Offices at Northern Lights Public Schools will be in for a change whenever classes re-open after the Coronavirus closures.
NLPS officials announced to senior staff last Wednesday that their administrative positions in local schools will be rotating for the coming school year. In three Lac La Biche schools, the changes — pending any appeals from the staff — will see principals and assitant principals on the move
The rest of school staff were officially told about the changes at their schools today (Tuesday).
J.A. Williams High School principal Conal Donovan is the new principal at Aurora Middle School with assistant principal Rachelle Best coming from Vera M. Welsh. Samear Abougouche who has been the principal at Vera M. Welsh, will be the new principal at JAWS, with Aurora's assistant principal Kim Nashim moving over as well. Current JAWS assistant principal Alyson Nowicki remains at the high school. Rob Wicker, who has been the principal at Aurora Middle School, will begin as the new principal of Vera M. Welsh, joined by former JAWS assistant principal John Waine.
There were no reported changes to administration at the division's Ecole Plamondon School, as that school was part of an administration move two years ago.Caslan school was also not mentioned to have any changes with staffing roles.
NLPS spokesperson Nicole Garner says the Lac La Biche changes are part of regular and routine updates to staffing positions within the division's 26 schools. She said the moves are hoped to enhance leadership levels and experiences for staff and administration.
"It's an opportunity for staff and student to learn from," Garner told the POST. "It's an opportunity to work with different staff and share the knowledge base and skills."
A statement to staff and the community issued today by Northern Lights Public Schools superintendent Rick Cusson, said that enhanced opportunity is the driving force behind the Lac La Biche changes and similar moves that take place each year.
“It’s important that they have the opportunity to work with different ages and grade levels of students, and in different school environments," he said in part. "It's an opportunity for them to take on new ideas and develop their leadership skills."
Coping with change around the region
In a school year that has seen massive disruptions to the way learning is delivered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Garner was asked if the changes could add to an already unusual situation for returning students.
"We do find ourselves in a situation where there are lots of changes and uncertainty — but we do need to move forwards," she said, explaining the staffing shuffle as part of the regular operations of the division. "We realize that it does certainly seem like a lot of change all at once, but we have made administration changes at the same time each year."
NLPS officials announced earlier this month that Bonnyville Centralized High School Principal Corey Baker will be taking over the principal position at Ardmore School as Ken Pshyk retires. Administrative changes have also been announced this year at Bonnyville's H. E. Bourgoin Middle School and Duclos School.
As with each new school year, Garner said all division schools have mental health supports in place for any students who may feel challenged by the changes. She said that the change of teachers, schools, classmates and administration is part of the regular transition — and any students needing assistance will receive it.
"We have supports in place," she said.
The 2020-2021 school year
Whether or not students will be seeing the new senior administrators face to face by September is still not determined.
"We really have no projection at this time," Garner told the POST, adding that the provincial government's latest scenarios of either opening schools as they were before the COVID closures, opening with strict COVID-based precautions in place, or continuing to offer on-line home learning, have not been confirmed — neither has a timeline.
"As far as what any of that looks like for timelines or which one they are looking at by the time we reach September ... we honestly don't know what it will look like," Garner said.
NLPS officials are also expected today to release information on proposed changes administrative staffing in Cold Lake. schools.
**This story was updated on May 20 to reflect a correcton to the final sentence. NLPS officials spoke to Cold Lake school staff about administrative changes, not school configurations.
