The Burnaby School Board has appointed a new superintendent upon a confidential departure of Kevin Kaardal. Mr. Kaardal was in leadership of the district for the past 2 years, signing his resignation in a private personnel agreement.
The Chair of the Burnaby Board of Education, Ron Burton says they’re not allowed to discuss these types of agreements, but says the overall consensus was mutual and a matter of Kaardal and the board wanting to go in separate directions.
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He wanted to pursue other ventures and the board wanted to head in a different direction, so by mutual agreement, we …moved on.”
Burton says despite the separation between the board and Kaardal, he recognizes that having differences is an ongoing occurrence.
“There’s always differences of opinion. I mean that’s an ongoing thing with… anytime you have a board and you have differences of opinion, but you generally work through those and that’s what we’ve done with Kevin in the past, is work through them as well.”
Burton continues by acknowledging Kaardal’s achievements and improvements he made to the academic system while in leadership.
“He consistently increased the graduation rate for students and he did bridge a lot of gaps between our community and the business community. He brought in I think close to 40 businesses into the schools to provide opportunities for the students to gain experience.”
In the replacement of Kaardal, Deputy Superintendent, Gina Niccoli-Moen was appointed yesterday morning, days prior to Kaardal’s resignation. As she is freshly new in her position, Burton says he doesn’t think she has any immediate plans right now, as it’s too early to tell what decisions she will make in the future.
“She’s just stepped in, so she probably won’t be…a few weeks to get her feet wet and decide what she’s going to do.”
Buron says he thinks Kevin was an intelligence leader, but believes the board now has someone in place who can further build upon the roots in their community and head in the direction they want to go.
“I think Kevin was a very bright guy and a very good technician. And we now have someone in place who has more roots in the community…be able to build better and stronger relationships within the community, with business, with people around the community. So that’s where we’re heading.”
Before appointed to leadership, Niccoli-Moen was previously in charge of administration and supervision in learning support, along with youth and early education services.
Story by: Amanda Boland
Sound Cloud by: Amanda Boland