ETSB loses its head
Provencher moves to neighbouring French board
Just 20 months into his tenure as Director General of the Eastern Townships School Board (ETSB), Christian Provencher is leaving his post to accept a similar position with the Commission Scolaire de la Région de Sherbrooke (CSRS).
Provencher's new appointment was confirmed Tuesday night at the CSRS council of commissioners meeting. He will succeed André Lamarche, whose retirement had been previously announced.
“It was a surprise,” said ETSB Chairman Michael Murray.
“We’re sorry to lose him.” Murray said Provencher informed the board verbally Monday night and asked that the news remain confidential until his new position was confirmed at the CSRS public meeting held
Tuesday evening.
“We have a lot on our plate this year,” Murray said, referring to the preparation of a new strategic plan and a lot of changes in the works coming from the education ministry.
According to Murray, the board had hoped Provencher would continue implementing changes that were underway.
While he described Provencher’s Christmas departure as leaving the board ‘a little short-handed’, he said they were by no means left in the lurch. “We still have much of the team in place and initiatives are well underway,” commented Murray.
“He (Provencher) made sure we were headed in the right direction.”
Since the news is so fresh, Murray said the board doesn’t have a recruitment strategy yet. At next Tuesday’s council of commissioners meeting the board will acknowledge Provencher’s resignation and form a search committee.
The history of the ETSB as it is known today is a short one, beginning in 1998 when it merged with the District of Bedford. At the time, it was managed by Waster Duszusa.
Jim Bissell, who had been the director general of the District of Bedford School Board since 1979, became the first director general of the newly merged ETSB in 1998, holding the position for a year before passing the reins to Ron Canuel in 1999.
Canuel, a Montreal transplant, would remain director general until his retirement in 2010. Assistant DG Chantal Beaulieu then stepped up to the position, which she held until 2013, when she accepted a job with the ministry of education.
Next up was André Turcotte, who followed Beaulieu’s footsteps from assistant director general to director general.
Turcotte resigned from the position in January, 2016 at the height of uncertainty for the future of school boards, facing major reform with Bill 86, proposed by the education minister at the time.
With the tenure getting shorter and shorter, The Record asked Murray if the board was considering looking for a candidate internally, who might have a greater connection and commitment to the Anglophone community.
“We always look internally,” Murray said, but it depends on who the best person is for the job. “We will hire the candidate that brings the most to the board,” he said.
Murray pointed out that of the last four DG’S at the ETSB, two were hired internally (Beaulieu and Turcotte), and two were external (Provencher and Canuel).
Both Beaulieu and Turcotte came from outside the board under Canuel’s tenure.
According to Murray, the average stay of a director general is five to seven years.
When asked if Provencher’s short stay with the ETSB was a setback considering the learning curve, Murray said the Provencher had experience in a board of a similar size as the ETSB, so the learning curve was not extreme. He added that the board never had the impression that Provencher would be in and out so quickly, but acknowledged that the CSRS, close to four times the size of the ETSB and in Provencher’s hometown, would have been a step up in terms of career challenges and an attractive option.
“We’re sorry to see him go,” commented Murray.