The New Westminster Secondary School principal, who has been at the helm of one of the largest schools in the province, is retiring.
Mary Bushman has worked at NWSS for the last six years, overseeing a school that has 2,000 plus students.
Bushman has been in education for 33 years and has worked much of that time as a senior administrator. Even with all of the decades behind her, Bushman says the last couple were the toughest.
"These last two years have been the most challenging of my career, period," she tells The Record. "Well, last year, with the teachers' job action, although I've experienced that on more than one occasion, not for that length of time, however. And not necessarily with the way it transpired, particularly with year-end activities with administrators having to deal with all of it . and, of course this year, with the financial difficulties. It's been one challenging decision after another, and we're still not out of the woods."
Bushman worked through years when school districts were flush with cash to help fund professional development and creative teaching programs. She worked with teachers and schools to help advance learning.
It's been tough to watch education funding dwindle, she says.
"I am fearful, however, that every year public education is being eroded," she says. "I am a staunch supporter of public education. I am a proud product of public education."
Despite the funding challenges, Bushman applauds the teachers at the high school.
"I have not worked with such a dedicated group of professionals, given the challenges and the restraints faced every-day, given the age of this building, the teachers and the support staff here rise above all of that - that's what gets me up in the morning, because despite all of the negative aspects, lots of good teaching and learning is happening in this building."
Looking back on her life, Bushman says it was her public education and the value her immigrant parents - her Polish father and Italian mother - put on it that made her who she is. A first-generation Canadian, Busman grew up in Port Arthur, Ont.
"My parents came here after the war, and we happened to live in a neighbourhood that was, in retrospect, I think of it now, we got the best education possible - what public education should provide in my family of seven children. There wasn't a lot, but education was encouraged by my parents. Me and my siblings, we had the best teachers, we all did very well. We all went onto post-secondary education."
Her parents made sacrifices, and that "was always stressed," says Bushman, who followed her older sister out west for university.
"I started at SFU, and, as typically happens with 18-and 19 year-olds, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do."
She took a hiatus in her second year, got married and went to work as an office manager in a dentist office.
"So, I basically did the books for two dentists, and I was 19 years of age," she says. "You talk about life and pivotal moments, I asked for a raise one day, and I knew they had the money because I was doing the books, and they refused to give me a raise, so I said, 'OK, I guess I better look at what I want to do.'"
She returned to school and later graduated with bachelor of arts in French literature and linguistics and her teaching degree.
(Later, she went back to complete her master's degree in educational leadership.) She was hired in the Surrey school district.
"I was hired before I even finished my practicum because they had a shortage, as they do now, of French teachers," she says.
Through the years, she moved up the administrative ranks.
A significant event occurred in Bushman's life in 1986 when her daughter, Katharine, was born.
Today, 27-year-old Katharine is an emergency room nurse in Prince George. Katharine is a product of the New Westminster school system - she went to Herbert Spencer Elementary and NWSS. Currently, Katharine is doing her master's degree.
When her daughter was younger, Bushman didn't want to take on the responsibility of being a principal in Surrey, knowing it was an "all-consuming" undertaking.
Eventually, she started considering a geographical change because the last school she worked in was in South Surrey.
"As far away as you could possibly be," she says.
"The commute wasn't getting any better, let's put it that way."
At one point, she was stuck in traffic five days in a row. She saw a posting for a vice-principal position at NWSS, applied and the rest is history.
In 2005, she started at the high school and two years later became the principal (her daughter was now grown-up). One of the perks of her new job was that she could walk to work. From her house in Queen's Park to the high school was a 12-minute foot trip for the brisk walker.
Her husband, Michael Bushman, has been retired from his job as a union president for the last couple of years, and so Bushman says it's time to join him. She promises to put aside her need to constantly plan, and instead says she will spend the first six months without any hard scheduling.
She does have one important plan - a family trip in the winter.
"My daughter, ever since she became a nurse, as an ER nurse, has not had Christmas off, so she does have this Christmas off, and we are going to Hawaii."
Bushman has one immediate goal. She wants to learn to sleep until 6 a.m. Right now, her internal clock forces up her at an untimely 4: 30 a.m.
Asked what she's most proud of at the high school (a question she is much more comfortable answering than when asked about herself), Bushman says it's the staff and the many diverse educational programs the school offers.
"This is a place where I think most students can find a niche for themselves. So, that I'm very proud of."
The district's director of human resources Phil Cookson is taking over Bushman's job when she leaves.
Asked what advice she has for the incoming principal, Bushman says, "Get to know the staff, understand the historical perspective of how things operate - it will guide you."
Bushman's tenure comes to an end in July, but there's no slowing down yet. Aside from September, June is the busiest month of the school year.
"You're bringing the year to an end, but you're also planning for the following year. That makes it doubly complex, and then we have all of these farewells to do," she says.
