School District 69 (Qualicum) recently welcomed Peter Jory as its new superintendent.
Jory joins SD69 from School District 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap), and has previously worked in the Cowichan Valley, Sea to Sky, Prince Rupert and Fraser-Cascade, as a principal, vice principal, senior staff member and superintendent.
Although class is not yet in session for the 2021-22 school year, Jory said he’s incredibly busy getting to know the lay of the land.
As staff members head back to the office after summer break, Jory said he’s now able to meet with them, have conversations and prepare for the school year.
“It’s interesting how different districts do business similarly,” he said. “There are always unique aspects to culture and different little areas of interest and intrigue.”
One aspect to consider for the coming school year are what possible COVID-19 safety protocols may be in place.
“Right now, everyone is just watching and waiting to see how it all comes around,” he said.
READ MORE: SD 69 (Qualicum) announces Peter Jory will be new superintendent of schools
The end of the 2020-21 school year saw COVID-19 cases taper down as vaccination numbers increased.However, into the summer cases rose as people socialized and moved throughout different health regions for vacation.
“Our hope is that it settles down again, quite quickly. And that we can get back into school with a much higher level of comfort. I’m expecting that there will be some safety protocols in place.”
He said if COVID cases continue to rise provincially, or stay at a high level, he anticipates the province to respond with a strong mandate similar to what was issued at the beginning of fall 2021.
“And as we learned last year; things change,” said Jory. “We adjust.”
While coming into his new role with SD69 remains a top priority, Jory is also working through a doctoral program via the University of Kansas he hopes to be done by the end of the year.
“The learning has been great. And even though much of the research is American research, the professors (from the University of Kansas) were extremely interested in British Columbia. And were very interested in the change process for us around our curriculum and were very interested in how we do so well with our student results.”
