SD57 welcomes new superintendent

“I actually began my tenure in British Columbia in the area. I was with the Nechako School District next door for three years when I first moved to British Columbia. And I have a real love and affinity for the area,” he said.

Bringing a wide berth of knowledge and experiences with him, Aziz said one of the biggest things he’s learned is the importance of listening to the community, which he plans on making a big focus while he is our superintendent.

“I want to hear from community. I want to hear from those people who are frustrated or find challenges with our system. I don’t necessarily know that I’ll have the answers, but I can’t even begin to respond to things if I don’t actually know what some of the challenges and issues are out there,” he said.

“I want to understand what’s working well, what are the challenges, what do people see as potential solutions to some of the issues that we have?” he continued.

He has only been with SD57 for around a week so it’ll take some time to get fully integrated into our school system and community, but Aziz already has some ideas on what he wants to bring to our schools.

“I’m really a strong believer that public education is an equity based system, so what I want to make sure of is that we do have equity across our district. We have obviously different schools in different neighborhoods, but I would like to be able to believe that any SD57 student is going to get the same quality of education and the same variety of programing no matter where they go to school, including our rural sites,” he said.

He also knows of some of the challenges we are facing and is looking forward to working with the SD57 team and community to find solutions.

“Funding in every jurisdiction continues to be an ongoing challenge, there’s never enough money to go around. So how do we maximize our dollars to make sure that we’re providing the best service to students and families?” he said.

“Our graduation rates need improvement. We have to start where we’re at, but we have to have conversations and be honest with one another about what it is that we’re going to do to improve things, because graduation really is the life changing, door opening (moment) for students to make things better for their families, for jobs, for socioeconomic opportunities,” he continued.

While he’s definitely looking for ways to improve our school system, he added SD57, and our province as a whole, remains in a great spot. Rather than viewing it as a drastic situation that needs drastic overhauls, he’s approaching it more through the lens of “go from good, to better, to best.”

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by Tommy Osborne

SD57 welcomes new superintendent

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