Corner Brook -
The new Western School Board came together for the first time Friday, holding its annual general meeting, and an initial board meeting with a light agenda.
Don Brown, who is also provincial board president, was acclaimed in returning as chair of the board, and said he is looking forward to working with a board that includes four new members.
"We have our strategic plan in place, and we are certainly going to be building on that and continuing with the agenda of the previous board," Brown told The Western Star. "We have four new trustees who will certainly bring some new ideas, some new input, and I was very impressed with these new trustees at the first meeting.
"I believe the future for education in our district is looking very good. We have a great staff in place, a board of trustees who are very dedicated to making sure we create great learning opportunities for our students."
He is joined on the executive by Brian Foley, vice-chair; Nada Borden, secretary; Wayne Lee, treasurer; and Carl Barrett, Paul Wilson and Chris Aubert, members at large.
The board presented its annual report and Brown said the previous trustees had much to be proud about towards besting the opportunities for student and staff learning and improvements to infrastructure.
He said the redevelopment and reorganization of some of the district's zones and new projects in L'Anse au Loup, Port Hope Simpson, Port Saunders, St. Anthony, and Flower's Cove are testament of the former trustees' accomplishments.
"I feel really good about what the previous board has accomplished, and certainly looking forward to working with the new board over the next 12 months to continue to complete these projects and move the education agenda forward."
Ross Elliott, director of education, said he expects the new board to continue to make strides in those areas.
"We certainly have continued challenges in all of those areas and we have only made the progress by recognizing the challenges before us, and continuing to improve our strategies in all of those goals," the director said.
