McGreevy named Principal of RRHS

Ken Johnston
Editor

There’s a new team heading up the school year at Rainy River High School. Former Vice-principal Bob McGreevy officially became the principal on Monday and he is joined by Donna Kowalchuk as V.P.

McGreevy is beginning his 25th year at RRHS and has spent virtually his entire teaching career here with the exception of his first year at Lac La Croix.

Over the years he taught mainly sciences and computers and enjoyed coaching and referring, especially basketball.

He said that it was about 7 years ago when he decided he wanted to get into administration. He had been involved in a number of initiatives that were board wide and that said McGreevy showed him that being in administration can have a real positive effect on students lives.

He began taking courses in the summer months over four years to get qualified to become a principal. Three years ago he reached that goal and became Vice-principal which he said, “Is a very important step to becoming principal.” When Principal Don McBride decided to return to the elementary level at Sturgeon Creek and Nestor Falls, McGreevy was hired to take over the top job at RRHS.

In the spring Donna Kowalchuk was hired to fill the second spot. She has only been with the board for about 11 years. She was a stay at home mom until her kids grew up and then she decided she wanted to go to work.

Moving to Fort Frances about 31 years ago with her husband who taught for the board of education until this past spring, she has made the district her home and likes it here. She grew up in a small town called Emerson, Manitoba, so for her to come to Rainy River from Fort Frances is not a big leap, in fact she said it feels very comfortable.

She began her teaching career at Robert Moore School working with kids who had behavioral problems. That proved to be her forté as she moved from there to Burriss School where she worked on a joint endeavor with the bd. of ed. and Family and Children Services called Behavior Improvement Class (BIC) for three years.

Then she worked three years in special education at Fort Frances High School. Eventually she ended up working in the board office for 2 years as the special education coordinator for the board. In that time she logged 65,000 km on her car traveling from Atikokan to Rainy River. She got to know just about everyone working in the system. Along that path she discovered that she wanted to get more involved in a leadership role and have more of an impact on student’s lives.

McGreevy said their paths crossed many times and that he is confident that Kowalchuk will be a real asset to the school.