The Gulf Islands School District announced on March 6 that Scott Benwell has been appointed as the new superintendent of schools, effective January 2019.
Benwell has served as superintendent for Vancouver Island North and assistant-superintendent for the Fraser-Cascade district. He is currently seconded to the Ministry of Education in the role of field liaison for Aboriginal education.
Lisa Halstead has agreed to remain in her role as Gulf Islands superintendent until Dec. 31 in order to make the transition possible. She had originally set her resignation date as Aug. 1.
Rob Pingle, chair of the Gulf Islands Board of Education, said SD64 was grateful to Halstead for her flexibility in the matter, and felt they had made a good choice with Benwell. The board received about a dozen applications in a competitive market, with many other districts in the region looking to fill the same position at the same time.
The hiring team narrowed it down to four applications for interviews, which took place over one day.