For newly appointed superintendent of School District 58 Steve McNiven, the grass wasn’t greener on the other side when he left Merritt and began his education career in the Lower Mainland.

“I think when you’re young, you think you’re going to go on and not be back, but I had the opportunity to go to school at the Coast and work and live there, and then had the offer to come back to Merritt and was pleased to do so,” McNiven told the Herald.

Born in Kamloops and raised in Merritt, McNiven showed you can always go home again.

After leaving Merritt in 1988 to obtain his education degree from UBC, McNiven began teaching in Richmond. He also spent time as a teacher teaching on call in the Lower Mainland before he found his way back to the Nicola Valley.

McNiven returned in 1994 and taught Grade 7 at Nicola-Canford Elementary.

When he came back, teachers who taught him became his colleagues.

“I’ve had good relationships with those teachers,” McNiven said.

In 1999, McNiven also took on work as the school district’s technology co-ordinator — right around the Y2K scare.

“I was glad to survive it,” he said of Y2K with a laugh.

“Boy, that was all the talk — that everything was going to come crashing down and the whole world was going to stop. I think I can remember going to sleep the night before and thinking, ‘I hope everything’s OK tomorrow’ and I woke up and it was,” McNiven said.

McNiven took on his first principalship at John Allison Elementary in Princeton in 2001.

He said he went into the administrative side of the job because he wanted to be able to work with both students and adults.

McNiven returned to Nicola-Canford Elementary once more to serve as its principal after his time in Princeton. He then served as principal of the Coquihalla Middle School for five years before becoming assistant superintendent in 2009.

Now he’s taking his job to the next level as he moves up to superintendent, taking over for Bob Peacock, who retired at the end of July.

McNiven said his aspirations for the district fit within the goal areas outlined SD58’s newly completed five-year strategic plan.

The strategic plan outlines goals in learning, well-being, and community and organizational excellence, he said.

McNiven said he thinks SD58 learning assistance programs need to be reviewed.

He also said special education and aboriginal education continue to be areas of focus for the school district.

McNiven said he enjoys change and the challenge of doing new things when it comes to what’s driven him in his career moves.

With the 2014-15 school year expected to begin Sept. 2, McNiven said SD58 is proceeding as if classes will begin on time.

“We’re planning just as we normally would to have schools up and running, knowing that we’re going to have to be flexible and adapt to whatever might take place,” McNiven said.

Currently, there is no negotiated settlement on a new contract for teachers — who remain on strike — and the provincial government has not issued any back to work legislation.

McNiven said he’s eager to have some normalcy return to the district once the labour unrest is settled so the district can begin to work on action items from the strategic plan.

As of press time, SD58 is without a replacement for the assistant superintendent position, but interviews are being conducted tomorrow.