For the second year in a row, Mark Gifford will serve as the chair of the New Westminster board of education.
Trustee Gifford was acclaimed as chair at Tuesday night’s inaugural school board meeting. Gifford was one of two school trustees re-elected to the school board last month after the majority of the previous board decided not to run, making him the most experienced trustee on the board with four years under his belt.
Trustee Mary Lalji, who was first elected in a June 2016 byelection, is the only other returning trustee. Lalji nominated first-time trustee Danielle Connelly for chair, but she declined the nomination.
Anita Ansari, who received the most votes in the race for school board, was acclaimed vice-chair.
Gifford, Lalji, Connelly and Ansari as well as fellow trustees Gurveen Dhaliwal, Dee Beattie and Maya Russell were all sworn into office during the inaugural meeting. Representatives and alternates for the BC School Trustee Association and BC Public School Employers’ Association were also chosen.
The school board’s first official meeting is a combined education and operations committee meeting happening next Tuesday, Nov. 13 at the school board office, 811 Ontario St. The meeting gets underway at 7:30 p.m.
