District to shed trustees

The Coast Mountain school district is getting ready to lower its trustee count from nine to seven.

  • Feb. 19, 2011 8:00 p.m.

The Coast Mountain school district is getting ready to lower its trustee count from nine to seven.

The proposal was put forward by Hazelton trustee Lynn Newbery at a school board meeting last March, saying budget cuts had been made in almost every area except when it came to the trustees themselves.

In September 2010 the board voted in favour of the reduction five to four.

School board chairman Barry Pankhurst said the board is now waiting for feedback from the communities in the school district and will send that information on to the minister of Education in April.

The minister will then make the final decision.

Pankhurst said that if the no-one in the community gets too excited about the reduction, he anticipates the minister will agree with the board’s decision to make the cuts.

He added the savings associated with the reduction will be around $26,000 – $27, 000 per year.

“It’s not a major cost of the school district to have trustees,” Pankhurst pointed out.

The reduction will be one trustee from Terrace and one from Kitimat.

Kitimat Northern Sentinel