News Release Archive
EDUCATION/CULTURE--SOUTHWEST CO-ORDINATOR HIRED ------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Laurie, of Laurie & Associates Consulting Inc., has been contracted as school board amalgamation co-ordinator for the new Southwest Regional School Board. Mr. Laurie will work with a local amalgamation committee, including representatives from the existing Digby, Clare-Argyle (Anglophone), Yarmouth, Queens, Shelburne and Lunenburg districts, to plan a smooth transition to the new regional school board. A certified management consultant, Mr. Laurie brings 25 years of professional, managerial and consulting experience to the position. He has worked with public and private sector clients throughout the Atlantic Provinces, including health organizations, utilities and the Halifax District School Board. Those projects have required expertise in consensus-building, leadership, program and organizational reviews, and human resource, management and financial issues. Education and Culture Minister John MacEachern said Mr. Laurie's knowledge of current educational issues is also impressive. "Mr. Laurie is now eager to work with current school board representatives and plan how education renewal can work in the best interests of students in southwest," the minister said. Mr. Laurie was selected following a publicly-advertised competition. Once proposals were received, a departmental committee reviewed the proposals and conducted interviews based on established criteria, including leadership and communication skills, knowledge of educational issues (including school board and school council roles and responsibilities), and management, finance and consensus-building skills. Four co-ordinators have already been hired, now working in the Cape Breton-Strait, Cape Breton-Victoria and Valley regions, and on the province's first Le Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial. The final co-ordinators for Metro and Chignecto-Central will be hired in the coming weeks. -30- Contact: Donna MacDonald 902-424-2615 trp Nov. 07, 1995