The Board of Education Highlights provide updates on presentations and decisions made during the Board Meetings. For more information, please visit our District website where you can view the full agenda and video stream of the meeting: www.sd61.bc.ca/board-of-education/meetings-of-the-board/
Board Meeting Highlights – November 2021
Annual Trustee Elections
Nominations were called for the position of Board Chair, Vice Chair, and Board representatives for the British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) and the British Columbia School Trustees’ Association Provincial Councillor (BCSTA).
Trustee Ryan Painter was elected as Board Chair. This will be Trustee Painter’s first term serving as Board Chair. Trustee Tom Ferris was acclaimed as Vice Chair of the Board of Education.
Trustee Rob Paynter was acclaimed as the Board representative for BCPSEA. Trustee Jordan Watters was acclaimed as the Board Representative for BCSTA.
Elected Trustees will assume these roles for a year. General local government elections will take place in the fall of 2022, including the elections for the offices of School District Trustees.
Budget 2022-2023 Update
The Secretary-Treasurer provided an update to the Board on the Budget Advisory Committee. On November 15th, the committee met for the first time via Zoom to review values, guiding principles and terms of reference. On November 18th, an online “Talking Tables” meeting took place to discuss broad topics related to resource allocation: climate, Framework for Enhanced Learning (FESL), and budget process evolution. More than 50 participants were present, including staff, Principals and Vice-Principals, and representatives from GVTA, CUPE 947, CUPE 382, ASA, VCPAC and local Rightsholders.
The Secretary-Treasurer requested that the Student Symposium planned for December be postponed until January 2022. For more information: www.sd61.bc.ca/our-district/financial/
Capital Plan Bylaw
The Ministry is advancing the Board’s 2021/22 Capital Plan and is providing additional funding for electric buses and electric charging infrastructure. More details in agenda (p.70): https://www.sd61.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/91/2021/11/BOARD-REGULAR-AGENDA-PACKUP-NOV-22-2021.pdf
Standing Committee Structure Changes
The Board voted to change the Standing Committee Meeting structure until the end of the 2021/22 school year. The Board will be moving to a Committee of the Whole structure where all nine trustees are members of the Education, Policy and Directions Committee and Operations, Policy and Planning Committee. All motions will continue to go through the Board meeting for final approvals.
To learn more about the Board’s upcoming work and to prepare for upcoming conversations, please visit the Board’s Annual Work Plan: www.sd61.bc.ca/board-of-education/governance-framework-and-annual-work-plan/
For media inquiries, please contact:
Lisa McPhail
Communications & Community Engagement
Office: 250.475.4103