Like many who decide to make the move to Prince George or northern B.C., Rod Allen came thinking he was going to be there for just a short time.
In his case, that happened to him twice.
He came to Smithers for a three-month teaching job and stayed two decades. The second time around, when he flew up Prince George at the end of May to take on the role as interim superintendent of School District 57, Allen figured he would be in the city for a month, just long enough to see the end of the school year.
That month back in the education game stretched into five for Allen, who had just retired as superintendent of the Cowichan Valley school district. The search in Prince George for a replacement for Marilyn Marquis-Forster, who resigned in May after three years on the job, took longer than anticipated and Allen agreed to come back to P.G. until the position was filled.
"Just with the timing of summer, there was a pile of work that we all wanted to get rolling on and I just wanted to stay and keep working," said Allen.
Allen is no stranger to cold-winter climates. He was born in Whitehorse, Yukon and lived big chunk of his life in Ottawa before he wife settled in Smithers. He worked in the Bulkley Valley for 20 years as an teacher and superintendent before he was hired by the education ministry in Victoria. He served as an assistant deputy minister at a time when B.C. schools were undergoing a major overhaul of the academic content and the way it is taught to allow students more flexibility to personalize their own learning experiences.
"You learn a lot about how government works, that's all important, and I got to bring in new curriculum, got to lead all that transformation stuff," said Allen. "That's why I wanted to leave the ministry to try to put that stuff into operation in Cowichan."
After nearly eight years at his government post he left to take on a four-year term as superintendent for the Cowichan Valley school district. Like Prince George, Cowichan Valley has a large indigenous population, which gave Allen unique insights on how to connect with aboriginal students. One of his achievements during his short time with SD 57 was to create a new position which led to Pamela Spooner being hired in August as director of aboriginal education.
"A third of our students are indigenous and we changed the role from a district principal to a director in recognition of the importance of that work," said Allen.
He also streamlined and simplified the district's policy manual from 106 operational procedure policies to just 19, which are posted publicly on the website, sd57.bc.ca.
"That took a huge commitment by the board," he said. "That work usually takes a year and we were done in abut four months."
Allen has reached out to trade unions and encouraged school administrators to concentrate their efforts on building collaborations with local businesses to create work experience opportunities and help convince more students to consider trades as career choices.
"That was a focus in government, it was a focus in Cowichan, where we went from almost nothing to having the greatest number of youth apprentices," Allen said. "For many males who are struggling at school trying to understand the relevance, a hands-on experience can really turn that around. It's a great way to keep kids in school, keep them focused, and provide a great lifestyle if they decide to pursue that."
Next semester, Prince George secondary school will roll out a new trades sampler program for indigenous students which will give them a taste of three Red Seal trades. There's also a plan to work with the College of New Caledonia to create a dual-credit apprenticeship program.
"I only came for a month and somehow it felt like eight months," quipped Allen while speaking to trustees last week at his last school board meeting before he returns to his wife and their home on Vancouver Island near Duncan, close to where their two adult children live.
He's looking forward to getting back to his hobbies, woodworking and playing guitar.
"Retirement was meant to be more family time, not less, so I'll rectify that," Allen said.
"I just want to thank folks for making me feel welcome and feel instantly part of the team.
"There's something about the north. Northern communities get how to be communities. Folks are here because they want to be here. One of the unique challenges here is the geography, it's a really big place and its hard to get around and it's more difficult to have a cohesive district when you're so disbursed. It's not a bad thing, it's a challenge."
Incoming superintendent Anita Richardson, hired in October from Horizon school division Taber, Alta., where she served as an associate superintendent, will be starting her new job when school is back in session the first week of January.
