On May 1, the board of trustees of the Hanover School Division (HSD) announced the appointment of an interim superintendent, Shelley Amos. Amos will take over the post from Randy Dueck, who announced his retirement earlier this year and will step out of the role at the end of the school year.
Amos has 26 years of administrative and instructional experience, most recently having served as HSD’s assistant superintendent since the fall of 2018. She began her career as Director of Spring Meadows School Age Centre, then went on to teach for seven years in the former Transcona-Springfield School Division. For seven more years after that, she taught in the Hanover School Division.
In 2009, she was appointed vice-principal of Woodlawn Early Years School, and two years later she received a promotion to principal, a position which she held until 2018.
Amos has earned three degrees, a Bachelor of Education in 1991, a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Special Education in 2010, and a Master of Education in Educational Administration in 2018.
“Shelley has demonstrated exemplary leadership throughout her career,” says Rick Peters, board chair of the Hanover School Division. “Her experience as a senior administrator, expertise in strategic planning, and in-depth knowledge of pedagogy make her an ideal candidate for this position. We are confident that her experience, knowledge, and leadership will continue to serve our students well, and we are thrilled that she has accepted this position.”
Some may wonder why her title comes with the “interim” caveat.
“That’s what Manitoba Education and the province said we could do,” says Peters. “They have a fiscal workforce sustainability review happening, and there was a mandate to reduce admin costs by 15 percent. And that wasn’t just school divisions.”
According to Peters, the stipulation from the province during the COVID-19 pandemic has been that any management or administrative hires must be interim positions. He says the division only received permission to hire a superintendent in the last week.
“We couldn’t hire anything permanent in any of the management positions, nor could any other school division,” he adds. “So we’re not unique in that. That’s why it’s interim.”
