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​董事会主席Trina Hurdman向总警监David Stevenson颁发传承奖。

以下是董事会主席Trina Hurdman颁发传承奖的演讲副本。

卡尔加里教育局（CBE）传承奖表彰了卡尔加里公共教育和为我们社区作出贡献的个人。

公共教育在很多方面是我们民主社会的基石，过去一个世纪以来，我们的社区已经深受CBE的毕业生影响。无论在城市的哪个角落，甚至在全国乃至海外，我们的校友都产生了持久的影响。传承奖的获得者体现了公共教育体系的工作，并代表了CBE的传承：为生活和工作做好准备，鼓励终身学习。我们要感谢那些继续着这份工作的人，他们利用自己独特的才能让我们的世界变得更美好。这些前学生是我们的传承。

多年来，我们向很多令人印象深刻的人颁发了这个奖项以及它的前身——杰出校友奖。得奖者包括奥运会选手、慈善家、政治家甚至太空人。每一位得奖者都承认，强大的公共教育体系在奠定他们未来成功的基础中起到了关键作用。这些人往往因为他们的许多成就和对社会的贡献而受到公众的赞扬，这是应该的。

然而，今天我们向一个在公众中很少被赞扬的人颁发这个传承奖，但是他可能是自从该奖项成立以来最应得的获奖者——总警监David Stevenson。

大约2500年前，中国的智者老子说过：“最好的领导人是当人们几乎不知道他的存在时；当他的工作完成，他的目标实现时；他们会说：我们自己做到了。”

按照这种定义，总警监Stevenson是一个伟大的领导者。我现在可以告诉大家，他不喜欢为任何成功接受赞誉，不是因为他不配得到，而是因为他不喜欢处在聚光灯下。相反，他总是照亮其他人，试图将成功归功于他人。他经常对卡尔加里教育局的员工、学生和社区成员表达感激之情。

好了，现在轮到我们向你表达感激之情了。

在我出生之前，Stevenson总警监就开始了他在卡尔加里教育局的职业生涯。四十多年来，他一直致力于为卡尔加里的数十万学生使卡尔加里教育局成为一个更好的地方。

在从詹姆斯·福勒高中毕业并获得教学资格证书之后，他成为一名教师、心理学家、咨询师、专家、副校长和校长、特殊教育主任、地区主任和学习代理督学，然后成为副总警监，接着成为总警监。我想谈一谈他卓越职业生涯中的一些亮点。

很久很久以前，他开始担任我们社会上最重要和有影响力的职位之一——一名教师。作为R.T. Alderman School的一名初级教师，他实际上教过一位后来成为阿尔伯塔省总理的年轻女士。

然而，他很快转向了他许多了解他的人认为是他真正天职的工作，支持一些社会上最弱势的学生。他希望他们相信自己，并鼓舞其他员工和社区成员共同努力帮助这些学生实现他们的潜力。

在Emily Follensbee School，他与患有自闭症高度的学生合作，这些学生常常不会说话，并表现出广泛的复杂行为问题。作为Woods Homes的副校长，然后是William Roper Hull School的校长，他与社会上最边缘化的学生一起工作。

在那里，他引领了从只是试图管理行为和关注这些曾经经历过重大创伤的学生的社会和情感健康，到确保这些学生在学业上也得到支持的根本变革。他真诚地相信，无论学校提供多么安全和关爱的环境，如果他们不教这些学生如何阅读，那么CBE就没有履行其责任。我们现在认为，只要给予适当的支持，每个学生都能够取得学业成就。但在90年代中期，这实际上是一种思维的重大变革。

这引起了当时高级CBE领导层的注意，他们向他提供了学生服务总监的职位。

认识到教师无法满足学生每天带来的复杂且多样化的需求，他积极寻求与企业、政府和社区机构的合作，支持学校中的学生。

将所有这些合作伙伴汇聚在一起是创建学生健康伙伴关系的基础，以与各种健康和社会服务机构联系学生及其家庭。这对于面临风险的家庭来说至关重要，这些家庭没有掌握支持他们的各种政府机构所需的技能。最终，这种模式在整个省份扩展，并被称为区域协作服务交付模式。

在担任区域主任和学习代理督学后，他于2009年被任命为副总警监。在2014年初，他临时担任总警监一职，后来在同年被正式任命为总警监。

当时我是一个受托人，我可以告诉您，董事会一致同意他是领导这个体系的最佳选择。我记得托管人们在一个星期天早上对他进行了面试，那天也恰好是母亲节。这并不是他的职位最后一次将他远离家人，我们感谢他们多年来对他的支持。

作为总警监，David Stevenson不得不引领我们的系统度过许多挑战时刻。每年，我们要求他在有限的资源下做更多的事情，在每一次艰难的预算周期中，他总是优先考虑学生和课堂。在他的领导下，CBE更加关注学生的学习，特别是在识字、数学、土著教育和高中成功方面。他还非常重视家长和社区成员在教育中的关键作用，并引领制定了一个新的公众参与框架，让人们可以参与影响他们的决策。许多人认为这是该组织内部的巨大文化转变。他还在不断寻找方法来更好地支持和激励他负责的1.5万名员工，他们负责教育和照顾我们社会最宝贵的资源，我们的孩子们。

