Seeking stability
Last week, I mentioned deputy superintendent Jordan Tinney's impending departure from the Vancouver School Board this summer for a position with the Surrey school district. It's an unexpected move since Tinney only joined the VSB's senior management team, which now numbers five, in 2010. Several senior managers have left in recent years for other jobs or to retire. Almost all of those with top district jobs are relatively new hires.
The senior management team now includes superintendent Steve Cardwell, who started work in January 2010, Tinney who leaves at the end of July, associate superintendent Maureen Ciarniello who was hired in 2010 from the West Vancouver school district, and Rick Krowchuk, who was promoted from assistant secretary treasurer to secretary treasurer in 2011. He started with the VSB in 2002.
Valerie Overgaard, the associate superintendent of learning services, has worked with the VSB for 21 years, but she's retiring at the end of this school year. Ciarniello is taking over Overgaard's position in learning services, while Ciarniello's current position will be turned into a director job.
One senior position-associate superintendent of human resources- has been vacant since September after Paul Wlodarczak retired. That position will be filled later this month.
The previous superintendent Chris Kelly and Cardwell, his replacement, have both noted in past years the district's lack of succession planning, and they've tried to stabilize the management team.
But attracting and keeping good people isn't easy for any school district in the province, particularly for Vancouver, which requires a high level of skill to manage more than 6,000 employees, deal with multiple collective agreements and oversee hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets, according to board chair Patti Bacchus.
"We know when we have good people we're always looking over our shoulder for someone coming in and trying to recruit them," she told the Courier. "We knew Jordan was courted by several school districts."
Bacchus noted many of B.C.'s school district senior managers are well into their 50s.
"And there's not so much of a big wave coming behind them of people willing to take on those jobs," she said. "One of the challenges we have in Vancouver in just the sheer number of evening meetings that are a real strain on our senior management team. They work full days and they work in the evenings. And I see many of them on the weekend on email doing reports. That work-life balance is a challenge
and I don't know if people are as willing to take on [these positions] as they might have in the past."
Woman of distinction
Speaking of associate superintendent Valerie Overgaard, she's one of 71 nominees for YWCA Metro Vancouver's 2012 Women of Distinction Awards. Overgaard is named in the education, training and development category.
The YWCA write-up notes her legacy of innovative programs. "For decades, Valerie has promoted life-long learning and found creative ways to support early literacy, music and community-initiated programs," it states. "She guided the development of a Mandarin-immersion program, introduced the Roots of Empathy Program, which brings infants into elementary school classrooms to teach children empathy, and supported the innovative MindUp program which teaches 'mindfulness' to students to help with concentration and motivation. Valerie spearheaded a far-reaching LGBTQ policy that helps students and staff to value diversity and respect individual differences, and includes anti-homophobia training and support for all administrators. A community volunteer and exemplary role model, Valerie has generously mentored countless women to leadership."
Award recipients will be announced May 24.
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