HSD principals trade positions

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This article was published 11/05/2015 (4006 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The retirement of a principal with 40 years of education experience and ongoing growth at Mitchell Elementary School spell new job titles for four Hanover School Division administrators.

Tim Kretchmer, the long-time principal at Kleefeld School, is moving on after a dozen years at the helm. He will be replaced by Yvonne Schroeder, principal at Bothwell School since 2007.

Kretchmer says it’s time to step aside. He said he will miss spending time with the students, staff and community.

“Often times, people talk about the big grandiose things that you’ve accomplished, but you know, for me, it’s the day-to-day interaction, it’s just exciting to come to work, that I will miss,” he said.

Kretchmer grew up in northeast Manitoba but found a home in HSD, spending 38 years with the division. He spent two years prior to that at a Winnipeg school.

He was in Blumenort from 1977-1994, as a band instructor and teaching social studies. He then spent one year each in New Bothwell and Mitchell, to be school principal and start the band program, respectively.

He went on to become principal at Blumenort School from 1996-2003, before taking on the same capacity in Kleefeld School.

“There’s something enriching about working in different communities and different schools that I felt has been a tremendous benefit for me,” he said.

He notes technology has changed staggeringly over the years. “We’ve gone from the gestetner to Google Apps,” he remarked.

These changes aside, education has always been grounded in the relationships.

“Education is still about connections, and it still continues to be about engaging students and teachers in the work that we do,” said Kretchmer.

Of his school’s recent accomplishments, he noted he’s proud of the school community for raising more than $10,000 toward building a school in Ghana.

In other administrative moves, Dale Martens has become the first ever vice-principal at Mitchell Elementary School, a new position deemed necessary because of the school’s swelling enrollment.

To replace Martens, the vice-principal at Steinbach’s Southwood School the past two years, enter Tracy Beaudin, who was also second in command but at Blumenort School since 2012.

Colin Campbell will be the new vice-principal in Blumenort School. He held that same posting at Steinbach’s Woodlawn School beginning in 2011.