There wasn’t much business to attend to at the inaugural meeting of the School District 72 (SD72) 2014-2018 Board of Trustees – other than making its members official.
SD72 Secretrary-Tresurer Kevin Patrick opened the meeting Tuesday night in the Chair at the head of the table, thanked those in attendance and read the names of those who won seats on the board in the recent municipal election.
Those names are (in alphabetical order): Ted Foster, Richard Franklin, John Kerr, Gail Kirschner (Sayward Valley), Joyce McMann and Susan Wilson (Quadra Region), who then took their oath of office as a group.
Patrick then asked for nominees for the position of Chair of the Board for the first year of the term. Trustee Hagen nominated Trustee Wilson for the position, she accepted that nomination, and was then acclaimed as Chair, as no other members were nominated.
“Thank you for your vote of confidence,” Wilson said. “I am pleased to accept the position and I want to say how much I recognize that the board is a team, and I really look forward to working with the new trustees, our returning trustees, as well as our fabulous senior management team and all of the support staff who do so much for us behind the scenes.
“Looking ahead, I believe I can speak for the whole board when I say that we look forward to continuing to develop a really effective working relationship with our educational partners, characterized by respect, transparency, communication and consultation, and working together, always putting our students first. I think it’s going to be a wonderful year and term.”
She replaced Patrick at the head of the table, but almost immediately had to vacate that seat temporarily to nominate McMann for the position of Vice Chair.
Foster was also nominated for that position by Trustee Hagen, and won the seat in a board vote.
The meeting was then adjourned, with the next sitting scheduled for Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the SD72 office on Pinecrest Road beside Rod Brind’Amour Arena.