Greater Victoria school district superintendent Sherri Bell is leaving her position to become president of Camosun College.
Bell, 55, has spent 19 years in the district in various capacities and became superintendent in 2014. She starts at Camosun on July 1.
She succeeds interim Camosun president Peter Lockie. He was appointed to the job last July after former president Kathryn Laurin was abruptly dismissed.
Laurin was fired just before her second five-year term was set to start.
College officials did not comment on their reasons for letting Laurin go, saying it was a confidential personnel matter.
Laurin told the Times Colonist at the time that the firing was “completely unjustified.”
Bell, who started in the school district in 1996 as principal of James Bay Community School, said Lockie has done a “phenomenal” job.
“So I’m coming in after the college has been in really good shape.”
Still, Camosun has had to make some tough budget moves in recent years, including cancelling its decades-old communications program in 2012.
Last year, potential cuts were averted for such programs as music and computer-science technology.
Bell noted that the school district has about 19,000 students and Camosun is similar with about 18,000.
“The challenges would be similar,” she said
“In K-12, of course, you’re working with students from a certain age group, and [then] those students move to Camosun.”
She said her new role will allow her to be reacquainted with students she has known before, since most of the students at Camosun are from the south Island.
Bell said there is a lot about the post-secondary system she doesn’t know yet.
“It’s a learning curve, but as an educator, you’re an educator always. And the same with leadership, there’s a lot of transferable aspects.”
She said it’s helpful that she is already involved with the South Island Partnership, a program that links Greater Victoria and other school districts with Camosun.
Some district students take dual credits, receiving credit for both high school and college, especially in the trades.
“There’s some really close links,” she said.
Bell said she is going to Camosun with mixed emotions.
“It’s hard when you’ve been somewhere for 19 years and you build up really strong relationships, and you know people in the system so well,” she said.
“It’s difficult to leave, but this is just an amazing opportunity and challenge for me.”
Bell, who is married with a stepson and a daughter, said she wasn’t looking to make a change, but the Camosun job came up and she decided to pursue it.
“I’m pretty thrilled,” said Bell, whose husband, Rick Bell, is director of exercise science, physical and health education at the University of Victoria.
Edith Loring-Kuhanga, chairwoman of the Greater Victoria school board, said she is sad to see Bell go, calling her a cornerstone in the school district.
Loring-Kuhanga said Bell’s experience in the public school system should be a good foundation for her at Camosun.
