Niverville Middle School will be getting a new principal starting in the fall, following the recently announced retirement of Principal Michael Koester. The school division has decided to hire from within, promoting the current vice principal, Craig Cumming, to the big chair.

Cumming began his teaching career in 2000 when he joined the staff at Niverville Collegiate, where he stayed for 12 years. He was then appointed vice principal at Landmark Collegiate for one year before transitioning back to Niverville where he has served ever since.

“The transition from teaching to admin was definitely eye-opening,” Cumming says. “There are many scenarios that arise on a day-to-day basis that you haven’t even considered when you’re new to the role. I guess the greatest challenge was getting used to the fact that my schedule could change on any given day depending on what would arise. Whereas in the classroom, there was far more consistency.”

He says his time as vice principal has helped in many ways to prepare him for the principalship.

“I have always had an inquisitive mind and always take time to observe and reflect,” he says. “Those qualities have allowed me to ‘watch and learn’ from colleagues in terms of what a principal role might entail.”

After so many years at Niverville Collegiate, he was heavily involved in the school’s transition to a middle school in the months leading up to September 2019, when half of the school’s population moved over to the new high school.

“The extensive planning that was done to make the transition from NCI to NMS was challenging and rewarding altogether,” says Cumming. “There was a lot of work done leading up to the opening of NMS back in September. Once things got going and you sensed the feeling of a true middle school, that was such a great feeling! And the work continues. We are constantly making adjustments if we see there is a need.”

Cumming says there is so much to look forward to at the middle school in the coming years, and he’s excited to be right in the thick of it.

“I’m looking forward to continuing the process of refining our school culture to fit the needs of our kids in a middle years environment. We have an extremely strong staff here at NMS and very supportive parents and community members, so I’m very excited at what the future holds. My leadership style draws on a team approach. We, the staff, are stronger and more effective collectively than individually. We will work together and draw on each other’s strengths to create an environment of belonging and becoming for our students.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic having forced students to stay home since mid-March, however, he admits that a lot is still up in the air.

Classrooms are gradually opening back up right now through the Hanover School Division, with students visiting the school on an appointment basis.

But the lingering uncertainty means that nothing definitive can be said what in-person classes will look like come fall.

“Honestly, I don’t know anything for certain about the start of next school year at this point,” he says.