The Medicine Hat Public School Division's next board has been decided, with a pair of new but familiar faces joining three returnees.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
The votes are in, and the Medicine Hat Public Division has a new board of trustees.
The division will be represented by two incumbents and three new faces. Catherine Wilson is entering her 13th year in the position and Pat Grisonich is heading into his second term.
Quinn Skelton, Gwendoline Dirk and Megan Hilgendorf are joining the board as first-time trustees.
Wilson originally took on the trustee position after her father’s sudden passing left a vacancy. Her father, Roy Wilson, had served on the public school board for more than 30 years.
She initially ran to finish out her father’s term, but quickly discovered her own passion for the work and has continued to serve in the role, eventually chairing the board.
“It’s an honour to serve the community, and so for me to be re-elected just means I’m doing great work, and we’re going to steer ahead and keep going in the right direction for our kids,” she told the News on Thursday.
She says student advocacy has been a cornerstone of her time with the division.
“We really like having them at the table to give us their feedback,” she said.
Grisonich, a former teacher and principal, says his first term was a great experience and he congratulates his former colleagues on a successful four years.
Heading into term two, Grisonich says he wants to continue to explore new programming for students and work with the government to improve funding for local schools. The main thing, he says, is to facilitate conversations between teachers, students and government, and to continue striving for better all the time.
“I have two brothers that are both teachers. We all became teachers because we love everything about education. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but this. I’m never going to quit doing everything I can to make sure we have the best school system we can.”
Skelton has been involved in education in the Hat for 35 years. After retiring as a teacher in June, he felt the timing was right to try a bid for a trustee position.
“I’m a product of public education, and I just want to support the process, learn where we’re at right now and what needs to be addressed. I’m very familiar as a teacher. Now it’s going to be changing hats and listening to it from another perspective,” he said.
Skelton received the most votes of any new trustee with 3,171.
“Support has been fantastic,” he said. “People came up and said hi that I haven’t met before and had some very positive interactions. So I appreciate the support of the people. It’s been quite an adventure.”
Dirk has been involved in the Medicine Hat community in a variety of ways, from teaching at the college to working with the police commission and running for office with the NDP. But she’s always had ambitions to sit on the school board, and after coming close in 2021, she’s thrilled to be elected trustee.
“I’ve acquired a lot of experience in bringing people together and in leadership. I brought more to the table this time,” she said.
Now that she’s been elected, she says her first task is to talk to her colleagues, visit schools and find out what the needs are before she sets her own list of priorities.
I’ll just be absorbing everything I can. I’ll be feeling my way through all of this. I don’t have a big agenda that I’m coming in with. I just want to serve and learn,” she said. “I’m very passionate about this particular role.”
This was Hilgendorf’s first campaign for public office, and she says she’s honoured to see a positive result on her first try.
A mother to children in the public division, Hilgendorf has been a trustee on the Medicine Hat Public Library Board for the last four years. She says she had the governance experience and the personal passion to make her an ideal advocate on the board.
The three principles she campaigned on are collaborative leadership, active representation and student and staff wellness. Hilgendorf has also worked with the school division as a strength and conditioning coach.
“I want to make sure that we’re advocating on behalf of the people within the division to make it a really health and welcoming space that everybody feels like they have a place in,” she said.
Poor turnout
dampens excitement for trusteeships
While she’s thrilled to serve another term as trustee, Wilson says she’s disappointed by the lack of voter interaction with the school trustee race.
Grisonich, the candidate with the most votes in the 2021 election, received 5,839 votes in 2021. This year, only one candidate – Grisonich again – cracked 4,000 votes.
“There is so much confusion on whether people can even vote for school board trustee,” said Wilson.
“Now more than ever, we need to really stand by our school board trustees because of what’s happening in the education world. We are good advocates. It’s important that people do their research and understand the voting process, because it is so important to vote for school board trustees.”
