With the recent retirement and resignation of longtime trustees and vice chair Albert Provost the Prince Albert Catholic School Division board of education had to fill the vice chair position during their regular meeting on Monday.
The board elected trustee Maurice Chalifour and he accepted. Director of education Lorel Trumier said it was great to fill the position before it was vacant for too long.
“The board needs some time to think about what the implications are of taking on a role like that and you could see last night that they had reflected and worked through that,” she explained.
Chalifour was nominated by trustee Chrissy Halliday. He accepted, and after three calls there were no other nominations.
“I think that we are always grateful when we do have trustees that are willing to take on a leadership role among their peers and this certainly, during a pandemic, is not the easiest time to take on a leadership role,” Trumier said.
The board authorized a provision for signing authority as second signatory along with chair Suzanne Stubbs. Chalifour’s appointment started retroactively on Feb. 14.
“Suzanne has done a remarkable job as board chair during a pandemic and Maurice Chalifour will be a nice addition to the leadership contingent,” Trumier said. “Although they have a very solid working relationship, they don’t always see eye to eye and they come with diverse thoughts, but when they speak as a board they move forward as a board.”
The vice chair also chairs the Audit Committee and is also part of the Senior Administration Liaison Committee and the Strategic Utilization Committee.
As far as filling the empty trustee chair the division is still exploring their options.
“The board does not have that opportunity to make that decision,” Trumier said. “We have made application to the Minister of Education to consider what our options are. There may be a temporary ministerial order but that is to be determined and it’s too soon to say one way or the other. They are just contemplating that (option).”
Halliday explained to the meeting that her choices came down to Chalifour and Pat Hordyski before she finally landed on Chalifour.
“Thank you (for the nomination) and thank you to the board for the support,” Chalifour said.
After Chalifour was elected as vice chair the board replaced Provost in his positions on various committees. This included the Audit Committee, Catholic Education Foundation Liaison, LINC negotiating committee, Senior Administration Liaison, Toonies for Tuition, 135 Year Celebration committee and board representative to St. Francis School.
“It was nice we have got a good representation where the remaining board members will take on the additional duties and additional work that is required,” Trumier said. That is encouraging. It means we have a board that is really willing to support the school division in its endeavours and we will need to do that work.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
