A former superintendent for the Kamloops-Thompson School District will be back at the helm for the next year, starting on Monday.

Dr. Terry Sullivan, who was superintendent from 1999 to 2014 will replace Alison Sidow who is retiring at the end of this month. Sullivan will be in the role for a year while the Board of Trustees resumes a search for a permanent superintendent in January 2021.

Board Chair Rhonda Kershaw says having someone familiar with the role already will allow him to hit the ground running.

“When we started the search we were very hopeful. We had a really great search. Depth of candidates were great. Unfortunately we weren’t able to conclude it at this time,” she told NL News. “So the board knew we needed somebody that could walk into the role and had a depth of knowledge and experience and when we started talking names Dr. Sullivan’s name was top of the list.”

After retiring in 2014, Sullivan taught in the Graduate Studies Program in the Faculty of Education at Thompson Rivers University. He ensured the quality of off-shore schools with the international education branch of the Ministry of Education, and has also consulted with the BC School Trustees Association and several school districts throughout the province.

In his 15 year tenure as SD73 Superintendent, Sullivan helped establish the schools of choice program, the NorKam Trades Centre, and the Day of Sucwentwecw – an inaugural day for honouring Aboriginal peoples.

Sullivan was succeeded by Karl de Bruijn, who in turn was succeeded by Sidow.

(Photo via SD73)

Welcome back, Dr. Terry Sullivan! With the retirement of Alison Sidow, it’s great to hear you have agreed to a one-year appointment as our Interim Superintendent, starting Aug. 24. https://t.co/7mXxWRvd3G pic.twitter.com/hzMey3DyLd

— Kamloops SD 73 (@Kamloops_SD73) August 20, 2020