Back to school at DVSS is September 3, and there is new leadership at the school.
Dana Yemen was appointed principal at DVSS as Curtis LaPierre retired after 35 years of teaching and 14 years as principal.
“I am really honoured to be taking on this new role, and to be the first female Administrator here,” said Yemen. “Having been at Drumheller Valley Secondary School since the 2018-2019 school year as one of our Associate Principals, I have loved being a part of our school community and our amazing team, who I could not do this job without. Our staff and students are the best! The support from our community is amazing and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Yemen said the registration appears to be consistent with last year. While they don’t have any new staff at the school they are welcoming Dana Levesque back to the school. She taught at DVSS starting in 2018, but moved to Greentree School. She returns in a leadership role.
“She is now returning to join Mr. Brad Teske, as our other Associate Principal. She has strong connections herself within the community and was Greentree Elementary’s Associate Principal prior to re-joining us for this upcoming year,” said Yemen.
Program-wise, Yemen says they are looking at increasing numeracy time for the Junior High classes.
“We are also looking ahead to creating more opportunities for connections within our school community and our focus continues to be on belonging. We have done recent professional development as a staff with Dr. David Tranter’s work and “The Third Path”. We will still have our wide range of live taught core courses, our many options classes for students, and our Division’s Powerful Learning focus for the coming school year,” she said.
Yemen is looking forward to the energy that comes with a new school year.
“We can’t wait to see all our students and welcome them, whether they are returning from summer holidays or are new to our school and their journey with us is just beginning.”

The first day of school for Greentree School students is on Tuesday, September 3 and it is looking like a fun year with new faces on staff and in the student body.
Principal Shelley Friesen tells the Mail that registration is consistent with about 353 students enrolled so far.
“Nothing beats the energy of the first day of school; the kids and their excitement make it the best day ever,” said Friesen. “The returning students have grown and changed and will have stories to share. The new students will also have so much to share, and we look forward to getting to know them and their families. We have an open house/meet the teacher that first day; it is always an excellent start to the year.”
There have been a few changes at the school. Peter Ehrman has joined the administrative team as Vice Principal at Greentree.
“Peter has taught at Greentree, in Strathmore at George Freeman School, and worked as an Instructional Coach for Golden Hills School Division. His teaching duties will include working with grade six students,” said Friesen.
Greentree School welcomes Haleigh Foley who will be the school’s new Strive teacher. Greentree School started its Strive program a couple of years ago. This program offers special needs students a safe environment to learn basic skills for living and curriculum material based on their abilities and learning needs. Foley is from Calgary and has experience working with Renfrew specialists and students with needs.
Hailey Kenney is a local new teacher who taught Kindergarten and Grade one for the last half of last year and returns to Greentree School in this capacity again.
Greentree also welcomes Kathleen Gorospe, who comes from Manning in northern Alberta. She will fill a leave in grade 3 until December.
Shelby Job comes to us from Morrin and will teach a split classroom for Grades 2 and 3, she is another local teacher.
The school has some exciting programs.
“We hope to enhance our students’ educational experiences with coding, robotics, and other Career and Technology Foundation programs. We are working with DVSS to include high school students if possible,” said Friesen. “We have also partnered with the Drumheller Dragons to offer a Hockey Program once again.