最后，他一直是公共教育调和工作的坚定支持者。多年来，David与我们长者咨询委员会合作，确保自认为土著的学生有机会成功。他甚至因与卡尔加里周围土著社区合作的奉献精神而获得了黑脚人的名字。他获得的黑脚名字意味着“有影响力的人”。

尽管David取得了所有的成就，但并不总是一帆风顺。他愿意为自己的错误道歉，并尽力纠正。他坚信民主，并始终尊重和支持董事会的决定，即使他可能并不总是同意，这种情况可能比他希望的更常发生。

我希望我能更好地描述总警监Stevenson对公共教育和满足学生需求，特别是我们最弱势的学生的无比奉献。

我知道，他为学生常常失眠，特别是当他们参加他亲自批准的国际旅行时。我知道，他花费了无数个小时为可能影响数千名学生和家庭的决定而烦恼，并思考我们如何能做得更好。

我知道有无数员工表示，他让他们想要为学生做得更好。我知道他真正相信公共教育是我们民主社会的关键，并且每天我们都必须尽力支持每个学生。

我还知道，当我们失败时，在如此庞大的体系中总会有失败的时候，那些失败让他心碎。然而，我希望他不要过分纠结于这些，而是认识到他正在留下一个更好的卡尔加里教育局。

他一直忠诚而尽责地服务于我们的体系，并且将深深地被许多人怀念。

拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生曾经写道：
“经常欢笑而且频繁，赢得聪明人的尊重和儿童的喜爱；受到善意批评者的赞赏而可以忍受虚伪朋友的背叛；赏识美丽；发现别人的美丽；通过一个健康的孩子、一个园地或一个改变社会的救赎状况，将世界变得更美好；知道因你的来世，有人的生活变得轻松了。这才是成功。”

总警监Stevenson，David，因为你在这里的工作，有许多人因此变得轻松了。

为了表彰你的成就，我们向你颁发传承奖。

每个传承奖都是独一无二的。David的奖项包括詹姆斯·福勒高中的同学Sarah Law的艺术作品。她目前是一名高级绘画35课程的学生，她为你专门创作了这个奖项上的绘画。

此外，为了纪念他超过40年的服务，已经在他的名字中建立了一个为土著学生设立的奖学金基金，由Education Matters管理。我们希望人们考虑捐赠给这个基金，以认可他在他的职业生涯中对学生和员工产生的影响。

总警监Stevenson，我代表董事会、近15,000名员工和超过123,000名学生，感谢你的服务。

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​The Board of Trustees presents the Legacy Award to Chief Superintendent David Stevenson.

The following is a transcript of the presentation of the Legacy Award by Board Chair Trina Hurdman.

The Calgary Board of Education Legacy Award celebrates public education in Calgary and the individuals who have contributed to our communities.

Public education is in many ways the foundation of our democratic society, and our communities have been indelibly shaped by CBE graduates over the past century.  In every corner of the city, across the country and beyond, our alumni have made a lasting impact. Legacy Award recipients embody the work of the public education system and represent the legacy of the CBE: preparing students for life, work and inspiring life-long learning. We want to acknowledge the individuals who continue this work, who use their unique talents to make our world better. These former students are our legacy.

Over the years, we have presented this award, and its predecessor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, to many impressive people. Recipients have included Olympians, philanthropists, politicians, even an astronaut.

Each one of these recipients have acknowledged the critical role that a strong public education system played in laying the foundation for their future success. These are people who are often publicly celebrated for their many achievements and contributions to society, and rightfully so.

However, today we are presenting this Legacy award to someone who is not often publicly celebrated, yet who is probably one of the most deserving recipients of this award since its inception - Chief Superintendent David Stevenson.

Some 2,500 years ago, the Chinese sage Lao Tze said, “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

By this definition, Chief Superintendent Stevenson is a great leader. I can tell you right now that he is uncomfortable taking credit for any success. Not because he doesn’t deserve it, but because he doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. Instead, he is always shining the light on others and trying attribute success to them. He is constantly expressing his appreciation for staff, students, and community members in the Calgary Board of Education.

Well, today it is our turn to express our gratitude to you.

Chief Superintendent Stevenson began his career with the Calgary Board of Education before I was born. For over four decades, he has dedicated his life to serving the citizens of Calgary by making the Calgary Board of Education a better place for hundreds of thousands of Calgary students.

After graduating from James Fowler High School and earning his teaching credentials, he went on to serve as a classroom teacher, psychologist, consultant, specialist, assistant principal and principal, director of special education, area director and acting superintendent of learning before becoming deputy Chief Superintendent and then Chief Superintendent. I want to touch on some highlights from this outstanding career.

