The new education director for Prairie South School Division should be familiar to many in Moose Jaw, after the board of education announced that Ryan Boughen had been named to the position.
Boughen — currently superintendent of school operations — begins his new duties on Sunday, Aug. 1. He will take over from Tony Baldwin, who announced in December that he would retire this summer after seven years helming the division.
The board engaged in a four-month process to find a new CEO and received applications from Western Canada, the North, and overseas.
“It’s a very exciting opportunity for me. I’m going to get a chance to work in a school division that I think very highly of,” said Boughen. “I’ve worked here for a very long time. We have a great administrative group, great staff, and a newly elected board” with whom he is excited to work.
Boughen is originally from Moose Jaw and has spent 27 years in the legacy Moose Jaw Public School Division and then with Prairie South School Division (PSSD). Over those three decades, he has been a teacher, a principal, the superintendent of human resources and currently superintendent of school operations.
Working in Moose Jaw for decades should be beneficial since many people know him, Boughen continued. Furthermore, Baldwin has established a positive culture in Prairie South that he wants to continue.
Boughen pursued the position since he was excited to work with a new board and is committed to serving everyone in the division, he added. He has seen PSSD do great things for students and families and wants to further that work.
Trustees selected Boughen because he is familiar with the division, has worked for Prairie South for years, and has that knowledge and awareness of internal systems, explained board chairman Robert Bachmann. The fact Boughen understands PSSD’s human resources and school operations should set him up for success.
The ongoing pandemic and keeping students and staff healthy — physically and mentally — will likely be the main challenge Boughen faces, Bachmann stated.
“Because of that COVID reality, we do expect that there are significant learning gaps for some of our students (who) didn’t fully engage with our supplemental learning a year ago,” he added, “and even this year, whether it’s home-based education or virtual learning or in the classroom, (and) potentially missing significant amounts of time. We know that we have some catch-up to do with some of our students.”
Boughen agreed that handling the pandemic is one challenge he will face. He pointed out that the past year has been difficult for everyone, while school has not gone as well as he would have liked — due to the circumstances — for students and staff. Many school employees have felt a sense of loss since last March.
“Because COVID has had such an interruption in everyone’s life, I think it is a time and opportunity for us to continue with some of the good things we’ve done (such as the virtual school) … ,” he added. “It’s also a time for us to refocus on the things that our students and families value about our schools.”
