TUESDAY OCTOBER 8, 2013
www.pqbnews.com
Official newspaper of the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals
BCYCNA
Gold 2012 General Excellence
INVITING TROUBLE
A GIFT SHOP FOR THE LOCALS
Sightings of bears and cougars in neighbourhoods increasing
This Bowser retail outlet started as a dollar store — see our business profile
A5
A29
SCHOOL DISTRICT 69
Searching for stability
Large turnover at senior staff levels presents some challenges LISSA ALEXANDER reporter@pqbnews.com
Acting superintendent of schools Rollie Koop thinks our district desperately needs leadership stability, and that’s why he made a request to the board to run current administrative appointments until the end of this school year. Koop has been at the board office for five years and since that time the superintendent position has been turned over twice, as has the assistant secretary-treasurer position and the HR manager position. Other leadership roles that have changed hands in the last five years include secretary-treasurer, HR assistant, IT manager and operations manager. There are also four new trustees, only one with experience in the public education sector, Koop said. “That is a great deal of leadership change and presents significant succession issues,” he said in an e-mail. This succession challenge, brought on by an aging cohort of educational and business operations leaders, he said, is being felt by many other districts, leaving fewer individuals willing to take on the challenge of district-level leadership. See SEARCH, page A6
Chasing a burglar JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
There’s a man wearing a mask looking to break into homes near Morningstar Golf Course. He might be better off being caught by the police rather than one local woman. “I was raised in the country,” said the woman who did not want her name published. “I’m not a small woman and I’m not afraid to confront him.” See SUSPECT, page A7
PETER MCCULLY PHOTO
NEW PARK IN BOWSER: Alberni-Pacific MLA Scott Fraser gives the new slide a try during the grand opening Thursday of Henry Morgan Community Park in Bowser. Watching Fraser slide were, from left, Regional District of Nanaimo chair Joe Stanhope, RDN director Bill Veenhof and Kwalikum First Nations representative Michael Recalma. Funding for this park project was achieved through reserve funds from the Electoral Area H Community Parks budget in the amount of $100,000 and a grant in the amount of $85,000 from the Province of British Columbia’s Community Recreation Program.
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