Maya Russell and Cheryl Sluis will head up the New Westminster school board for 2023-24.
Russell, who has been acting chair since Gurveen Dhaliwal stepped away from the position in June, was officially acclaimed as chair for the new school year at the Sept. 26 board meeting.
Russell was nominated by trustee Danielle Connelly during board elections at the end of the meeting. No other candidates were nominated.
The position of vice-chair was contested by two candidates: Cheryl Sluis, nominated by trustee Marc Andres; and Connelly, who nominated herself with a nod to her “experience, seniority and proven track record.”
Connelly, in her second term on the board, is the lone trustee who belongs to the New West Progressives.
Sluis was elected to her first term in October 2022 as part of the Community First New West slate along with Russell, Sluis, Andres, Dhaliwal and Elliott Slinn.
The election was held by secret ballot.
The board also selected its B.C. School Trustees Association provincial delegate and alternate: Dhaliwal and Slinn, respectively.
It also chose its representative for the B.C. Public School Employers' Association and alternate: Connelly and Slinn, respectively. Sluis was also nominated as the alternate but turned down the nomination.
