2023 was a year of turnover at the top for School District 57.
This year saw two trustees resign from their positions on the board, and two people assumed the role of Superintendent this year with a third on the way.
My PG Now sat down with Acting Superintendent Pam Spooner to recap the year that was and look ahead into 2024.
“It is important to recognize everyone in our system has something to do with student achievement,” Spooner said, “making these schools places people want to come to, where they feel they belong.”
Some positives from the year she called attention to included district staff members winning numerous awards throughout the year and the raising of the Lheidli T’enneh flag outside the district office.
“I really feel the change in our staff, organization and community in respect to Truth and Reconciliation. We still have a lot of work to do, and that will be never ending,” she said.
Spooner estimated the district was able to feed as many as three times more students this year with $1.64 million from the province’s Feeding Futures Fund.
Spruceland Elementary School’s pivot from a Traditional School to a School of the Arts was an initiative Spooner was happy to see as well, she said their first few months as an arts school have gone smoothly – despite some flooding that briefly cost them six rooms.
She also mentioned local sports teams’ successes and adult education as other areas she was proud of in 2023.
When asked about what some of the challenges the district faced this year were, Spooner said “I came into a time of turmoil and uncertainty, I had a lot of learning to do.”
Spooner was named the Acting Superintendent of the district in the spring after Cindy Heitman was non-unanimously voted out of her position by the newly elected board of trustees.
Heitman’s removal was met with the resignation of board trustees Gillian Burnett and Betty Bekkering.
Prior to Heitman’s dismissal, Spooner was the district’s Indigenous Superintendent.
“Change is hard for people, and I think it threw a lot of people off,” Spooner said, adding work was done in the following months to “rebuild relationships and repair trust in the district.”
She said she did not expect to take over the role, but was asked by the board to fill the position.
“Not ever expecting to do a job like this, I feel I stepped into a role and was willing to take on the challenge,” Spooner recounted. “It was definitely nerve wracking.”
The search has officially been on for a permanent Superintendent since September 1st – what will be the eighth person to fill the role in the last eight years.
The board hired a search firm based out of Vancouver to help them find the right person for the job. There is no word on the associated price tag yet.
Nobody has been named as the next permanent Superintendent yet, but late-stage interviews were held earlier in December and news is expected any day.
“We need consistency, and I know the board recognizes that. Whoever they are looking for right now, they hope to have for over 10 years,” Spooner said. “It was an honour serving the district, and whoever will be the new Superintendent will be welcomed and hopefully be able to make a change.”
The Superintendent is the school board’s only employee, Spooner understandably could not comment on a lot of board activity and decisions.
The resignations of Bekkering and Burnett triggered a by-election (that was not without its own drama) in June.
10 candidates ran, Sarah Holland and Shar McCrory were the clear winners and joined the board at the very end of last school year.
Holland and McCrory joined a board that had been criticized locally and provincially throughout the year, largely for silence surrounding SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) policies.
Rachael Weber, the chair of the board of trustees from November 2022 to November 2023, did not speak publicly with media from December 2022 until April 2023.
Towards the end of her time as chair, Weber announced her provincial MLA Candidacy with the newly formed BC Conservative Party –Â something the teachers’ union president would eventually call on her to step down as chair over.
Craig Brennan and Erica McLean were elected the new chair and vice-chair in November.
You can read more about Brennan here.
The board also faced a heavy budget deficit at the end of last year, cutting $1.7 million – with another cut expected at the end of this school year. District Administration took the bulk of the cuts.
Looking forward to 2024, Spooner said the direction the district takes will ultimately be left in the hands of the new Superintendent.
“We know communication is something we want to work on… be transparent. Transparency, honesty, and respect are all values in our strategic plan,” she said. “Not everyone watches our public board meetings.”
Focusing on student achievement – especially lower performing students, is also an evergreen high priority, and with that comes continuing to address recruitment and retention.
“I think we work as a team really well with students and families in the center of our hearts,” Spooner said. “As long as we keep that in mind every time we are making decisions, I think we can’t go wrong.”
The first board meeting of 2024 will be held on the last Thursday of January.