After almost a decade of running the New Westminster school district, superintendent John Woudzia is leaving at the end of next month, but the long-time educator is staying in the field.
Woudzia will be vice-president, education and student services at Vancouver Community College (VCC) and expects to begin his new position on Feb. 3, 2014.
"It has been an honour to serve as superintendent of the New Westminster school district for the past eight-and-a-half years," Woudzia said in a media release. "I am extremely proud to have been associated with such an outstanding and caring group of teachers, support staff, the board of education and administrators who have always put the interests of our students at the forefront. I will miss New Westminster very much, but this was an opportunity that I could just not turn down."
Woudzia has run the district for more than eight years. Under his leadership, student performance and achievement has improved significantly.
Prior to assuming the position of superintendent in 2005, Woudzia worked as district principal of student services, director of instruction, and assistant superintendent in the New Westminster.
"I want to thank Dr. Woudzia for his years of commitment to our district, and we appreciate his approachable and caring leadership," board of education chair Jonina Campbell said in the release.
"It has been an honour to work with John. He always kept the student at the centre, and our community has seen the enormous growth in student achievement under his leadership," said board vice-chair Michael Ewen.
Over the next few weeks, the board of education will be meeting to develop a plan for hiring a new superintendent. The new manager will be stepping into a district that owes almost $5 million to the Ministry of Education for previous budget shortfalls. The district has had to cut eight per cent of its workforce this year to offset further deficits.
