Coming back to Beurling Academy

David Abracen will be following in the footsteps of two Principals, Chris Cyr and Angela Andrews, who have had 60 plus years experience and will be in charge of many teachers he taught with for several years, but he sees this as a plus. “In terms of having worked with both Angela and Chris, I see that as an advantage, because I know what works and what worked for them and for other administrators, and I have been an administrator for 4 years,” states Mr. Abracen.

Indeed, David Abracen out of his 20 years in education was a VP at Lindsay Place for 4 years following 5 years teaching at RPA and BA. Previous to that, he has been around. He started his teaching career on a reserve in Alberta for 3 years, followed by about 8 years in a variety of places including 5 years in Brooklyn, and as a singer named Frank once sang. “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”

We discussed about what new programs he might be looking at, even though there are plenty at BA. Mr. Abracen mentioned there are a lot of programs that he’s worked with, having worked with the sports program and very involved in the music program which is a strong one at Lindsay but the ones he’s interested in are the main ones. “The ones I’m interested in are the core academics, that is making sure students at all levels are really challenged and have the greatest chance to succeed and we have an IBO here which having worked with for one year, and I think it’s a fantastic program and our immersion program is your core program cause it’s in the middle, and very exciting in working with the ones that exist here and getting some new ones, stated Mr. Abracen.

Mr. Abracen continues, “I have been asking about the status of all our options, including those in the arts. I have spoken with, and have arranged meetings with Chris Cyr (Principal), the I.B.O. coordinator, and Mike (Mr.McAleer, the programmer), but it's a little early for me to reinstate or drop programs. I've got to get in there,” stated Mr. Abracen, who says the arts are very important as when you meet a student after many years, it is the play or concert that they remember.

Yes, we touched on discipline. “When I was working here, I don’t remember having an issue with it and were kids difficult sometimes; well I work in a high school, we were all in high school, do kids try and test us at that age, well ‘it’s kinda what it is’ and they’re just kids looking for structure and do well and the discipline should not dominate the agenda and we’re here to learn and have fun and how to treat everybody in the building, says Mr.Abracen, who’s wife is a Dawson professor and is father of two.

He also had his thoughts on cyber-bullying, the new issue. “I think it’s 95 %, students not just understanding the boundaries about what is public and private, they have to understand when they’re typing something, that is goes out there and no longer private, but I think it’s getting better and we’re making it clearer that foggy boundary between private and public, and enlisting the parents’ help by telling them to not assume they’re only doing their homework, says Mr. Abracen.

In closing, Mr. Abracen seems to have prepared for this job for a long time, and is a big believer that Verdun should have a large thriving community-based school that nobody should have any reason to send their students elsewhere.