At Wednesday evening’s meeting of the Living Sky School Division board of education, two retirements were announced.
Director of Education Randy Fox, who has been in education for 36 years, plans to retire after this school year. He has been the top administrator for the division since 2010, serving as assistant director of education before that.
A search for a new director has already begun and the board chair and vice-chair, Ken Arsenault and Ronna Pethick, recently met with stakeholder groups such as CUPE, Tri-West Teachers Association and school community councils for their input. It was agreed the advertisement should include not only the term director of education but chief executive officer as well, as the position encompasses all division activities.
Arsenault said the bar has been set very high by the last two directors, Fox and his predecessor, Ron Ford.
The board also congratulated Transportation Manager Colin Westgard on his retirement announcement, also for the end of the school year. Chair Arsenault said Westgard has done his job with a great deal of skill and he won’t be easy to replace.
Westgard said, “I really enjoy working with the division. We’ve had our challenges, but overall it's been great.”
It was a difficult decision to “pack it in,” he said.
He laughed that he’s “going back farming.”
