Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
After nearly 19 years as superintendent of Holy Family Catholic Regional Division and almost 40 years in education roles, Betty Turpin has announced her retirement effective August 2025.
“Peace Country is going to be our home still because we love this part of Alberta,” says Turpin when asked about plans post retirement.
“We want to be close to our family and look forward to some travel and personal time.”
During her tenure, Turpin led Holy Family through many milestones including building Grimshaw Shared School Facility, adding vape detectors in all the Division’s schools, leading the growth in mental health services in education, and welcoming St. Thomas More School at Fairview into the Division.
“I’m thankful for our staff and their support in all of our endeavours,” says Turpin, adding she wants to express her heartfelt gratitude to everyone at HFCRD.
“It has been a great journey with all of them and I’m proud of them and the work that they’ve done to ensure a strong foundation for the children. I’ve been privileged to lead a great, dedicated group of educators, students, and families.”
Turpin assumed the role of Holy Family superintendent in 2007, after she worked three years as Grande Prairie & District Catholic School’s deputy superintendent.
She says her favourite part of the career path she’s chosen is seeing youth attain careers and educations and then choosing to come back to the area.
“There’s such a sense of pride seeing kids come back to the community after graduating from our schools,” she says.
“It’s a lot of fun seeing them gain success, getting married and having children who also end up coming to our schools to be educated.”
Turpin says she’s always been very passionate about education and learning how it benefits children.
She adds her mission has been to find ways to improve the experience for all children in the school system.
“A child should be excited to come to school every day,” she explains.
“If they aren’t, I think it’s our duty to explore what the issue is and help to make them want to be at school again.”
Her passion for educating children and improving the environment at school has led to many of the initiatives that she and her team have proudly worked on. She says one of the highlights recently was adding vape sensors in the bathroom to detect when there were children vaping and the detectors could also pick up when there was an altercation taking place. She says the detectors have made students feel comfortable going to the washroom again at school.
“The biggest change over my career is the willingness for parents to work with the school to determine what is in the best interest of the child,” Turpin says.
“Parents now question things that concern them and hold us accountable. Both parties want what is best for the child and parents now get involved when there is a concern and help to find a solution.”
Turpin says there are some great things happening at Holy Family and she’s proud of what they’ve created in each of their schools.
“We are a faith-based school division and faith is so important to get through all of those everyday trials we face,” she says.
“Together we have built a strong foundation for future success, and while I’m stepping away from my role, the work we’ve done will continue to inspire and shape the area for years to come.”