Are the wheels on the School district administrative bus falling off?

Like a disruptive class of grade fives, things are becoming a little chaotic at the School District offices and seemingly no one can get to the blackboard to bring a little order.

Following on the heels of last Friday's surprising reversal on the configuration/middle school debate came Monday's blockbuster announcement that Kim Morris, the Secretary Treasurer for SD 52 has decided to move on.

The Northern View was first to publish the details of Ms. Morris' departure, part of the "swell of chaos" as they put it surrounding the configuration issue these days. In the course of their story, the nature of her decision to leave was outlined, listed as being made for "personal" reasons, making her the latest of high profile administrators to leave the district in recent months.

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Her move out of town follows the mysterious departure at mid year of former Superintendent Eric Mercer, who received a rather generous parting settlement after he and the School District parted ways.

Prior to his leave taking in February, the School District had seen a number of other high level administrators move on to other opportunities to the south.

The educational administration confusion continued through the school year as the School board struggled to come to some kind of closure on the middle school/grade configuration issue, putting parents, teachers and students through what now appears to have been a rather unnecessary emotional roller coaster in the last two weeks.

Last Friday, the Board decided to reverse its thoughts and start anew in September in a quest for some kind of decision as to whether Prince Rupert will have a middle school, close a high school or perhaps even close more elementary schools in the next year to come.

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In addition to the controversial school closure issues still to be resolved, there is a need to get a final reading on a five year capital plan, which will outline where the district is taking the school system over the next five years. Though at the moment, they seem to be having problems handling the next five minutes at times.

With all that drama going on in the School District offices, it's no wonder that there may be a few officials seeking out more sedate pastures from which to pursue their careers.

All of this is taking place before yet another new Superintendent takes on her duties in September, when Lynn Hauptman is set to return to the Northwest and replace the temporary Superintendent, Dave Stigant, who handled the district's administrative affairs following the Mercer departure.

On the upside for Ms. Hauptman, if things continue on this vein, she will at least be able to hand pick her own administration staff. However, one can't help but think that she certainly is walking into what could charitably be called a "challenging situation".

All of the dramatic developments haven't gone un-noticed to the south, The Vancouver Sun's education blog "Report Card", featured the latest developments of SD52 in a posting made today, if things keep up, the Sun may have to create a special section on that blog just for late breaking developments from Prince Rupert.