A map shows the electoral districts the eight NESD Board of Education members will represent (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

Eight School Trustees

NESD to change electoral boundaries, reduce number of trustees to eight

Feb 27, 2020 | 2:47 PM

Only eight seats will be available on the North East School Division’s (NESD) Board of Education ahead of the next election.

During its meeting on Feb. 26, the NESD Board of Education voted to permanently reduce its number of members from 10 to eight and change the electoral boundaries to accommodate it.

The division temporarily ran with nine board members since April 2018 following Todd Goudy’s resignation as a result of him winning a byelection to become Melfort’s MLA in March 2018. They then ran with eight members since January 2020 following the passing of Randy Ariss in December 2019.

Luke Perkins, Board Chair of the NESD, said it was up to the board to make decisions on their current state.

“We’ve had declining enrolments throughout the division and probably a few less schools since the amalgamation [in 2006],” Perkins said. “We’ve had some consultation already with [school community councils] about the new boundaries and going to eight members. We’ve had no concerns coming up; everybody feels like they’re being well represented.”

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The new electoral boundary areas are:

• Hudson Bay
• Carrot River-Arborfield
• Nipawin
• Nipawin Rural-White-Fox-Choiceland
• Melfort-Melfort Rural
• Naicam-Gronlid-Star City
• Tisdale-Tisdale Rural
• Bjorkdale-Porcupine Plain

The two largest changes are moving Arborfield from Porcupine Plain and Bjorkdale to Carrot River and having one representative for all the schools in Melfort and the rural areas that feed into Reynolds Central School and MUCC.

“The donut around Melfort will be Melfort, and the larger donut around that will be Gronlid, Star City, and Naicam,” NESD Director of Education Don Rempel explained. “We looked at electoral boundaries, which at the time of amalgamation, was representative of the number of electors in each of the areas. School attendance areas is a more representative way for people to think about who they vote for.”

Future boards of education will be able to revisit the member numbers. Perkins doesn’t believe permanently reducing the number of trustees will affect district operations.

The provincial government must approve the division’s changes to the board of education. While the NESD isn’t sure when official approval will be given, Rempel said they had to vote on the member reduction no later than the end of March in order to get ready for the provincial school board elections on Nov. 9, 2020.

“If we can make the change now, it informs the electors before the next election,” Rempel said. “This would be the time to make a permanent change.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow