The Garden Valley and Western school divisions kicked off the new school year with their board reorganization meetings last week.
Back as chair of Western School Division (WSD) is Brian Fransen. Vice-chair is Darcy Wolfe.
“I am honoured to be a part of the leadership team of Western School Division,” Fransen said. “Our refreshed Board Priorities Plan, continued enrollment growth, Discovery Trails School construction, and our commitment to providing excellent public education to our community will ensure that we are moving in the right direction. It is a great time to be in Western School Division.”
Wolfe noted his gratitude for the chance to serve as vice-chair, adding his vision “is to make school a place where students not only receive an education, but a place where they want to be, and where they are actively engaged as learners, sparking curiosity, hope, and a love for knowledge.”
Committee assignments for the 2023-2024 school year have Fransen and Lisa Burley on the Liaison committee, Fransen and Susana Hawryshko on Negotiations, Hawryshko and Wolfe on the RRTVA committee, David Guenther and Burley on Governance, and Wolfe and Guenther on the Communications committee.
It’s also status quo in Garden Valley School Division (GVSD), where Leah Klassen was acclaimed to the role of board chair for a second term. Trustee John Klassen is vice-chair.
“It feels affirming,” Leah Klassen said of the board’s decision to keep her as chair. “I appreciate the confidence that our board has put in me.”
Klassen noted there is a great team of trustees around the table in GVSD, and she’s looking forward to continuing to work closely with them in the year ahead.
The board is also working to help its newest members thrive, Klassen noted. Five newcomers joined the nine-person board after the 2022 election.
“One of the things that we’re going to be very intentional about this year is growing our leaders,” Klassen said. “We have [committee] chairs that are going to be mentoring the trustees that were elected last year to make sure that they have the tools and the skills they need to be leaders on the board. We want to foster great leaders not only on the board but also in the school division.
“So that’s one of the things I’m really looking forward to this year is that mentorship piece to really empower people to take leadership positions.”
The board also made some changes to its standing committees for the year ahead.
In the past, GVSD has had an Operations committee, an Education committee, and a Policy committee.
But trustees have decided to make the former policy committee into ad-hoc one and replace it with the new Community Connections committee.
“The board met in spring to do a self-evaluation and in that it became clear that community connections needs to be a focal point for our board,” Klassen said. “This committee will be tasked with coming up with some ideas as to how the board can bettter connect and relate to our community.”
The Community Connections committee will include Deana Wilson (chair), Heather Di Franceso, and Pamela Hiebert. The Education committee includes John Klassen (chair), Mandy Thiessen, and Leah Klassen. And the Operation committee is made up of Philip Unruh (chair), Mike Rempel, and Tena Lane.
