The Flin Flon School Division’s (FFSD) board of trustees is complete again after the debut and swearing-in of a newly elected seventh councillor.
Katie Kawerski was officially sworn in to her new seat on the board during their Nov. 28 meeting, taking the same oath of office the board’s other six members have previously taken. Kawerski affirmed her address, that she lives within the FFSD’s geographical location and that she is not otherwise disqualified for the spot under Manitoba’s Public Schools Act.
After a spot on the board was vacated earlier this year, Kawerski won a byelection to fill the seat - Nov. 28 was her first meeting with the existing group and with senior FFSD administrators.
After an information-packed first meeting on the board, Kawerski was quick to express how she felt immediately.
“I feel confused,” she said, before expressing gratitude for her new spot and thanking people who voted her in last month.
“It has been amazing. I’ve had so many people come up and congratulate me, people in the community. I've had so many people say, ‘Oh, you're going to be great.' It's made me feel very, very proud that I put my name forward and that I won. It's been an amazing experience so far.”
The board’s committees for 2023-24, according to the FFSD website, will remain more or less unchanged. Kawerski does not yet have any spots set aside on board, joint or ad hoc committees, but has been added to the board’s rotation of board assignments, meaning she will take on some responsibilities as time passes.
Trustee Jackie Hucaluk has been named the board’s chair for this year, taking over for Leslie Fernandes, while Coralie Jays will take over as vice-chair. Jays will also chair the board’s facilities and grounds, suspensions and traffic committees, while Hucaluk will chair the board’s strategic planning committee and serve on the board’s accessibility ad-hoc committee.
The board’s finance committee and teachers’ labour negotiation committee will be chaired by trustee Tyler Kittle, while Angie Simpson will chair the board’s policy review and resolutions committee and represent the board on the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce. Tim Davis, the board’s longest-serving trustee, will be with Hucaluk on the accessibility ad-hoc committee and on the workplace safety and health committee, while also being a northern representative on the Manitoba School Boards Association.
“We decided to keep them all the same for this year, because we had already had a lot of work started prior to trustee Kawerski joining. For this year, we're keeping them the same as before,” said trustee Fernandes, who is chairing the board’s negotiations committee with the United Steelworkers local.
