Letter from the President TROY LARAVIERE
Dear Principals and Assistant Principals, This letter isn’t easy to write.
When I stepped into my first classroom as a teacher, I wasn’t just beginning a career. I was answering that call. I wanted to help students recognize and step into their potential… something I didn’t have enough of when I was growing up. I knew that if I could become the person I needed as a young student, I might be able to create something transformative for others. That purpose has guided every step I’ve taken since. I became an assistant principal, and later, a principal, because I realized the impact I could have didn’t have to stop at one classroom. I could shape the experience of hundreds of students by supporting the educators who stood in front of them every day. That realization eventually led me here, to the role of CPAA President, where the mission expanded again: to support the leaders who support the educators who support the students. My mission, as I saw it, was to protect, elevate, and empower you… the principals and assistant principals who have dedicated your lives to creating safe, possibility-filled spaces for our young people. This work, at its core, has always been about creating the conditions where every student, regardless of
How do you sum up a decade of shared struggle, triumph, and transformation? How do you say farewell to something that has shaped the very core of who you are? How do you express gratitude for the countless people who made the journey worthwhile? Those questions swirl in my mind as I write this final message—my last as your CPAA President — preparing to step away from a role that has allowed me to serve not only a beloved organization, but the profession I hold most dear: principalship. Being a principal isn’t just a job. It’s a calling. A commitment. A relentless act of love. It’s showing up early to greet a new student who’s scared. It’s staying late to answer the calls no one else will. It’s shaping a school’s culture, often in the shadows, moment by moment. It’s carrying the weight of a community’s hope, and too often, it’s heartbreak. It’s loving young people fiercely enough to fight for the schools they deserve… even when the fight is uphill.
6 • CPAA QUARTERLY MAG | Q3 AND Q4 2025
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