Appointment of Superintendent Colleen Parks
September 2, 2025
We are very pleased to announce that Ms. Colleen Parks has been appointed as Superintendent of Schools for Alberta Classical Academy, effective this past Monday, September 1, 2025.
As you will recall, our founding Superintendent Mr. John Picard, informed the Board of Directors that he would be retiring at the end of summer of 2025. Mr. Picard’s retirement was effective as of this past Sunday, August 31.
We first wish to reiterate our deep appreciation to Mr. Picard for his dedication and service to ACA and to charter school education more broadly. Mr. Picard has been a dedicated member of the charter school movement in Alberta for over thirty years. He served as a Principal Educator for 15 years with Foundations for the Future Charter Academy and has been the Superintendent of Schools for both the Valhalla Community Charter School and the Calgary Girls Charter School, and also served as the Executive Director of the Association of Alberta Public Charter Schools.
By the time he came to Alberta Classical Academy, Mr. Picard was a well-known and well-respected leader in the charter school community. It was evident from the very beginning that Mr. Picard was trusted by government officials and by other charter school leaders, and this goodwill helped us build our program very quickly in the first three years of operation. His experience has been invaluable in developing the competence of the ACA Board, and in shepherding the growth of ACA teachers and executive staff.
Yet perhaps the most remarkable thing about Mr. Picard is the extent to which he cares about every single student that has come across his path over the course of his lengthy career. He also always possessed a deep and genuine respect for the dignity and human potential of these students. Mr. Picard exemplifies, in every way, the virtues which our schools seek to cultivate in our students and we wish him all that is true, good and beautiful in his retirement.
We also wish to express our deep appreciation to Ms. Parks, for stepping in to the role of Superintendent. Ms. Parks served until recently as the Deputy Superintendent for ACA, and has been a career educator with over 25 years of professional experience.
Ms. Parks joined ACA in 2022 in the role of Principal Educator at our founding Bridgeland campus in Calgary. Since that time, she has earned the deep and unwavering respect and trust of ACA teachers, Principal Educators and executive staff, as well as the ACA Board. She is truly a joy to work with, and handles the demands of her job with determination, wisdom, and humility. Like Mr. Picard, Ms. Parks has demonstrated herself time and again to be truly dedicated to the wellbeing and growth of ACA students, as well as ACA teachers.
Ms. Parks has been described as “relentlessly dedicated to ACA” by those who have witnessed her growth within our organization since the very beginning. This is perhaps best illustrated through the following anecdotes.
In the summer our first campus opened, Ms. Parks grew our enrollment numbers from 40 students to 200 over the course of the summer by personally handing out ACA flyers at Stampede breakfasts throughout the Calgary.
When Ms. Parks first joined ACA as our founding Principal Educator, she went so far as to tell us that she would be willing to “clean fish tanks” if it meant she could work for ACA. Although we do not have any fish tanks that need cleaning, we appreciate Ms. Parks was willing to take on the position of Superintendent instead!
We know without doubt that Ms. Parks will prove to be an excellent Superintendent, and that her best years are yet to come.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, we thank both Mr. Picard and Ms. Parks.
Sincerely,
Jim Silovs
Board Chair of Alberta Classical Academy