The Western School Division (WSD) has a big change on the horizon.
Darcy Wolfe, chairperson of the WSD board, says that a new superintendent has been chosen after consulting with community stakeholders, including staff members and parents.
The role will go to Stephen Jaddock, who will take up its reins on August 1st, 2025.
Checking all the boxes
According to Wolfe, the new superintendent has over 31 years of experience from pre-kindergarten to senior administration.
“He’s been a superintendent before. He has the experience that we were looking for,” says Wolfe. “After doing the consultations with stakeholders, we identified a lot of the qualities that we were looking for and felt were important to our community and to our division. Mr. Jaddock was the candidate who checked all of the boxes.”
Student-focussed, community-focussed
Wolfe says that in its search for a new superintendent, the board sought experience in addition to a candidate with a philosophy similar to the school division’s.
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Jaddock, previously the superintendent at Mountain View School Division, fits the bill.
“His philosophy [aligns] with the things that are important to us here in Morden and in Western School Division with our school community — things like elevating and deepening learning. He was also talking about promoting healthy culture, and he's very student-focussed and community-focussed,” says Wolfe. “Those are all things that we were looking for and things that are important to him as well.”
A smooth transition
Wolfe says that WSD’s current superintendent, Stephen Ross, will be involved in the transition when Jaddock takes over the role on August 1st.
“They will be working together before that date and after that date to make sure that everything works well,” says Wolfe.
Overall, the WSD board is optimistic about the development.
“As a board, we're really excited about the future of Western School Division. We did go through this process ... so that we could identify what our community and what our staff and our parents were looking for,” he says.
“I think listening to our community is important to our board, and we are very happy, very pleased, and excited that we found Mr. Jaddock. We believe he's the right person to continue building on the strong foundation that we already have.”
For more about the Western School Division, click here.
With files from Robyn Wiebe