He gave them 3 weeks notice? Good grief.

Brian Pepper has been a class act since I met him as my child’s teacher, then principle and any thing that I have read in the news about him since.

He cares about the well being of his students and is concerned for their success.

The 3 weeks notice thing is just the “official” notice and is still in line with employment standards because he is still an employee that could have dropped the mic and walked.

The story noted health issues, so cut the guy some slack for that.

Our real concern needs to be who will take his post. Hopefully, it will be someone that aspires to reach, then exceed the high bar set by Mr Peppers tenure with the district.

Mr pepper, from me and my family, we wish you the best. May your challenges be chosen rather than thrust upon you. In either case, may you succeed more than you have in your exceptional past.

Really axman. Are you aware of all that is going on in Mr. Pepper’s life?
Mr. Pepper did a very good job in his role as SD57 superintendent. You would be hard pressed to try and find a graduation or school special event that he didn’t attend. He worked through some very tough times in this district but always had the kid’s backs when hard decisions needed to be made. That is the ultimate sign of a true leader.

Good luck in your future Mr. Pepper. You will be missed.

BTW I am not a teacher. Just a parent of a couple of kids who attended SD57.

“For reasons connected to health and opportunity”

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Doesn’t sound like he’s on death’s door to me.

Good riddance. Pepper has been a horrible micromanager who has surrounded himself with Yes Men who don’t dare question his decisions no matter how absurd they were. Hopefully they can find a replacement who can rejuvenate the district and restore the rapport between all of the parties involved in education.

axman, It’s called succession planning.

If, after 37 years of working with the district and 10 years as superintendent, the school board didn’t see this coming, talk to Mr. Pepper and plan for his eventual departure, then I’m not sure what to say.

What about the assistants? One is moving to principalship?

Posted on Thursday, December 10, 2015 @ 5:27 PM by NMG with a score of 1

axman, It’s called succession planning.

If, after 37 years of working with the district and 10 years as superintendent, the school board didn’t see this coming, talk to Mr. Pepper and plan for his eventual departure, then I’m not sure what to say.

——–

That’s all fine and dandy but a succession plan would be based around a planned retirement / resignation date.

I can understand 3 weeks notice if the guy just found out he only has a couple of months left to live but, this sounds more like backroom politics then anything health related.

“over his health and other opportunities”

Sounds to me like an opportunity has come up somewhere with a warmer climate with better air.

Exactly DI. A very common situation in PG.

Once again, people like axman do not read with comprehension.

“Board Vice Chair, Tim Bennett says the resignation does not come as a complete shock “We have been in discussion with the Superintendent over his health and other opportunities.”

Obviously the “notice” was longer than the formal letter of resignation.

We are not told what the health reasons are, but it happens and it can change very quickly even when one has been living with a health condition for some time.

For instance, PG has a higher rate of lung diseases. Some may laugh at pollution in the city saying they have lived here for 85 years and have not had any problems. Others have tried to stay here for longer than they should have because they felt they had a good job here and could not get one elsewhere. Family member locations also figure into the equation.
I know of several people who had to move to a different climate because of health reasons. One of the more common conditions, for instance, is COPD.

BTW, the ignorance is showing when people vote thumbs down on posts like DI’s. They think DI is saying that tongue in cheek. But that is likely not the case. One does not talk to the school board about health reasons for moving when that is not the reason.

Thanks gopg2015. Yes, I was being serious. If my intent was to be rude, I would have made a comment like PG101’s in the next story.

Squamish has the worst air in the province. As for lung disease there is a high rate of smoking in this city, life style, occupation?

As a health professional I find is appalling that anyone feels they have the right to comment on this man’s health. It is absolutely confidential and the fact that anyone feels they have to right to say whether it is serious or not serious is completely inappropriate.

Have some human compassion – this is the person who taught children as a teacher and has dedicated his life to the Prince George district for 37 years. Whether or not you liked him is one thing – but commenting on his health and speculating what is wrong with him is disgusting.

Congrats Brian Pepper. Good luck to you, we wish you well.

Posted on Thursday, December 10, 2015 @ 7:59 PM by gopg2015 with a score of -2

Exactly DI. A very common situation in PG.

Once again, people like axman do not read with comprehension.

———-

LOL.

As with most news stories, there is a background story that isn’t being told here.

So you are suggesting that health is not the issue. Since the Superintendent reports to the Board, you must be suggesting that there are differences between the Board, likely the Chair in that case since the announcement comes close to his re-election, or there is some other incident with staff.

Reporters are typically cautious. Health, family, etc. are common reasons given for resignations by senior administrators. We have seen several such resignations over the years here, as have other communities across the country. Rumours abound in those situations. You suggestion that the reasons given are not valid is nothing but a rumour, and a vicious one at that, until proven otherwise.

Back to health. Northern Health estimates that about 5,000 people in the southern region of Northern Health suffer from COPD, for instance. Those who do, and want to avoid exacerbating the symptoms of COPD should do a number of things including removing themselves from cold climates as well as polluted environments.

Seamutt wrote: “”Squamish has the worst air in the province”.

Most of the tables I have seen indicate that the honour goes to Prince George. As reports such as “Background Concentrations of PM2 and Ozone in British Columbia, Canada (BCMOE 2006)will frequently state: “Prince George has the highest PM2.5 annual concentration at 9.2 μgm-3 (this relatively high value may be attributed to a combination of local industrial/resource based sources and the topo-meteorological factors affecting dispersion in the region).”

Please provide a technical paper backup of your statement. Otherwise I will simply consider it as someone’s anecdotal opinion not supported by objective measurements.