Senior staff in place for new school board

Many of the top positions for Newfoundland and Labrador's new province-wide English school board have been filled.

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District will take control of almost all of the province's public schools on Sept. 1, as four boards are collapsed into one.

• Read a memo on the appointments issued to school employees

The transition team setting up the new board has revealed the members of the senior team, who will work with director and chief executive officer Darrin Pike. Pike was appointed last month to head up the new board.

Jeff Thompson, who has worked with the school boards in Labrador and western Newfoundland, will work as the associate director of education, based out of the provincial office in St. John's.

The assistant directors of education for the different regions in the province are Fiona Frawley, in the Labrador office; George Keeping, based in Corner Brook; Bronson Collins, based in Gander; and Lucy Warren, in St. John's.

Other key appointments include Gerald Buffett, Larry Blanchard and Tony Stack, who will serve as assistant directors responsible for, respectively, human resources, finance and operations.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government announced it would dissolve its English-language boards in this winter's budget. A separate French-language board will stay in place.

A date has not yet been set for elections for the trustees who will oversee the new board. In the interim, the transition team will stay in place.