Patrick Duncan will step into his old boss’s shoes when he takes over as the New Westminster school district’s new superintendent Aug. 15.
Duncan, who was appointed last week, was an associate-superintendent in the Greater Victoria school district when current New West superintendent John Gaiptman held the top spot there.
“We worked very closely together for the better part of six years,” Duncan told the Record.
For Gaiptman, who will work alongside Duncan for a couple weeks before retiring for a second time in September, that past relationship should make for a seamless transition for the district.
“The fact that I know Pat so well and that we have worked together in a previous life, I’m able to go over everything that he needs, go over the files with him, let him know where we are on all matters pertaining to education and to the school district,” Gaiptman said. “Come the beginning of September, I expect he’ll be able to hit the ground running.”
That would be a far cry from how Gaiptman was handed the district 18 months ago. His predecessor had already left the building, and Gaiptman stepped into a district facing a $2.69 million shortfall, a pre-existing $5 million debt to the province and a notoriously fractious board.
Eighteen months later, the board has passed a balanced budget for next year with zero job cuts; it has a three-year plan in place to pay down its debt; and trustees are more-or-less working together.
“The district’s in a bit of a different place,” Gaiptman said.
Duncan, meanwhile, said he’s coming into the district with eyes wide open.
Besides being well briefed by his old boss, he said, he’s been on the executive of the B.C. School Superintendents’ Association for the better part of six years.
“There’s very few things that go on in any school district that we’re not aware of,” he said. “I think the challenge is going to be wonderful, and I think the New Westminster school district has done a great job of getting things ready to move forward.”
Duncan was picked out of 21 applicants and four short-listed candidates, precisely for the job of moving the district forward, according to board chair Jonina Campbell.
“He’s a perfect fit for where we need to go,” Campbell said of Duncan. “His experience, his background, where the ministry of education is taking education – it’s like everything’s coming together for New Westminster.”
Duncan, meanwhile, said changes in education, advances in knowledge about learning and new tools for educators, along with a brand-new provincial curriculum, make this the most exciting time ever in education.
New West’s new CEO launched his teaching career in the Greater Victoria school district in 1983, teaching high school P.E. and English.
He first became a school administrator in 1998.
He was acting director of middle and secondary schools in Cowichan Valley from November 2006 to July 2007.
For 15 weeks in 2007, he was seconded to the education ministry to review the graduation program and to help schools implement the ministry’s plan for daily physical activity for students.
He was an associate-superintendent in the Greater Victoria school district office from 2007 until May 2014, when he was promoted to deputy-superintendent, the post he holds today.
Duncan is currently making plans to relocate to the Lower Mainland with his wife and 17-year-old son, who graduated from high school this year.
Working in New West will be a homecoming of sorts for the new superintendent.
He was born at Royal Columbian Hospital and lived in Sapperton as an infant.
