Hamilton school board boss shuffles senior team again
Hamilton public school board education director Manny Figueiredo is revamping his senior management team for the second time since taking the helm two years ago, prompting the departure of longtime communications boss Jackie Penman.
The new structure creates two associate education directors, who replace three previous executive superintendents — a change Figueiredo said is made possible by the departure of Peter Joshua to become education director at the Peel board.
Executive superintendent Stacey Zucker moves up to become associate director of support services, while Peter Sovran takes on a parallel role overseeing learning services.
Figueiredo acknowledged they will get a pay raise but said the restructuring is cost-neutral even with the addition of one new lowerpaid superintendent because Joshua’s position is eliminated.
Zucker, Sovran and Joshua each earned just shy of $180,000 in 2016, according to figures provided by the province¹s Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, popularly known as the Sunshine List.
Figueiredo, who earned $228,107 in 2016, said the new structure establishes clearer responsibilities, with Sovran overseeing the education side and Zucker operational issues like budget, schools, human resources and busing.
His previous restructuring in December 2015 added a third executive superintendent position, filled by Zucker, the board’s treasurer.
“With three people, that sometimes created a bit of confusion who’s carrying what, who’s got what responsibility,” Figueiredo said.
“Every time there’s a change, there’s always an opportunity and it’s incumbent on us to just review what has been the strengths, what has been areas of need, and then adjust accordingly.”
Figueiredo said the other major change sees the communications department add community engagement and public consultation to its responsibilities as recommended by an audit two years ago.
It will be headed by Shawn McKillop, who worked for the board seven years ago before leaving to join the Grand Erie board, where he performed a similar managerial role to the new one in Hamilton and earned $143,582 in 2016.
Figueiredo said Penman, who earned $135,758 in 2016, has left the board and didn¹t apply for the new role after deciding “it was not the opportunity she was seeking.”