Scott Miller shares his priorities as WRDSB’s new director of education

CTV’s Krista Simpson sits down with Scott Miller to learn more about his journey from Waterloo District School Board student to its director of education.

It’s now been nearly a month since the Waterloo Region District School Board named Scott Miller as its new director of education.

Miller has a long history with the board, starting there as a student and then going on to work in a variety of roles including as a teacher, principal and associate director, during his nearly 30-year career.

He sat down with CTV News Kitchener on Wednesday to discuss his new role.

“My priorities have always been -- in my career in education -- just really looking at building successful opportunities for students, with the belief that success builds success.”

Miller was named the WRDSB’s interim director in December after the sudden departure of jeewan chanicka (who does not use capital letters when spelling his name), who had served as the director of education since 2021.

The board has never explained why chanicka left.

“Our organization just isn’t at liberty to provide any details around personnel at all,” Miller explained. “That being said, and knowing the opportunity that’s been given to me, is just looking at how can we continue to build public confidence in education, specifically in the Waterloo Region District School Board. For me, that’s engaging with community, that’s engaging with students, staff and families and parents and really hearing what their experience is within our school board and helping to inform decisions going forward.”

Miller said he also wants to be seen as accessible to the public.

When asked about concerns that the school board hasn’t effectively communicated its decisions in the past, Miller insisted that he wants to change that perception.

“I think, really ultimately, it does come down to communication and how are we communicating with the public in general, really being thoughtful around transparency in those communications and also to being quite explicit in what our priorities are and what we hope to achieve, certainly in my time as the director.”

Miller said he hopes clearer communication will help address another issue the board faces – that projected enrollment numbers haven’t matched with actual enrollment.

Having fewer students than anticipated has led to a decrease in provincial funding, and this past fall more students than usual had to change classes a few weeks into the school year.

Miller acknowledged that the disruptions were difficult. He hopes that improved communication and confidence in the school board will eventually bring enrollment numbers back up to expected levels.

“I believe in the ability to communicate clearly what our goals are [and] that as a school district we will see changes to our enrollment and those projections will become a reality.”

You can watch the full interview with director of education Scott Miller here.