April 2, 2009
Appointment of Headmaster
Dr. Richard Slevinsky

Bio - Printable version

Richard is a recognized champion of French immersion in Alberta. He has over 30 years of experience as a teacher, administrator, superintendent, and with the Alberta government in various capacities leading the advancement of French Immersion education.

Named as Interim Principal in August 2008, he was instrumental in guiding the school through a difficult transition period. Additionally, he very quickly identified a number of key opportunities to further improve CFIS. Richard’s appointment marked the conclusion of an extensive search process that began in September 2008.

Dr. Richard Slevinsky is a native Albertan raised and schooled in the francophone community of St. Paul. He is fluently bilingual in both French and English and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Alberta.

Dr. Slevinsky has a wide range of professional experiences that include working for public school jurisdictions in Alberta as well as working for the Government of Alberta, specifically with Alberta Advanced Education and Alberta Education. In his work with school jurisdictions, Dr. Slevinsky has taught at all grade levels from Kindergarten through Grade 12 in French Immersion, francophone and English settings. In addition to his teaching experiences, Dr. Slevinsky has served public education in several leadership roles including district language consultant for French immersion programs, school based administration (Department Head of Modern Languages, Assistant Principal and Principal) and more recently as Superintendent of Schools in southern Alberta.

While working for the Government of Alberta, he served Alberta Advanced Education as Senior Consultant, Official Languages Programs. In this role, Dr. Slevinsky managed the Summer Language Bursary Program, the Official Languages Monitor Program and also managed the post-secondary programs funded through the Canada-Alberta Agreement on the Official Languages in Education. He also served Alberta Education in the capacity of Assistant Director of the French Language Services Branch. During his tenure at Alberta Education, Dr. Slevinsky championed French immersion by organizing the annual French Immersion Administrators’ Workshops and coauthored for Alberta Education the Handbook for French Immersion Administrators.

In recognition for his contributions to education, in 2004, the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta conferred onto Dr. Slevinsky the Prix Maurice Lavallé. Prior to this, he received an award in recognition of Exceptional Service from then Minister of Education, Dr. Lyle Oberg. In 1991 his thesis was selected by the University of Alberta as one of two Departmental submissions in a competition for the annual CASEA/ACEAS Master’s Thesis Award. His thesis examined the recruitment and retention of French language teachers from other provinces for Alberta’s school jurisdictions.

Dr. Slevinsky has expertise in the development of high school programming and is skilled in the recruitment of students for French language schools/programs.

On a more personal note, Dr. Slevinsky and his wife, Karen, recently celebrated 32 years of marriage. They are the proud parents of one son, Mikaël, who has just completed his undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Alberta.