School District 57 Trustees were caught in a lengthy discussion around special funds for secondary athletics during Tuesday’s public meeting.
The motion, put forward by Trustee Cory Antrim, highlighted the need to help ease financial and logistical barriers for student athletics, noting provincial funding cuts over the years.
While Trustees weren’t against the motion, Board Chair Craig Brennan said numerous questions and concerns were raised regarding specifics, equity, and how it would differ from existing grants.
“With an issue like this, it’s hard to argue against it, but you really want to understand what it is that’s on the table.”
“That’s the work I’m looking for now, is to take this concept that Trustee Antrim talked about as a motion, and it to be fully formed into something that we can have some healthy debate.”
Superintendent Jameel Aziz noted during discussions that a process of creating a District Athletics Council was also done last year, giving a more centralized approach to supporting athletics, similar to what other School Districts provide.
For what Trustees can do, Brennan said they can advocate to the government.
“As a Board, we need to continue to advocate, so when we find a sort of a thread, we can healthily debate it and say hey, lets get loud about this and advocate to say ‘can we put resources back into this, it’ll be good for kids.'”
Brennan said while this issue falls under operations, it does have governance overlap, allowing for more discussion.
The motion to have the Superintendent work with staff, principals, athletic directors, and sports coaches to understand the landscape and opportunities for equity and report back at May’s board meeting was narrowly passed.
The vote ended 4-3, with the opposed being Trustees Shar McCrory, Sarah Holland, and Rachael Weber.
Other items discussed during the public meeting include the 2026-2031 Strategic Plan, catchment and capacity, and graduation rates.
The full agenda can be found here.
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