The leadership of the Red Deer Catholic Regional School Division board is staying in the same hands, but with a different hierarchy.
Second-term trustee Guy Pelletier was elected as the division’s new board chair on Tuesday after having served as vice-chair for the last three years. Adriana LaGrange, who had been board chair, will now be vice-chair.
“I feel like I’ve developed the experience and understanding of the division that I can offer something for the leadership of the board. We’re a fairly small group and Adriana did an excellent job for us,” said Pelletier, 47.
At its first meeting since the Oct. 21 election, the board, featuring four holdovers from the last term and one newcomer, sought to further deal with space constraints at Notre Dame High School by amending a request for modular classrooms for the school.
The last board had requested six modulars for city schools for the 2014-15 school year — including two for Notre Dame — and Tuesday requested two more for the high school.
If the province approves the request for four modulars for the high school, they would be placed east of its main structure, as the limit for attachable modulars has already been reached.
Pelletier said the board is hopeful the province will reverse its recently-implemented policy on funding modulars, which requires school divisions to cover half the costs of transportation and installation of the units.
“But that doesn’t change our need. We need the space, and if we need to tap into our reserves to find a way to pay for it, that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
The board also added a clarifying preamble to its new immunization policy which will, for the first time, allow the human papillomavirus vaccine to be administered to local Catholic students within their schools. Pelletier said it is likely those vaccines will be offered later this school year.
And the board opted to extend superintendent Paul Mason’s contract until 2018. Mason has been with the division since 2007 and was named superintendent two years ago.
Board chairs were also recently chosen in other Central Alberta school divisions.
There will be no changes to the chair and vice-chair positions within Wolf Creek Public Schools, as Trudy Bratland and Bob Huff were re-elected to serve in the roles. Bratland — whose ward covers Rimbey, Bluffton and Crestomere — remains as chair while Lacombe/Blackfalds representative Huff, a former chair, will spend another term as vice-chair.
Two trustees who served as chair and vice-chair during their first terms in Wild Rose Public Schools will again serve in the posts.
Nancy McClure, representing Drayton Valley, remains as board chair, while Dixie McLeod of the Rocky Mountain House ward remains as vice-chair.
For Clearview Public Schools, Ken Checkel and Dave Goodwin were re-elected as chair and vice-chair, respectively. Checkel represents the ward that covers Coronation and Brownfield, while Goodwin is one of two trustees for Stettler.
The Red Deer trustee for the Greater North Central Francophone School District No. 2, Nicole Lorrain, was chosen as the division’s Catholic vice-chair. The division is one of only five blended Catholic/public educational authorities in the province.
Leadership roles were previously determined for the Red Deer Public and Chinook’s Edge school divisions. Bev Manning (chair) and Cathy Peacocke (vice-chair) will lead the Red Deer Public board. Colleen Butler as chair and Ron Fisher as vice-chair remain in their roles for Chinook’s Edge.
mfish@www.reddeeradvocate.com