School district superintendents heading out
It’s quite a coincidence — superintendents in three of the capital region’s four school districts are preparing to call it a career within months of each other.
And that’s after Keven Elder retired from the top spot in the Saanich School District last summer.
Elder, who started as a teacher in the district in 1980, stepped down July 31 after being in the office since 2005.
He turned over the reins to Dave Eberwein, who had been deputy superintendent in the West Vancouver school district before coming to Saanich.
Farther up-Island, Nanaimo school district superintendent John Blain has also decided to move on.
Leaving in the next few weeks around the capital region are Sooke School District superintendent Jim Cambridge and Greater Victoria School District superintendent Piet Langstraat, while the Gulf Islands School District’s Lisa Halstead will be done Dec. 31.
Cambridge said that having so many local superintendents leaving within 18 months is unusual.
“It’s very strange,” he said.
Cambridge joked that he is the one who got the process started. “I felt like I was the first to declare.”
He said he was talking to Eberwein recently and laughingly pointed out to him that he would soon be the region’s senior superintendent after just a year on the job.
Cambridge leaves after nine years in the superintendent’s chair, having moved up the chain since coming to the district in 1981 as a teacher at Sangster Elementary.
“I’d planned on my retirement to be at age 63,” Cambridge said.
“The board and I have been planning this for about a year and a half. The district’s in a very good place. It seems right for someone new to come on.”
Cambridge’s successor will be Scott Stinson. It will be a homecoming for Stinson, who is an assistant superintendent with the Saanich district but previously worked in the Sooke district in such positions as principal of David Cameron Elementary.
Langstraat, 57, came to the Greater Victoria district in 2015 and decided the time was right for a move after three years.
His replacement will be Shelly Green, who is finishing a threeyear term as the district’s deputy superintendent. She comes to the job with almost 30 years in the field of education, beginning as a teacher in Duncan.
Green has a bachelor of education degree from the University of Victoria and a master’s in educational leadership from San Diego State University.
Halstead has been with the Gulf Islands district for 10 years, the past five as superintendent. Deciding to leave was not an easy decision, she said.
“It’s such an honour to work here and to be in service to students and their futures.”
Stepping in will be Scott Benwell, whose resumé includes serving as superintendent of the Vancouver Island North school district. At present, he is seconded to the Ministry of Education as field liaison for Aboriginal education.