The beginning of January marked the first week on the job for the new leader of the Northern Lights School Division No. 69. New Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer Rick Cusson started his duties with the school division last Monday.
After three months of searching, NLSD hired Cusson to fill the position in Oct. 2014. Cusson comes to the Lakeland with a wealth of experience behind him. After teaching for an initial three years, he moved into the role of principal for nine years before serving as an assistant superintendent for 11 years in Fort Vermillion.
“Primarily the location (is what brought me to the Lakeland). This division is rich with history…I thought it was a great opportunity. I knew the two former superintendents, both Roger (Nippard) and Ed (Wittchen), and they spoke very highly of this location,” said Cusson.
Cusson is taking the baton from former longtime NLSD Superintendent Roger Nippard following his resignation in July 2014. Nippard had held the position since 2007.
In August, Associate Superintendent Roy Ripkens was named interim Superintendent until last week when Cusson took over.
“I'm very pleased to have a new superintendent and I'm very pleased to support the new superintendent. I think he's got a great background and he's really going to be able to contribute to the school division and move the board's agenda forward,” said Ripkens.
Cusson said he comes to NLSD with a strong focus both on literacy and high school completion.
“I have some ideas on programming that might be able to supplement what we're doing here to get kids to stay in school, and to build complete students instead of just academics.”
While he hopes to bring ideas from his past experience, Cusson noted that it's important to listen all of the stakeholders.
“A lot of it comes with assessing the needs of each community, and then tailoring the programs to meet the needs of the kids in those specific communities. It's very much a team effort, we (need to be) listening to what the schools are saying.”
First and foremost Cusson said he's looking forward to getting to know the community, the schools and the people in them.
“Short term what I really will be looking at is kind of on-boarding – trying to get names to faces and building a relationship with people. People here are new to me, but I'm also new to them, so it's really getting out there and making sure people know who I am,” Cusson said.
“Long term, obviously what we're going to take a look at is building the priorities through the consultation process and what we're looking at with the three year plan. Once we get the priorities picked out, we will be looking at how do we allocate the resources and the efforts the division is making to achieve the goals we set out as a group.”
Cusson also added that part of what he plans on doing in the first three months as Superintendent is getting together with all of the principals in the division to learn about the support structures in place for students, making sure there is a safe and supportive environment for all kids in the school division.
