Faces of Education
Principal leads by example
How many Powell River principals can say hockey brought them to Powell River?
One. And that one is Jamie Burt, principal of Grief Point Elementary School.
In 1988, a 16-year-old boy from North Delta came to Powell River to play for the Powell River Paper Kings. He spent two years playing hockey and attending Max Cameron High School before graduating with a scholarship to the University of North Dakota.
Along with his good friend, local hockey legend Brad Bombardir, Jamie spent two years studying in the U.S. before leaving to "chase the hockey puck" elsewhere.
"As a 20-year-old I played in the Western Hockey League in Victoria for the Victoria Cougars for one year. I finished my junior year there and went to London, England to play professional hockey," says Jamie.
He smiles when he recalls those days. "I was 21. They gave me a flat, a car, paid for flights there and back and I made pretty good money, too. I was going to stay. I had a contract extension offer but my parents, thankfully, nagged me about going back to university."
Jamie thought about it and figured that maybe his parents had his best interests at heart and came back to Canada and went to UBC. "I ended up playing at UBC and finished up my degree. I have a history degree, and stayed another year to do my education degree."
While at UBC Jamie met his wife, Allison, who is a counsellor at Brooks Secondary School.
"One day we were out for a walk around False Creek and we ran into Rick Hopper, who'd recruited me for the Paper Kings. Rick said they were looking for a coach for the Kings and we exchanged calls, did an interview and I got the job. I told Allison she was welcome to join me in Powell River and, thankfully, she did!"
That was the summer of 1999. "Allison was a brand new teacher. She TOC'd (worked as a teacher on call) for a few weeks, then got her first contract. We were lucky. Powell River has been very good to us."
Meanwhile, Jamie did some TOC work while coaching and after one-and-a-half years of coaching the Kings, he was fired. "It was devastating at the time," he says, "but, ultimately, it was for the best." The forced change gave him the opportunity to concentrate on his career in education. Jamie landed his first teaching job at JP Dallos Middle School. From there, he went to James Thomson. "I loved it there. That was my introduction to elementary school." The following year Allison was expecting their first child and went on maternity leave. Jamie got Allison's job teaching English at Max Cameron Secondary. "It was great! My wife is an outstanding teacher, very organized. She had it all planned and prepped and all I had to do was deliver it to the kids!"
After just three years of teaching, Jamie applied for and was given the vice principalship at James Thomson. "It was quick. I was very lucky to get such an opportunity."
From there, Jamie went to Brooks where he was vice-principal for two years.
The variety, he says, has been great for a young educator because he's had the opportunity to work with students at every grade level.
After Brooks, an opportunity to become the principal at Henderson Elementary was too good to pass up. "I spent three years at Henderson which I absolutely loved!"
It is obvious that Jamie Burt loves kids. "You've gotta love kids in this job," he says. "I loved working with the teens at the high school, the kindergarten students who are just figuring out how to be at school and all the ages in between. The kids make the job great!"
Jamie and Allison's daughter, Madeline is seven and in Grade 2 and son Tanner, five, is in Kindergarten.
Not surprisingly, Tanner is starting hockey this year.
Jamie says he likes to joke with Rick Hopper, his former coach and now good friend. "Rick's youngest son, Adam, and my son, Tanner, are both playing hockey and soccer together. If you had told us 20 years ago, when Rick was coaching me that we'd have kids playing hockey and soccer together we wouldn't have believed it!"
"It is all stuff I really enjoy doing with the kids," he says when asked about playing road hockey with the kids at noon and recess or doing the cross country runs in the morning. "They get to see another side of you other than your role as principal."
When Jamie was 17, he was the captain of the Powell River Paper Kings. "I learned a lot from that experience and took on more leadership roles as my hockey career continued. There is so much that translates from the role of captain or coach to the role of school principal. In both you are working with teams and individuals trying to achieve a common goal. Being a principal is a fascinating job with many layers. Effective communication and relationship building are key components of the job. Principals get to interact daily with students, teachers and parents and we are all working together to see that students are being successful at school. My experience in sports and being part of a team helped prepare me for this."
Jamie has a reputation with students and parents alike of being approachable and easy to talk to.
"We are lucky to have a strong group of educators here. Throughout the first 10 years of my career I have been extremely fortunate to work with some excellent teachers and I have tried to soak up as much as possible from all of these people."
The bell rings. Time's up. Mr. Burt is off to play road hockey with the students.
