November 16, 2018 ~ LANGFORD.
by Mary P Brooke
On Tuesday night, November 13, the trustees who were recently elected to the Sooke School District 62 (SD62) board, were official sworn in at their inaugural board meeting. About 75 people attended in the board room at the SD62 administration office in Langford.
The SD62 board of seven is comprised of four trustees representing the Belmont Zone (school families in Langford, Colwood, Metchosin, Highlands and View Royal) and three trustees representing the Milne’s Landing Zone (school families in Sooke and Juan de Fuca).
Belmont Zone has produced the chair (Ravi Parmar) and vice chair (Dianna Seaton); both stood uncontested for those positions. Parmar had been chair ahead of the October 20 election, and Seaton had been vice chair for a portion of the previous four-year term. The other two Belmont trustees are Bob Beckett (new to the board) and Wendy Hobbs (long-time trustee).
Milne’s Landing Zone trustees are Margot Swinburnson (re-elected, with 21 years service), Bob Phillips (re-elected, with 21 years service), and Allison Watson (new to the board, and herself a graduate of Edward Milne Community School in Sooke).
In his speech as Chair, Parmar said the annual school board budget at $130 to $140 million is larger than all the municipalities of the region combined, though in context, at least 85% of that is essentially earmarked by teacher contract with the BC Government for staff salaries and benefits.
Parmar reiterated the importance of the 2018-2021 SD62 Strategic Plan (learning, engagement and growth) and singled out the SD62 goal of producing graduates “who have the capacity to be global citizens”.
The rapid expansion based on a population explosion in the west shore area (most prominently Langford and Colwood, where housing is still considered to be relatively affordable) makes the west shore like “a small Surrey”, said Parmar. He noted there are presently 55 portable classrooms being used around the district, to underscore the importance of building new permanent schools.
Parmar said that SD62 is excited about the combined efforts of Royal Roads University, University of Victoria, and Camosun College to bring a “west shore campus” to the west shore area. Graduation rates in SD62 are not as high as the provincial average, and as well not as many SD62 grads go on to post-secondary. Providing post-secondary in the west shore area would increase grad rates and help with the cost of living for students who otherwise would have to leave the area and live on their own.
Guest speakers at the short inaugural meeting were Mitzi Dean, MLA (Esquimalt-Metchosin) and Royal Roads University president Allan Cahoon. Both speakers outlined how they are working cooperatively with the goals of enhancing K-12 education into broader aspects of community and post-secondary.
Phillips will chair the Education Policy Committee, with trustees Swinburnson and Beckett all on the EP Committee. The Resources Committee will be chaired by Seaton, with Wendy Hobbs and Allison Watson also on that committee. Hobbs and Phillips will sit on the audit committee.
SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson, and Associate Superintendents Paul Block, Dave Strange, and Stephanie Hedley-Smith were in attendance, as was Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull who conducted the swearing-in portion of the meeting.
Refreshments were served before and after.