Audrey Trombley was acclaimed as Chair and Carol Flynn was elected as Vice-Chair of the South East Cornerstone Public School Division Board of Education during the annual organizational meeting of the Board on Nov. 26, with the duo to serve for a one-year term.
The two individuals have served continuously in their respective roles since November, 2014, with Trombley previously serving in the capacities of Chair and Vice-Chair. She has been a board member with SECPSD since her initial election in 2005.
“It is an exciting time for school divisions in this province as the Ministry of Education is releasing the new Education Vision for 2020 and beyond. I am pleased to accept the position as chairperson for the board as we complete the final year of the Education Sector Strategic Plan,” said Trombley.
“Over the past several months, school boards engaged with teachers, students, SCCs and communities to gather feedback on a vision of education going forward. The information gathered has been forwarded to the Ministry of Education. I look forward to the development and implementation of the new education plan. I will continue to work with the board and our director of education, Lynn Little, to participate in the process and to provide the governance required to achieve the mission, vision and goals of the school division,” she added.
For vice-chair, there was a vote held by the board of trustees with both Flynn and Elwood White letting their names stand for the position.
When asked to make their pre-vote plea for support, White, who represents Subdivision 6 (Pangman, Ogema, Yellow Grass, Radville, Gladmar), said his low key campaign was not launched in protest since he knew Flynn had performed well in all instances and he had no doubts about her leadership qualities. “There is no clash or protest here. I just felt it might be a good opportunity to open it up, an opportunity for others to learn and gain some experience in those roles. I think it could be a healthy move,” White said.
Flynn said she was passionate about bringing educational items and issues to the boardroom and her enthusiasm for the job had not faltered and now that she had grandchildren in the system, that enthusiasm had been renewed and bolstered.
The board voted 6-4 to retain Flynn in the position. She has been a member of the school board since 2005.
The school board set the memberships for the various committees for 2019-20, and set the board meeting dates for the coming year.
The audit committee is chaired by Melanie Sorensen with Jim Henderson and Jim Vermeersch; the board budget managers are Trombley and Vermeersch; the representative to the Saskatchewan School Boards Association Public Section is Flynn; and the representative to the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association is Harold Laich.
The committee for governance and human resources includes Laich as chair, with trustees White, Kevin Keating, and Brandon Tichkowsky. For the bargaining committee, Trombley and Flynn have observer status.
Board meetings have been set for Dec. 18, and in 2020, on Jan. 15, Feb. 12, March 25, April 22, May 20, June 17, Sept. 16, Oct. 14 and Nov. 18.
