Both of the Hanover School Division assistant superintendents have given their notice of retirement.

After 33 years in the division, Assistant Superintendent Chris Gudziunas has announced his retirement. This comes one day after Assistant Superintendent Rick Ardies announced his retirement after being with the division for 30 years.

Ardies says he started working for the Hanover School Division as a teacher in the Steinbach Junior High and taught there for 12 years.

"After that, I went to Green Valley School as a vice-principal for three years and love that. I was lucky enough to get a job as a principal at Landmark Collegiate and that was fabulous. From there I got another principalship at Green Valley School in Grunthal and spend the next six years there, it was a fantastic chapter. From there I got a job here at the Hanover School Division office as assistant superintendent and I've spent the last five and a half years at this job. It's been wonderful as well."

Ardies says this was a bittersweet decision but he and his wife made the choice to move to British Columbia to be closer to their children.

"I'm very excited about the future and also very sad that I'm walking away from a school division that has been so wonderful for me and that has given back to me so much more than I could ever have given," he notes. "It's been just the biggest privilege and honour to spend my career working for Hanover and I've loved being a teacher, a principal, and an assistant superintendent."

He notes he hopes to pursue an opportunity in education on the west coast while spending more time with family.

Superintendent Randy Dueck says people get to a certain age where they start to think about retirement, which is the case with Gudziunas's decision. Dueck adds Ardies will be leaving on July 31 while Gudziunas's last day is on December 31.

"Chris has chosen to give us plenty of notice. That means he can be around to help train and develop some new senior admin team members here at Hanover School Division. So, he has really considered the needs of Hanover School Division here and probably stayed a bit longer than he might have otherwise because he wants to make sure that he can help support the transition process."

He adds, "Chris is an extremely loyal and dedicated educator. He is always looking out for the best in Hanover School Division. Often he'll put himself into situations where he'll have to make his own sacrifices in order for Hanover School Division to do well."

Dueck notes Gudziunas was a part of the Our Kid development and played a key role in the development of their Deeper Learning program. 

He says Ardies will be missed in the office and in the division.

"Rick brings a real passionate energy to everything that he does, and it's a good passion and energy. Rick has an incredible heart for kids and it matters to him a whole lot, first of all that kids are learning a lot, but also that we make sure all of our kids are taken care of. That we make sure kids who maybe aren't as advantaged as other kids are looked after and taken care of. He has an incredible passion for that and it's really important to him that they receive as high and as good of a level of education as anyone else would in the division."

The division has announced the hiring process will begin immediately with an anticipated start date of August 1 for both positions. Dueck says, as with any administrative position, advertisements will go out both within and outside of the division.