School District 60: Peace River North

2018 General School Trustee Election

This fall, province-wide elections will be held for local government representatives and school board trustees. Two officials have been appointed to conduct the election in our School District and they are:

Please contact them for information about the school trustee elections.

School Trustees are elected for four-(4) year terms.

The following persons have been declared as candidates for the Office of School Trustee in the 2018 General School Election:

In Trustee Electoral Area 1
Melanie EDWARDS of Cecil Lake, B.C.; and
Madeleine Gertrud LEHMANN of Cecil Lake, B.C.

In Trustee Electoral Area 2
David Darren CHRISTIE of Taylor, B.C.; and
David SCOTT-MONCRIEFF of Fort St. John, B.C.

In Trustee Electoral Area 3
Nicole Lynn GILLISS of Hudson’s Hope, B.C.

In Trustee Electoral Area 4
Ida Debra CAMPBELL of Taylor, B.C.

In Trustee Electoral Area 5
Erin EVANS of Fort St. John, B.C.;
Helen Norma GILBERT of Fort St. John, B.C.;
Darrell Don PASICHNYK of Fort St. John, B.C.;
Jeff RICHERT of Fort St. John, B.C.; and
Bill SNOW of Fort St. John, B.C.

CAMPAIGN PERIOD EXPENSE LIMITS

In accordance with the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, for the 2018 general school election, the following expense limits for candidates during the campaign period apply:

• $5,000.00 for each candidate in Trustee Electoral Area 1, 2, 3 or 4.
• $10,807.92 for each candidate in Trustee Electoral Area 5.

THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING LIMITS

In accordance with the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act, for the 2018 general school elections, the third party advertising limit is $750.

For further information on campaign period expense limits and third party advertising limits, please contact Elections BC:  Toll-free phone: 1-855-952-0280

Email: lecf@elections.bc.ca  Website: www.elections.bc.ca/lecf

Trustee Electoral Areas:

Seven trustees form our Board of Education representing five trustee electoral areas described and shown below:

• Area 1 – includes Cecil Lake, Goodlow and Clayhurst – one (1) trustee;
• Area 2 – includes Prespatou, Buick, Rose Prairie, Doig RiverFirst Nation, Blueberry River First Nation, North Pine, Montney and Wonowon (east) – one (1) trustee;
• Area 3 – includes the District of Hudson’s Hope, Upper Cache, Tsay Keh Dene Nation and Williston Lake – one (1) trustee;
• Area 4 – includes the District of Taylor, Baldonnel and Two Rivers – one (1) trustee; and
• Area 5 – includes the City of Fort St. John, the Upper Halfway, Halfway River First Nation, Wonowon (west), Charlie Lake, Pink Mountain and north to Mile 225 on the Alaska Highway – three (3) trustees.

For a larger PDF version of the above map click here – https://www.prn.bc.ca/wp-content/SD60_Electoral_Areas.pdf

Key dates for this election are set out below:

There is a British Columbia School Trustees Association (BCSTA) and its mission is to support and advocate for effective public boards of education in this province. The BCSTA’s will be hosting a Trustee Academy in Vancouver from November 20^th to December 1^st, 2018; and a New Trustee Academy in Vancouver from January 25^th to 26^th, 2019. Our School District is very committed to supporting its trustees to attend these learning events. In addition, plans are in the works for our School District to have a local one or two-day event on Governance.

The BCSTA has published A Guide for School Trustee Candidates and it can be downloaded by clicking on this link: http://bcsta.org/resources-and-services/trustee-elections-2018/

For answers to questions about board of education elections, please contact:

Ministry of Education
Legislation, Policy and Governance Branch
Telephone: (250) 387-8037
Email: educ.governance.legislation@gov.bc.ca

www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/administration/legislation-policy/school-trustee-election-procedures

For answers to questions about election advertising, third party sponsors and campaign financing disclosure, please contact:

Elections BC
Telephone: (250) 387-5305
Toll-free: 1 (855) 952-0280 / TTY 1 (888) 456-5448
Fax: (250) 387-3578
Toll-free Fax: 1 (866) 466-0665
Email: lecf@elections.bc.ca

www.elections.bc.ca/lecf

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has provided a webpage for local government elections – www.gov.bc.ca/localelections. Although the focus is on municipalities and regional districts, there is some overlap for school districts. Brochures are available at municipal and regional district offices and can be downloaded via the above-noted website.

Although each Trustee is elected as a representative from one of the five areas noted above, they operate as a Board which is committed to reaching and supporting group decisions. The Board establishes policies and enacts bylaws for the operation of schools and programs under its jurisdiction. There are usually two regularly scheduled meetings each month, but trustees are also appointed to committees and there may be additional meetings to conduct committee business.  The following URL is a link for scheduled 2018 – 2019 meeting dates: http://district.prn.bc.ca/mod/resource/view.php?id=1521

School Trustees do not become involved in the specific operations of each school.  Questions from parents or the public about such matters should be referred to the applicable Principal/Administrator or the Superintendent of Schools.

The Board assigns individual trustees to be liaisons with schools and their respective Parent Advisory Committee (PAC).  It is attempted to apportion these assignments equally, so the average is three schools per trustee.

School District #60 trustees receive an annual indemnity of $13,045 that is paid monthly.

The Notice of Election was posted previously at https://www.prn.bc.ca/?p=3729