From left, trustees Bob Harris, Sharel Warrington, Tim Bennett, Tony Cable, Bruce Wiebe, superintendent Marilyn Marquis-Forster and secretary-treasurer Allan Reed – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. –  The Prince George School District’s new superintendent held a meet-and-greet with local media this afternoon.

Marilyn Marquis-Forster started her new job last week after previously serving as the superintendent of the Swan Valley School Division in northwest Manitoba.

She says she’s hit the ground running having already taken part in a three-day learning event with district principals and vice-principals last week for three days.

“It was great preparation for moving into the school year because I had a chance to be with that leadership team and a couple of trustees were able to join us for the three days,” says Forster.

“It was a real opportunity to learn together and sort of look forward as to what we want to accomplish the next 10 months.”

She says one of the biggest challenges in front of her will be to oversee the implementation of the new curriculum for kindergarten to grade 9 students.

“That’s always a big challenge and 12,000 plus students are out there waiting for this to be their very best year ever and it’s a big challenge that we don’t let them down. That’s our job.”

As for priorities, Forster say literacy and numeracy “are key” as well as ensuring students are “literate in sciences and math.”

“Industry is telling us our students need to be better and better equipped in these areas as they go out into the trades and into their job opportunities. Not just to get into a course but to actually be able to function within these highly technical areas.”

She’s also set a personal goal of visiting every school in the district by the December break.

“The district has the obligation to serve the education needs in each of the communities – it doesn’t matter where you go to school – students have the same expectations; communities have the same expectation for high levels of learning.”