Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School Division board chairman Mark Corbin, for one, welcomes competition in the upcoming trustee elections. He said serving on a local school board is an excellent way to serve the community through ensuring quality education, and more qualified candidates can only aid in that cause.
“It really is an important role, to ensure we have all the resources available,” he told the Times-Herald on Thursday.
Important as the job might be, though, Corbin is still debating whether or not he will be handing in nomination papers for the upcoming Oct. 24 school board elections.
Those interested in running in the upcoming school board and municipal elections can pick up nomination papers from the city clerk-solicitor office at city hall. The filled-out nomination papers can be dropped off at that same location from Sept. 4 to Sept. 19 (the deadline for filing papers is 4 p.m. on Sept 19).
According to Corbin, while he certainly finds the job of school board trustee rewarding, the fact is he is an employee at Valley View Centre and, given the facility is set to shut down over the next four years, he needs to consider whether he would still be living and working in Moose Jaw throughout the entire school board’s upcoming four-year term.
This outgoing term was Corbin’s second with the Holy Trinity board, and he said it has been an excellent experience. While he would like to run in the upcoming election, he said he must weigh what problems it would cause if he had to re-locate for work and leave the school division to replace him through by-election.
“It kind of puts the board through an awkward situation,” Corbin said, adding it would be great, regardless of his situation, to see a large number of interested candidates vie for trustee positions.
He said children and education are vital to society, and a school board’s role includes ensuring funds are distributed to schools in a way that allows optional opportunities in that regards. As well, he said, the board lobbies the provincial government to ensure there is adequate funding available.
While certainly an important job, Corbin said the time commitment isn’t too extensive for a school board trustee. At Holy Trinity there are typically a couple evening meetings a month, which also require preparatory work on the part of the trustees to ensure they are able to contribute at those meetings.
According to Corbin, serving as a school board trustee is also an excellent way for someone to learn more about governance. For those serving on separate school boards, he said, it is also an opportunity to expand one’s Catholic faith.
The Times-Herald made multiple attempts over several days to contact Prairie South School Division (PSSD) chairwoman Colleen Christopherson-Cote, but was unsuccessful in those efforts.
Anyone interested in finding out more information in regards to running as a trustee in the upcoming school board elections for either PSSD or Holy Trinity can download an information package from the City of Moose Jaw website (www.moosejaw.ca).
