A former president of Nanaimo Ladysmith school district’s parent advisory council has been acclaimed as the new school board chairwoman.
School trustees took the oath of office Monday at the School District 68 inaugural board meeting and Charlene McKay was named to lead the school board with none opposing. Lisa Marie Barron, another new trustee, was named board vice-chairwoman, also by acclamation.
McKay said there are parallels with her district parent advisory council experience
“It’s similar in some ways to the work at DPAC, because you’re always looking at student-centred decisions and luckily we have an entire board that is very student-focused, I think that’s going to benefit the district as a whole,” said McKay. “The work that goes into looking at the entire picture of the district is similar again, but what will be different is the relationship with different stakeholder groups. The board acts as the employer, so that’ll be a new experience for a lot of us that are on the board.”
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The new board features many new faces and McKay said the first order of business is getting everyone up to speed on responsibilities.
“I think the priority right now is just helping everybody learn their roles as trustees and support each other as a board, so that we can set the board direction and start working on our annual work plan and then from there we’re going to get into the work of our strategic plan and the facilities plan that’s upcoming,” McKay said.
McKay also said ensuring the strategic plan and long-term facilities plan align is a pressing issue facing the district.
All district committee chair and vice-chairpersons were also acclaimed. Tania Brzovic, returning trustee, was named business committee vice-chairwoman, with first-time trustee Greg Keller as vice-chairman. Jessica Stanley, former North Vancouver district trustee, was named chairwoman of the education committee, with Elaine Wilkinson, new trustee, as vice-chairwoman.
Stanley was named as the district representative for B.C. School Trustees’ Association, while Barron was named as her alternate.
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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