School board boss takes a package

The superintendent of the French language school board is taking the province up on its early retirement package. Gabriel Arsenault said the decision was easy.

Arsenault has worked in education for 33 years, the last 17 in charge of the French language schools.

When he began there was only one school, now there are six.

Arsenault said government offered the package at time that was right for him, and the board.

"There was a lot of other reasons why I think the timing was good. There's going to be a new school board and having a new leadership at the superintendency level, I believe, was the right thing to do at this point in time."

Arsenault said the process of finding a new superintendent has already begun. He expects a replacement to start in early July.

Friday was the last day that provincial employees had to express an interest in the early retirement deals. The Binns government wants to trim 500 jobs from the civil service.