November, 2012
Trustee Corner
Role of the Trustee
As we enter the third, and final year of our term as
trustees, and a new election season approaches,
we believe it is important to talk about the role of
trustees for Lakeland Catholic School District.
The Lakeland Catholic School Board is comprised
of seven trustees in three wards, who are elected to
a 3-year term. Once elected, all seven trustees
represent the District as a whole, considering the
needs and interests of all students in the District,
regardless of what community they reside in or
school they attend. School boards exist for children.
As trustees, we must at all times be the children’s
advocate. One of our primary roles is to ensure that
children are provided with a quality education that
will enable them to reach their full potential. This is
not a responsibility we take lightly.
Another role of the Board is setting the overall
direction for the school system. To do this, we must
look at our District’s vision, mission, values and
beliefs before identifying our priorities and goals. To
be a Catholic school trustee represents a dual
challenge: we must ensure that students are
provided a quality education, but we must also
ensure that Catholic principles and values are
reflected in the policies, practices, and decisions of
the board. In essence we are establishing an
education system that is permeated by faith. We
must keep all this in mind as we carefully review
material prior to our Board meetings. We need to
ensure we have all the facts on local, provincial and
national developments that may affect education,
and in order for any action to be taken (or not
taken), it must be approved by a majority of
trustees. As such we must all collaborate together if
we are to achieve our goals.
That level of collaboration transcends to our
constituents. As a Board, we have an obligation to
consult with you and make an intentional effort to
do so. Through upcoming Community Engagement
evenings, we are hoping to get a broader
perspective on what is important to you, and where
your priorities lie. To that end, we encourage
parents
and stakeholders to attend our public
Board meetings that are held on the third
Wednesday of each month at 1:00 pm. We rotate
these meetings between Bonnyville, Cold Lake and
Waskatenau to allow the opportunity for all parents
to attend. Any changes to meeting times are
communicated through our website, email, and
social media.
As a trustee it is important that we are aware of and
support the work of our schools. Keeping that in
mind we attend, through invitation, a wide variety of
school and District events including District
Opening Day, Spiritual Development Days, school
productions and presentations, and high school
graduations. We believe these events are equally
as important as they allow us to be a part of each
schools’ family and experience the results of many
of our decisions.
We are honoured to be your representatives, and
look forward to meeting you all at our upcoming
Community Engagement evenings. We are sure
this will be yet another year of better education in
Lakeland Catholic Schools!
Thank you and God Bless
Lakeland Catholic Board of Trustees
Trustee Contact Information
Mary Anne Penner
Collette Zahar
Gerald Corbiere
Vicky Lefebvre
Carla Sobolewski
Margaret Borders
Kelly Henderson
(Cold Lake)
(Waskatenau)
(Bonnyville)
(Cold Lake)
(Bonnyville)
(Bonnyville)
(Cold Lake)
780-594-6428
780-636-2015
780-826-7887
780-573-1926
780-812-3208
780-826-3007
780-639-2833
As your representatives, the Lakeland Catholic Board of Trustees invites you to visit our website at www.lcsd150.ab.ca
for contact information and to view the “good news” of our Catholic schools and district.