After nine years as the Whistler Secondary principal, Bev Oakley is taking on a new assignment. Oakley will be passing her title over to Nolan Cox, a former vice principal at Whistler's high school.
The change will take place Aug. 1, in time for the new school year starting in September.
Oakley has worked in the Sea to Sky school district for 32 years. Her next assignment will be a 15-month contract to work on a human resources project. Oakley will launch a new web-based human resources system that will modernize the process of assigning work to on-call teachers and hiring new staff members. The new challenge will start April 1. Oakley will split her time between her current job and the special project until Cox takes over in Whistler.
"I will be spending some time down at the board office getting started on this, but I will still be the principal at Whistler Secondary until the end of the school year," said Oakley.
For the last six years Cox has been running Pemberton Secondary School (PSS). He will return to a school he knows well from the two years between 2006 and 2008 when he was vice principal at the high school in Whistler. Cox went to PSS in 2008 to be the school's principal. His previous experience includes an eight-year stay at Sardis Secondary in the Fraser Valley, and before working at that school, he was instrumental in launching Dalian Maple Leaf International School, an English school in China.
"It's going to take some time to see how things are going at the school," said Cox, when he was asked if he has any big plans for change in his new role.
The change in the principal's office at Whistler Secondary is just one in a series of moves announced last week by School District 48.
Pemberton Secondary School (PSS) vice principal Krista Bowes is going to take over the position being vacated by Cox. Bowes has been with Pemberton Secondary for six years. In 2010, she was promoted to vice principal.
Before moving to Pemberton, Bowes worked for the Langley School District.
In Squamish, Paul Lorette is taking over as principal at Garibaldi Highlands Elementary (GHE) to replace Gerri Galloway, who is retiring. Galloway was the principal at Spring Creek Elementary for many years before she moved to GHE.
Angela Uren will leave Stawamus Elementary to take over as principal at Brackendale Elementary with Lorette leaving that position. Seb Amenta is also retiring as principal at Valleycliffe Elementary and Ji Ai Cho, who is currently the vice principal at Howe Sound Secondary, is replacing him.
The changes at the Squamish schools are set to take place Aug. 1.
