The inaugural meeting for the School District 57 Board of Trustees was held Tuesday night.
The new board was sworn in, consisting of returning trustees Tim Bennett and Sharel Warrington, as well as new trustees Betty Bekkering, Trent Derrick, Ron Polillo, Bob Thompson (Robson Valley), and Shuirose Valimohamed (Mackenzie).
For the first time, elected trustees from the Robson Valley and Mackenzie will sit on the board, something Bennett said will be a major positive.
“This will give an opportunity for those communities to have their say. They elected two great trustees and they will now go back to their home communities and will be a presence in those communities when it comes to School District 57.”
Valimohamed echoed the excitement shown by Bennett.
“I’m not coming from Mackenzie says we’re going to do this. No, we all have to work as a team. I’m going to be open, I’m going to learn, hopefully other trustees will teach me fundamentals go from there.”
One thing Valimohamed noted was the diversity of the new board. Without taking away from prior boards, she explained why this group’s diversity is important to the future of the district.
“Diversity is in our schools already so if we’re going to represent School District 57, the board should be diverse as well because that’s what the students are.”
As she stated earlier, Valimohamed is hoping for some help from the more experienced trustees. This was highlighted by Warrington, who is serving her fifth term and had been Board Chair for multiple years, as she welcomed the challenge of teaching the five new board members.
“My role will be as a mentor to help each one of them, support them in their roles, lead them through the difficult understanding of governance because governance is challenging and there is always going to be a lot of work that needs to be done that they will need to be up to speed on.”
Lheidli Men’s Drum Group helps to welcome new #SD57 Board of Trustees at the inaugural meeting #CityofPG @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/wrgJ2Ucynu
— Matt Fetinko (@mattfetinko) November 7, 2018
Trustees also voted Bennett as Chair, Warrington as Vice-Chair, Polillo as BCSTA Provincial Councillor, and Bekkering as BCPSEA Representative.