Wednesday September 6, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated September 16, 2023]
School board analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
VOTING LOCATIONS: none | ONLY ONE CANDIDATE SUBMITTED NOMINATION PAPERS
The trustees who form the board of education of Sooke School District 62 are short one member. A full board is comprised of seven trustees, but currently there are only six.
One seat was left vacant when former board chair Ravi Parmar resigned in July 2023.
All but one of the SD62 schools are located in Langford, Colwood, and Sooke. There is one school in Metchosin. Voters choose trustees from two zones of the geographically large SD62 school district.
Large riding, two zones:
In full elections, voters elect seven trustees to serve on the SD62 Board of Education:
- Four trustees from the Belmont Zone (voters in Langford, Colwood, Highlands and Metchosin)
- Three trustees from the Milne’s Landing Zone (voters in Sooke and Juan de Fuca).
The vacant seat is in the Belmont Zone.
Current board composition:
The current board is led by Amanda Dowhy (chair), Ebony Logins (vice-chair), and second-term trustee Allison Watson — all of those trustees are from the Milne’s Landing (Sooke) side.
The three brand-new trustees since the October 15, 2022 election (sworn-in November 1, 2022) were elected in the west shore Belmont Zone: Cendra Beaton, Russ Chipps and Trudy Spiller.
By-election October 14, 2023:
Almost one year to the day, another election will be held for school trustee in the Belmont Zone of SD62 — that’s for voters in Langford, Colwod, Highlands and Metchosin.
The trustee by-election will be held in the SD62 Belmont Zone on October 14, 2023 to fill the vacant board seat.
Advance voting will be on Tuesday October 3 and Wednesday October 4. Voting locations have not been posted yet.
About the SD62 district:
There are now over 13,000 students in the west shore and Sooke who attend SD62 public schools for K-12 education services.
Running that large operation are the superintendent, three support superintendents, secretary-treasurer, district principals, and many other administrative staff.
The Superintendent is Scott Stinson who will retire at the end of 2023 after five years in the job. The new SD62 Superintendent starting January 1, 2024 will be Paul Block (who is currently the Deputy Superintendent and oversees the Colwood-centric Royal Bay family of schools).
The long-time SD62 Secretary-Treasurer is Harold Cull. There are two SD62 associate superintendents: Dave Strange (who oversees the Sooke-centric Edward Milne family of schools) and Monica Braniff (who oversees the Langford-centric Belmont family of schools). The manager of strategic communications is Kristen MacGillivray. | See: SD62 Senior Executive
===== RELATED:
Helping BC families with back to school costs (September 5, 2023)
All school trustees may speak to the media (September 4, 2023)
New SD62 board chair & vice chair (August 29, 2023)
SD62 reminds west shore voters about up-coming by-election (August 1, 2023)
Ready, set… SD62 prepares to launch trustee by-election for October 14 (July 21, 2023)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke is the founder, editor and publisher of a series of news publications based on the west shore of south Vancouver Island: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), and Island Social Trends (since 2020). The print publications from 2008 to 2020 are permanently archived at the Sooke Region Museum. Mary’s writing is about issues of today’s world through a socioeconomic lens and with a geographical root in the west shore of south Vancouver Island.
Mary P Brooke gives public talks on the current challenges of journalism in a world dominated by social-media. She also gives talks on urban food resilience. | Contact Mary P Brooke to arrange a presentation
Mary Brooke is the proud mother of four (now grown) children who attended schools in SD61 and SD62. She served on elementary school PACS in both Fairfield/Oak Bay and Sooke in the years 1992-1995 and then 2005 to 2007; a resident of Sooke 2007-2017 and now Langford since 2017, Mary P Brooke ran for SD62 school trustee (Belmont Zone) in the October 2022 election cycle.
Mary P Brooke covered the COVID pandemic daily from the end of 2019 through 2021, and into 2022 — including the impacts in public education. She now reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Ms Brooke was nominated in 2023 for the Jack Webster Foundation award that recognizes a woman journalist who contributes to her community through journalism.