Petition requests Chinook School Division to arrange by-election for vacant trustee position

Posted on 12 April 2022 by Matthew Liebenberg

A petition by eligible voters in Subdivision 1 of the Chinook School Division is requesting that a by-election takes place immediately to elect a trustee for the area.

The petition was started in early April in response to a recent decision by the Chinook Board of Education to leave the trustee position for this subdivision vacant until the next general election for trustees takes place in 2024. 

The Chinook Board of Education approved a motion at its regular monthly meeting on March 14 to request the Minister of Education to reduce the number of trustees from 10 to nine for the remainder of the current term ending November 2024.

The trustee position became vacant in February after long-time school board trustee Dr. Shane Andrus submitted his resignation from the board due to his relocation. He served for nine years as trustee for Subdivision 1, which includes the communities of Burstall, Fox Valley and Leader in the northwest part of the school division.

The petition was initiated with support from local authorities in Subdivision 1, and the names of the local towns, villages, rural municipalities and Hutterite colonies are indicated on the top of the document.

The petition was available at various local municipal offices as well as at some businesses in the area, where eligible voters could sign it.

The petition was scheduled to be delivered to the Chinook Board of Education and the Ministry of Education on April 11. It requests the Ministry to deny the board’s request to temporarily reduce the number of trustees from 10 to nine until the end of the board’s current term in November 2024.

The petition also requests the Chinook Board of Education to immediately arrange a by-election for Subdivision 1.

There will be more details about the concerns of petitioners and a response from the Chinook School Division in the next edition of the Prairie Post, April 22.