Superintendent of Nanaimo Ladysmith Public School Robyn Gray speaks at the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Nanaimo Golf Course on Thursday, Jan. 16. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

new leader

Nanaimo Ladysmith School District superintendent ready for new role

Jan 16, 2025 | 3:04 PM

NANAIMO — The new head of Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools (NLPS) is excited to get to work.

Speaking at a Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Thursday, Jan 16., was newly appointed superintendent Robyn Gray, who officially assumed the role on Nov. 19 following the retirement of longtime superintendent Scott Saywell last May.

Gray, who previously worked as superintendent for the Cowichan Valley School District since 2019, said there are always new things which can be learned from working in different districts.

“I think the extraordinary work SD 68 have been doing already in the last five years since I left, is extraordinary work, and I’m actually looking forward to actually engaging and investing with all of our schools, our communities, our leaders, our teachers, our support staff, just to see what they are doing.”

Prior to Gray’s time in Cowichan Valley, she spent the majority of her career with NLPS in a variety of positions including principal, director of instruction and assistant superintendent.

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She said their NLPS strategic plan focuses on student success, staff and student wellness, as well as continuing the important work through Truth and Reconciliation.

While she has yet to speak with the province on additional funding for the possible expansion of the over-capacity Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS), she said it’s something they’ll be working on.

“I always think there’s hopes and visions of a new NDSS and so I think that’s something that the board as well as myself will be certainly looking at.”

NLPS supt. Robyn Gray spoke about the importance of Indigenous learners embracing their language, culture, and community to help further their learning journeys. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

One of the topics Gray expanded on during her speech to the Chamber was the increasing graduation rates of NLDS students, with a 90 per cent graduation rate last year, on par with the provincial average of 91.4 per cent.

“In addition to that, I think our priority learners, our Indigenous learners, was at 86 per cent, and this is a six-year graduation rate, as well as students with disabilities and diverse abilities. It was 78 per cent, and then just behind that would have children within care (77 per cent), all of those would be our priority populations that we work with and we support.”

She also spoke about how around 30 per cent of Indigenous graduates have Hul’qumi’num language and culture experience, compared to around 10 per cent when she left NLPS in 2019.

“As we know, that any student who can actually embrace their identity, who they are, as well as have that connection with their community, it will always do that for our learners and their families in our community.”

NLPS is home to 37 schools, over 2,200 staff and about 15,400 students.

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