The public school board will have a vacancy when its superintendent of education leaves for a new job with the Lambton-Kent District School Board.
John Howitt has accepted the position of director of education. He starts on August 1.
Howitt has been with the Greater Essex County District School Board for the past 27 years where he has worked to strengthen the board's use of technology in the classroom. He also pointed to his experience opening and closing schools, and negotiations with the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario.
He will replace Jim Costello, whom he has known for many years.
"I was very lucky Mr. Costello and his colleagues in Lambton-Kent at the time I became a superintendent really took me under their wing and helped me along the way," he said. "I've known Jim for over a decade, and he's been very supportive and helped me. It's a bit daunting in that I don't want to let him down."
The Lambton-Kent District School Board has fewer students with 21,890 students in 62 schools but is geographically larger. It stretches from Sarnia to Wheatley in Chatham-Kent and encompasses four Indigenous communities. Howitt admitted that it would be a challenge.
"That's one of the pieces I'll need to learn," he confessed. "That means there will be diversity within the board's own boundaries. I'll need to be cognizant of that going forward that what makes sense in Grand Bend may not make sense in Wheatley."
Howitt said he looks forward to his new challenge and getting to know the staff and students at his new school board.
