A new Superintendent has finally been hired for the Anglophone East School District.
Gregg Ingersoll retired in June of last year, and Pam Wilson has been the interim leader.
Starting in April, Randy MacLEAN is moving his family from Saskatchewan to Moncton to join the team.
He views working with the public education system in New Brunswick as an opportunity, “Another leadership position and to support the amazing work that is being done in the District already. Having an opportunity to be a part of that coming out of COVID, while having an opportunity to build, I find is very exciting.”
MacLEAN is currently working as the Deputy Director of Education for the Horizon School Division in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, but he was born in Nova Scotia, “”I was born and raised in Halifax. We moved around the province over the years, my dad was a Mountie. We left Nova Scotia in 1996 after teaching for a few years, moved to Quebec and stayed there for 18 years. I was a teacher, Vice-Principal, District Principal at the Eastern Township School Board and then we had the opportunity to move West. We had never been West before. I had only been to Saskatchewan for the job interview. We came here and fell in love with Humboldt. Our children are now older. One is in university and the other is starting University. The opportunity to go back to the Maritimes, the pull was very strong.”
(Photo: submitted)
He also previously served in the role as Vice-President of the Humboldt Broncos Hockey team, when 16 members were killed in a tragic bus crash.
MacLEAN reflected on that, as that role has helped him moving forward, “As we go through our lives, there are pivotal events that play roles in our life. My opportunity to work through that type of event and interact with families in crisis and working through very difficult situations, unheard of situations, working with different levels of government, community groups, fundraising organizations, Hockey Canada, insurance groups allowed to me to really build a skillset and get experience on how to work through crisis situations at the same time while working as the member of a team. As we come out of COVID, it is not the same situation, but I am going to parallel it a little bit. There are going to be certain things, and the education system is going to look a little different. Supports and understandings of mental health, and instructional needs and learning gaps and all of those pieces, that are going to require a multi disciplinary cross organizational approach. Our work following the accident in Humboldt, it wasn’t just one person that did the heavy lifting or one group, it was multiple groups pulling in one direction to meet a common need and common understanding. I will be able to glean that experience moving into this amazing opportunity at Anglophone East.”
He says education systems vary by province, but there is always the same goal, “Curriculums are different depending on where we are across the country, but we all want the same thing as parents for our kids and for our schools. As teachers, we all want the same things, for our students, to be successful.”
MacLEAN will start his new role at the Anglophone East School District on April 19th.
When asked about his plans for the first days on the job, MacLEAN says, “I want to meet people. I want to get my boots in the ground and to start building positive, professional relationships with all of the stakeholders. Working with the District Education Council and senior staff, and school leaders, teachers, support staff, parents, different levels of government of begin to understand the landscape. My goal is to look, listen learn and building relationships.”
