this Division wonderfully since before I became a Trustee in 2013. So as Ryan comes on board, I think the role of the Superintendent is he is the CEO of the school division. Our school division has approximately a $130 million budget every year and 11,000 students from central Alberta to be educating and bringing on as our next Alberta citizens. So, that is an important job for our communities and our youth. He’ll have an opportunity to grow this Division in the way that he sees fit along with the Board and our strategic planning.”
Sawula most recently served as the Deputy Superintendent at Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and he has spent over two decades in education with leadership roles at the school and division levels.
Bilton thinks he will be a wonderful addition to the Chinook’s Edge team. She says “Ryan is just a kind person. He is deep and he appears to have a lot of knowledge which has been proven through some of his past roles and the work that he has done in central Alberta. Some of us knew him a little bit through the joint work that both Red Deer Catholic and Chinook’s Edge already does. So, that gave us extra faith in the ability he will have to come and lead our division.”
According to Chinook’s Edge Sawula holds a Doctorate in Educational Studies from the University of Calgary, a Master of Educational Studies, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta.
