Board of one holds meeting

Photo: School District 83.

Mike McKay

The North Okanagan Shuswap School District's board of one holds his first regular board meeting Tuesday afternoon at the district office in Salmon Arm.

Official trustee Mike McKay was appointed by the education minister in June after the nine-member board was fired.

The agenda is light with no delegations, no education component, no committee reports and no upcoming business to attend to.

However the meeting will give parents their first glimpse at the man who may decide if some schools will stay open or close next year.

McKay has already made it clear that all schools would open in September, as planned, and that the deferred decisions to close Armstrong Elementary and Silver Creek Elementary in Salmon Arm “would stay in place.”

McKay is also hopeful the government's new Rural Education Enhancement Fund, aimed at keeping rural schools open, could be utilized to save some of the schools from closure – as has happened in the south Okanagan.

The special adviser's report, which led to the dismissal of the elected board, is on the agenda under discussion items, right after a proposed student field trip to the Czech Republic next spring.

McKay has made it clear he would be guided by that report.