A long, long time ago, he started in one of the most important and influential positions that exists in our society - that of a classroom teacher. As a beginning teacher at R.T. Alderman School, he actually taught a young lady who would go on to become the Premier of Alberta.

However, he soon moved on to what many who know him would consider his true calling; supporting some of society’s most vulnerable students. He wanted them to believe in themselves and inspired other staff and community members to work together to help these students achieve their potential.

At Emily Follensbee School, he worked with students high on the autism spectrum, who were often non-verbal and exhibited a wide range of complex behavioural issues. As an assistant principal at Woods Homes and then as principal of William Roper Hull School, he worked with some of society’s most marginalized students.

While there, he led a radical shift from simply trying to manage behaviour and focusing on the social and emotional wellness of these students who had faced significant trauma, to ensuring that these students were also supported in academic learning. He sincerely believed that no matter how much of a safe and caring environment that the school provided, if they did not teach these students how to read, then the CBE was failing in its duty. We take this for granted now that each and every student is capable of academic achievement given the right supports.  But this was actually a huge shift in thinking in the mid-90s.

This caught the attention of senior CBE leadership at the time, who offered him the position of Director of Student Services.

Recognizing that teachers could not meet the complexity and variety of needs that students were coming to school with every day, he actively sought out partnerships with corporate, government and community agencies to support students in schools.

Bringing all these partners together was foundational in the creation of the Student Health Partnership to connect students and their families with a variety of health and social services. This was critical for families who were at-risk and who did not possess the skills required to navigate the variety of government agencies that were there to support them. Eventually, this model was expanded across the province and is now known as the Regional Collaborative Service Delivery model.

After serving as Area Director and then Acting Superintendent of Learning, he was named deputy chief superintendent in 2009. He stepped into the role of chief superintendent on an interim basis in early 2014 before being named chief superintendent later that year.

Having been a trustee at that time, I can tell you that it was a unanimous decision of the Board of Trustees, as he was obviously the best choice to lead the system. I remember that trustees interviewed him on a Sunday morning, which also happened to be Mother’s Day. It was not the last time that his position would end up taking him away from his family and we thank them for supporting him throughout the years.

As Chief Superintendent, David Stevenson has had to lead our system through many challenging times. Every year, we have asked him to do more with less and during each of those difficult budget cycles, he has always prioritized students and classrooms first. Under his leadership, the CBE has become more focused on student learning, especially in the areas of literacy, Math, Indigenous education and high school success. He also appreciates the critical role that parents and community members play in education and led the creation of a new framework for public engagement to involve people in decisions that affect them. Many consider this to be a huge cultural shift within the organization. He is also constantly searching for ways to better support and inspire the 15,000 employees that he is responsible for as they do the work of educating and caring for society’s most precious resource, our children.

Finally, he has been an ardent supporter of reconciliation efforts through public education. Through the years, David has worked with our Elder Advisory Council to ensure students who identify as Indigenous have every opportunity to succeed. He has even been honoured with a Blackfoot name in recognition of his dedication to working collaboratively with indigenous communities around Calgary.  The Blackfoot name that he was honoured with means “Person of Influence.”

Despite all of David’s accomplishments, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. It is a testament to his character that he is willing to apologize for his mistakes and do his very best to correct them. He is a strong believer in democracy and has always respected and supported Board decisions, even when he may not have agreed with them, which probably happened more often than he would have liked.

I wish that I was able to do a better job of describing Chief Superintendent Stevenson’s incredible dedication to public education and to meeting the needs of students, especially our most vulnerable.

I know that he has had many sleepless nights, worrying about students, especially when they go on international trips that he has personally signed off on. I know that he has spent countless hours agonizing over decisions that could impact thousands of students and families and pondering how we could do better.

I know that innumerable staff have expressed how he makes them want to do, and be, better for students. I know that he truly believes that public education is a keystone of our democratic society and that it is imperative that we do our very best every day to support each and every student.

I also know that when we fail - and in such a large system, there are always failures - that those failures break his heart. However, I hope that he will not dwell on those and that he will recognize that he is leaving the Calgary Board of Education a better place.

He has served our system diligently and faithfully and will be deeply missed by many.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote:
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of the intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the beauty in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded.”

Chief Superintendent Stevenson, David, there are many who have breathed easier because of your work here.

To recognize your achievement today, we are presenting you with the Legacy Award.

Each Legacy award is unique. David’s includes artwork by fellow James Fowler High School student Sarah Law. She is currently an Advanced Drawing 35 student, and she created the drawing featured on this award, just for you.

Also, in keeping with Chief Superintendent Stevenson’s commitment to supporting students achieve their potential, in honour of his more than 40 years of service, a scholarship fund has been set up in his name for indigenous students through Education Matters. We hope that people will consider making a donation to this fund to recognize the impact that he has made on students and staff throughout his career.

Chief Stevenson, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, almost 15,000 employees and more than 123,000 students, I thank you for your service.