The Myrtle Philip Parent Advisory Council expressed dissatisfaction at their last monthly meeting with the way the Howe Sound School Board was going about hiring a new district superintendent. The board put word out the position was vacant through the B.C. Public School Employers Association, as well as the superintendents, principals and vice principals news networks. The PAC, which has hopes a new superintendent may look more favourably on their funding concerns, felt a broader audience should have been reached. The PAC said the school board should have advertised in regional media. Now it looks like their wish has been answered. School district secretary-treasurer Nancy Edwards said the district is expanding its search to advertise in the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers. "We didn’t receive as many applications as we would have liked to," said Edwards. She said the board made the move to advertise in the mainstream media because they weren’t sure if their word was getting out to the field or if their notices had just ended up in some main office. "Sometimes there are principals who are ready for that opportunity," said Edwards. This means the timeline for filling the superintendent’s job has been pushed back several weeks. Final interviews were to be done with a shortlist of candidates on March 29 and 31. Those have been rescheduled for April 19 and 20. Current superintendent Mike Fitzpatrick will be retiring in June. He stepped into the role after Doug Courtice departed in 1997. A head hunting firm was retained by the board to find a replacement for Courtice but this time the search was to be kept less costly. The board is looking for an educator who can carry on with the progress made in the last three years by Fitzpatrick, who is directly involved in helping to find a replacement.
