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SD62 board renews their top brass, comments on COVID handling

SD62 board meeting, December 15, 2020
SD62 Chair Ravi Parmar addresses the December 15, 2020 SD62 board meeting. From left: Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull, Chair Ravi Parmar, Superintendent Scott Stinson, and Vice-Chair Bob Beckett.
ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS Holiday Season COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Thursday December 17, 2020 | LANGFORD, BC

by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends

The same Sooke School District 62 (SD62) Chair and Vice-Chair have been re-elected to their positions for 2021.

The quick process (a votes by other trustee-members of the board at the front end of the December 15, 2020 meeting) saw the continuation of Ravi Parmar as Chair (for a third term) and Bob Beckett as Vice-Chair (for a second term).

Both Parmar (seasoned in the role since now 2017) and Beckett (new to elected politics in October 2018, and new to the vice-chair role in 2019) are both representatives of the Belmont Zone within SD62.

SD62 has two zones for electing trustees: Belmont Zone (voters in Langford, Colwood, Highlands, Metchosin and parts of View Royal) and Milne’s Landing Zone (voters in Sooke, East Sooke, and Juan de Fuca out to Port Renfrew).

Both Parmar and Beckett expressed their appreciation to the other five trustees for their support in re-electing them, noting this is the half-way point to the next school trustees election (which is in October 2022).

Focussing on election, less so on COVID:

“I look forward to continuing this good work with all of you as we head into these last two years of our term,” said Parmar in his remarks.

Teachers coordinated the return-to-class at Belmont Secondary on September 9, 2020 during pandemic conditions. [Mary P Brooke / Island Social Trends]

Parmar called 2020 “a challenging year, but I don’t want to spend time talking about those challenges, too much,” he said. But he did remark on how quickly staff and teachers adapted in response to the pandemic, noting there are over 1,700 employees in SD62 who pulled together for the benefit of the overall education community. “No matter what role you did, you did a tremendous job serving our families at a very challenging time,” said Chair Parmar.

“Our educators shifted to remote learning, and our facilities, custodial and everyone else who is part of the operation provided that crucial support required to ensure that all of our schools were safe places for all of our students,” Parmar said.

Administration comment:

SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson expressed appreciation for board leadership which he described as “hard working and forward-thinking”, calling that vital for the success of a school district that is growing at such a fast pace.

SD62 board meeting, December 15 2020
SD62 Chair Ravi Parmar addresses the December 15, 2020 SD62 board meeting. From left: Trustee Diana Seaton, Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull, Chair Ravi Parmar, Superintendent Scott Stinson, Vice-Chair Bob Beckett, and trustee Wendy Hobbs. On-screen (remote) are the three trustees from the Milne’s Landing Zone: Margot Swinburnson, Allison Watson, and Bob Phillips.

Growth of the community:

Approximately 400 new students have joined the SD62 student population each year since around 2014; much of this increased growth is directly related to increased housing development in the Langford and Colwood areas.

The next municipal and school board election cycle in BC is two years from now, in October 2022. In the west shore and Sooke there seems to be a close relationship between the municipal and school board side of things; there is close cooperation on many projects, as the impacts of each other’s jurisdictions do interface in many ways.

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===== About the writer:

Mary Brooke, editor, West Shore Voice News
Mary P Brooke, Editor and Publisher, Island Social Trends

Island Social Trends editor Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR, has been covering SD62 news at the board and committee level since 2014. Her children attended schools over the years in SD61, SD62 and SD72.