The Sea to Sky School District (SD48) board of trustees saw a change after its board chair and vice-chair elections at the June 9 meeting.
Rebecca Barley is replacing long-time chair Rick Price while Cynthia Higgins is now serving as vice-chair, formerly held by Ian Kent.
“I’ve been on the board since 2008 and I thought it was time to step up a little,” Barley said. “I think a little change is always good as well. Rick has done an amazing job over the years.”
As an Indigenous woman and entrepreneur who raised three daughters in the district’s far reaches near D’Arcy, where she still resides, Barley said she brings “a whole different perspective” to the role, historically held by people from Whistler or Squamish.
“We’re rural,” she said. “The kids are all on an hour-long bus ride. We don’t have the same access to amenities. I was putting on 50,000 kilometres a year driving my children around to participate in sports.”
On top of that, Barley also brings an important perspective around the reckoning the entire country is facing after the remains of 215 Indigenous children were found on the grounds of a former Kamloops residential school.
“My parents attended residential school and my mom attended Kamloops,” she said, adding she made the decision to run for chair before the disturbing finding. “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it. I think this is one school.”
With regards to Indigenous students in the district, Barley said during her many years on the board of trustees, she cites an increase in graduation rates — from 35% to the high 90s — as a major accomplishment.
“We still know we have other work to do,” she said. “We’re not 100% yet across the board.”
Meanwhile, she said, she’s optimistic the plan Howe Sound Secondary School presented at the meeting for the future of its controversial workplace math program is the right step forward. After looking into stats a few years ago, the district determined there was an over-representation of Indigenous learners taking the Workplace Math 10 course. The new plan will aim to increase the percentage of students transitioning from Workplace Math to a more advanced math to 50% in the short term and 75%, long-term.
“Howe Sound presented a pretty solid report and plan at our last meeting. It even helped me understand it more. I was a bit hesitant as well, but I’m confident we can make it work and work for the better,” she said.
Looking ahead, Barley said one of the most challenging tasks facing the board is hiring several prominent positions at the district, ranging from Supt. Lisa McCullough to secretary-treasurer Mohammed Azim.
“Those are some of the big challenges,” she said. “We’ve got some huge changes.”
For his part, outgoing chair Rick Price also said his biggest point of pride reflecting on his many years in the position is contributing to the strategic and education plans that helped increase Indigenous students’ graduation rates. “That’s a pretty significant accomplishment and, at the same time, our overall grad rate rose from the middle ranks to one of the highest in the province,” he said.
He plans to remain a trustee for the rest of the term and decide if he wants to run again later on. “It’s been an enormous privilege to be entrusted with the position of board chair for 12 years in the district,” he said. “It’s the district I started my career in 50 years ago. I would say it’s been a great privilege, but it’s not over.”
Outgoing vice-chair Ian Kent, however, confirmed he won’t run again at the next election, primarily because he’s moved to North Vancouver to be closer to his children and grandchildren.
Over the last 15 months, one of the major challenges associated with the pandemic has been the disconnect between the board and students, he said.
“It’s hard to be a trustee when you get to see very few kids,” he said. “Normally, we get into the school and talk to kids. Now we do it over Zoom and it’s nowhere near as rewarding.” He sees the board’s major future challenge as ensuring there’s enough classroom space for a growing school population.
“We’re growing as a district,” he said. “Particularly right now Squamish and Whistler are two areas of concern. We’re trying to look at what we can help with.”
Newly elected vice-chair Cynthia Higgins, meanwhile, said she’s looking forward to contributing to the district’s leadership and “growing both professionally and personally.”
“As this difficult year draws to a close, I would like to recognize everyone at SD48 for their exceptional level of dedication to doing the hard and brave work it took to keep schools open this year,” she said, in an email. “I would also like to acknowledge Rick Price and Ian Kent for the many years of leadership they provided while holding the positions of chair and vice-chair. I am looking forward to what this next year will bring.”
