The Sooke School Board has two new faces added to its roster of trustees, Don Brown from the Belmont zone and Neil Poirier from Milnes Landing zone.
The familiar faces of Wendy Hobbs, Denise Riley, Dianna Seaton, Bob Phillips and Margot Swinburnson are all returning.
“We have some great people on the board,” Hobbs said. “The the two new trustees are going to bring a new look to the table.”
“It’s definitely going to be a challenge with the building of the two new high schools and the teacher’s strike ... but with the challenges comes lots of rewards,” Brown said.
For the returning trustees, Hobbs said everyone works very well together and is productive as a team. “When a board works well together the district works well together.”
The rapid growth of SD 62 will be one of the challenges Seaton said the trustees will be facing.
“We need to get our schools built as soon as possible. I don’t want to see our students in portables,” Seaton said.
Seaton is also hoping to bring more college courses to the district to help ease the transition to college for SD 62 students.
“I am very excited for the next three years,” said Hobbs, chair of the board. “With the school district’s graduation rates up, this will be a real positive future for the next term.”
The graduation rate have risen from 69.2 per cent up to 75.8 per cent in the past four years. The aboriginal graduation rates have risen from 38.2 per cent up to 72.9 per cent, Hobbs said.
“It’s exciting to see, it makes you really feel that you are making the right decisions,” Hobbs said.
“The students here have a wonderful education system to learn in.”
With the go-ahead to build to new high schools on the West Shore, Hobbs and the rest of the trustees are excited to get involved in the project.
“Everyone is asking me when we are putting the shovels in the ground,” Hobbs said.