At a recent board meeting, trustees confirmed the appointment of Mark Zonneveld as a superintendent of education for north Halton schools.

The appointment came into effect Monday.

Earlier this year, Zonneveld had been appointed an interim superintendent for the period of March 17 to August 31, 2008.

The new hiring fills the senior team administrative gap caused by the impending retirement of superintendent Suzanne Moffatt, who has been on leave for most of the 2007-08 school year. Her retirement is effective next month.

Zonneveld has been with the Halton public board since 1989. He taught primary and junior grades at Pineland Public School in Burlington before moving to George Kennedy Public School in Georgetown as a special education resource teacher. He was appointed a vice-principal in 1997 with his first placement at Sam Sherratt Public School in Milton, followed by McKenzie-Smith Bennett Public School in Acton in 1999.

He was appointed principal of Harrison Public School in Georgetown in 2001 followed by Rolling Meadows Public School in 2005, before accepting the position of interim superintendent earlier this year.

"As a superintendent of education, I'm excited about working in a leadership role with my colleagues to further the Halton District School Board goal of Learn, Grow, Succeed Together," Zonneveld said.

The Halton board will have 13 senior administrative staff supervisory officers this fall led by an education director, an associate director of education, a human resources director, a chief information officer and nine superintendents with various responsibilities such as school programming, business/treasurer, facilities services and special education.