There will be some new faces, and one familiar one, around the Mountain View School Division board table following a byelection, last Wednesday.
Floyd Martens will return to the MVSD board as a trustee for Ward 1 along with newcomer Conrad Nabess, while Ward 2 will see Scott Lynxleg take the empty seat and Jarri Thompson will represent the City of Dauphin as a Ward 4 trustee.
Martens, who earned 203 of the 420 ballots cast in Ward 1, was one of three trustees to resign in June. He is looking forward to getting back to work.
“Every time there’s an election and you have people coming to the table. It’s a new board in lots of ways, so we’ll see what happens, what takes place,” Martens said, adding his initial focus will be on the budgetting process and ensuring what is happening in classrooms is benefitting students.
“Things within schools that are happening, that obviously are going to need to be the focus. For me that’s my priority.
“We need to focus on the things that are really significant. The province has been looking at a funding model and may have shared that information with the board, I don’t know.
“Obviously we’re at budget almost now, so it needs to get in place relatively soon. My thought is where’s that at and what does that look like and what does that mean for Mountain View?”
For Lynxleg, the election was a learning experience that he is looking forward to continuing at the board table.
“My first priority was to get on the board, which is done and now it’s to attend first meetings, catch up on housekeeping of what a board member does. I’d like to hear from all board members now that we have a full board, to hear everybody’s thoughts on what we’re going to do as a board going forward. It’s time for some change, and good change, I think we need it, obviously we do,” he said, adding his goal is to bring the focus back to the children whose education should be the board’s main priority.
“My priority is the kids, all the kids. We kind of lose sight of that and I think somewhere along the road that was lost. What I’m going to be focusing on is working with the board, parents, staff, anybody that wants to contribute, and getting things focused, I guess back where they’re supposed to be.
“First of all we need safe schools and respect for everybody and inclusion and then you go from there.”
Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.
