School board trustees in the Fraser Cascade will likely see their remuneration more than double this year.
Trustees voted unanimously for a first, second and third reading of the recommendation for the pay hike at Tuesday night’s board meeting. They will vote to adopt the bylaw amendment at an upcoming meeting.
If adopted, the board chair’s remuneration will jump from $12,000 annually to $24,500, and trustees will jump from $10,000 annually to $21,500. A new amount has also been added for vice board chair, at 22,500.
The raise would be backdated to Jan. 1, 2019.
The agenda only called for one reading, but newly-elected board chair Ron Johnstone made a motion for all three readings to take place at once. There was no discussion of the pay raise.
The next Fraser Cascade School Board meeting is on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. at Agassiz elementary secondary.
NEW ROLES
With a new school year starting, new roles were voted on for the board members.
Trustee Ron Johnstone is the new board chair, and Trustee Linda Kerr is the new vice-chair.
The board’s representative for the BCPSEA will be Trustee Wendy Colman-Lawley, with Kerr as alternate. The BCSTA Provincial Council representative will be Johnstone, with Trustee John Koopman as alternate. The representative for the Fraser Valley Branch of the BCSTA will be Heather Stewin.
There are also changes to trustee roles in the district that parents will want to know about. While in the past, a trustee has been assigned to each school, the board voted on Tuesday to do away with that system. Those trustee liaisons would typically try to attend Parent Advisory Council meetings for their respective schools, as well as regularly attending school events.
But the trustees voted to remove the liaison role portion of the trustee handbook. Instead, parent advisory council members and the District Parent Advisory Council are encouraged to connect with the board chair, who can advise which trustee or district department would best help them.
Trustee Marilyn Warren said at the meeting that she sees it as a “tearing down of walls” instead of creating them. Board chair Johnstone assured a member of the public that parents are welcome to connect with the board members at any time with concerns or requests.