School superintendent
leaves post to expand
on Pacific Rim interest

VISIONARY, THINKER, education pioneer. Bright and

hard working. Positive.

Bill May has been attracting
praise from many quarters since he
became West Vancouver’s assistant
superintendent of schools in 1981
and full superintendent three years
ago.

Now, he is taking these qualities
and breaking new ground in a new
career in private consulting.

As he packed up his office on
21st Street on June 30, May took
an hour’s break to talk about West
Vancouver schools, teaching
standards, and the role of the
school board. He also spoke op-
timistically about the future of
Vancouver’s role in international
education on the Pacific Rim.

“I hope to become a broker be-
tween education, business, and
government, especially in the
Asia-Pacific region,” he said. ‘‘We

in Canada are on the leading

edge” of a force of gravity now
moving to Asia, he said, pointing
to a Vancouver Sun story from
that morning which said B.C. ex-
ports to the Pacific Rim now ex-
ceed exports to the U.S.

“Vancouver is situated perfectly
to become the Geneva of the
Pacific,’? May said.

“Many businessmen, lawyers,
and educators are finding, in
mid-career, that they are dealing
with Asia but have little knowledge
of the region. They need to know
about the geography, languages,
cultures and history if they are go-
ing to be successful.”

May said he hopes he can bring
resource people together to fill that
need.

Coming the other way, May
said, there are universities in Asia
that want to establish satellite
campuses here, where their stu-
dents can study for a year or two,
learn the language, then return
home to graduate.

“I can be the education resource

person in Vancouver who can
handle this,’’ May said.

Why is May, at age 45, leaving a
secure, well-paying career in the
public service for the precarious
world of the marketplace?

BILL MAY ... ‘‘Vancouver is sit-
uated perfectly to become the
Geneva of the Pacific.”

“*You get to the stage where you
want to work for yourself,’’ he
responded vigorously.

“It’s not the first time I’ve
resigned from a secure position in
order to meet another challenge.
My whole career has consisted of
taking risks,’”?> May said as he
walked past the cardboard boxes
to the window, and gazed at the
ships heading for the open Pacific.

Born in Adelaide, Australia,
May taught in London, England
before marrying a Parisian woman
and moving to Quebec.

He earned a Master of Educa-
tion Administration at McGill and
became a principal and assistant

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superintendent in Quebec City.

“We lived as members of a mi-
nority in Quebec, in those intox-
icating ’60s and ’70s,’’ the fluently
bilingual May says. .

But the cold winters drove them
away in 1981, after May won a na-
tion-wide competition. to become
the assistant superintendent to Ed
Carlin in West Vancouver.

May walked smack into the
restraint period that followed the
recession. ‘‘Those years were
marked by a lut of passion,”’ he
now says dryly, remembering how
he had to, among other measures,
close five elementary schools.

But May takes pride at what has
been achieved in the district since

‘ he became full superintendent in

1986.

Teacher quality has improved,
he said, after he brought in a fresh
emphasis on recruitment and
supervision, including a rigorous
and controversial evaluation pro-
gram.

“Some teachers have found this
very stressful, but the schaol board
has no intention of dismantling
it,’’ May said firmly.

His Asia-Pacific initiative is his
proudest achievement, May says,
but ‘“‘we haven't had any over-
whelming enthusiasm’? and he
hopes the board will continue to
work hard to sell the concept to
educators and the public.

Computers, the transition of the
secondary schools and the plan-
ning process are three more areas
May feels have been a success dur-
ing his term.

But he warned that West Van-
couver needs far more young peo-
ple if the district is to maintain
funding levels for schools.

He feels strongly that Canadians
in general have to spend more on
research, development, and educa-
tion, since ‘tan educated workforce
is the best way to compete in the
international marketplace.’’

The silver-haired and portly May

Cypress

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Levels highway.

said he will miss some of the
“healthy and lively and fun’’ in-
teractions with the school board.

“There’s ulways some creative
friction’? be-ween a board of
elected trustezs and its superin-
tendent, May «aid, especially at the
policy-making level, ‘‘because
you’ve got different views of how
the universe should unfold.’’

“If the board reaches the point
where it is rubber stamping the su-
perintendent’s recommendations,

then I think democracy is not be-
ing served. But that will never
happen in this school! district,’’ he
laughed.

May’s immediate plan is a com-
bination vacation and business trip
to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore,
and Australia. After that, he will
run his consulting business from
the home on Southborough Drive
that he and his wife and their three
children wil! move into this sum-

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