The window is now open for candidates to submit their nomination form for the by-election to fill a vacant Kelowna seat on the Central Okanagan Board of Education.
The nomination period started May 11 and continues until May 21, 4 p.m.
Board chair Moyra Baxter offered a reminder at the May 12 board of education meeting that candidates don’t have to live within the City of Kelowna boundaries to run for the trustee seat, vacated by the death of Rolli Cacchioni in March after suffering a stroke.
“You just have to be nominated by somebody who does live within the boundaries of Kelowna,” said Baxter.
Candidate nomination packages are available at the city clerk’s office (second floor) at Kelowna City Hall.
There will be two dates for advanced voting: Wednesday, June 16, and Wednesday, June 23, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., both days at the Hollywood Road Education Centre in Rutland.
Generating voting day is Saturday, June 26, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at Rutland Senior Secondary, Okanagan Mission Secondary, École Kelowna Senior Secondary and École Dr. Knox Middle schools.
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Central Okanagan Public Schools superintendent/CEO Kevin Kaardal reports the school staff vaccination effort was completed last week, with a further inoculation opportunity possible in June for those who were missed.
Kaardal noted the vaccination efforts with staff and possibly with students moving forward will help schools be safer when classes resume in September.
He said the trend has been downward for school exposures across the district this month.
“It is not positive when positive tests occur but it is positive in terms of the number of exposures that we are on the right trajectory,” he said.
“Our hope is to see the community exposures drop as well.”
Baxter commended the school district administrative staff, school principals and vice-principals, and teachers for their collaborative effort to undertake the vaccination effort on relatively short notice.
“My thanks to everyone as this was a team effort across the school district,” she said.
That effort was further recognized in a letter to the board of education by Scott Sieben, with the Central Okanagan Principals and Vice-Principals’ Association, “for going above and beyond to ensure that all staff members who wished to be vaccinated were assigned a time…it was a tremendous organizational accomplishment.”
That appreciation was extended to Kaardal and Bob McEwan, school district executive director of human resources.
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The board of education will have a joint meeting with the District of Lake Country council on Tuesday, May 25.
Baxter noted she expects the opening of the new H.S. Grenda Middle School in September, a likely major talking point in the meeting.
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Central Okanagan students are embracing the Move 4 MANA initiative that will help save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in developing countries, and at the same time, promote physical exercise activity for students.
MANA is a ready-to-use therapeutic food, with each packet containing 500 calories and provide essential nutrients for children facing starvation.
Mehak Parihar, a student helping to lead the local Move 4 MANA campaign, said for every 500 calories burned by a participating school student, the Food for Famine Society will donate a packet of MANA to a child in need.
Parihar said the local goal is to provide 500 MANA packets, noting that Rutland Senior Secondary jumped on board with more than 100 participants signing on in the initial days of the campaign, hoping to inspire other students across the school district to join the effort.
