New Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board boss welcomed

The new Chief Executive of the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB) was welcomed by the members of the Board at their monthly meeting last Tuesday, and hailed as “an excellent opportunity for change”

Dr Deirdre Keyes takes over from Sean Ashe who retired just before Christmas. Elements of his tenure have been subject to a Department of Education commissioned investigation after the Comptroller and Auditor General raised concerns about aspects of the 2015 accounts.

The report of that investigation, compiled by Dr Richard Thorn, has been referred to the Gardai for investigation.

“I hope you understand and comprehend the hopes that go with your appointment,” Cllr Fioina McLoughlin Healy told the new CE.

At the meeting, Dr Keyes thanked all of the members for their warm welcomes, saying she looked forward to working with the board to work through the difficult period and challenging time.

She qualified as a teacher in 1983, and since then has held a number of core positions in the ETB sector, and education generally, including curriculum development, research and policy work in conjunction with leadership and management roles.

Dr Keyes has played a pivotal role in the development of the Community National Schools, which are child centred, multi denominational, publicly-accountable schools which strive to provide high quality education for every child.

Within Dublin and Dun Laoghaire ETB she had leadership and management responsibility for over 35 schools and played a central role in the development of supports for these schools and governance arrangements.

Her research interests have been ethics, values and leadership and she currently chairs the Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) forum addressing the question of core values, characteristic spirit and ETB schools.