Catholic school board chair hoping to serve another term
By Al Beeber on August 7, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com Bob Spitzig is hoping voters will give him another chance to serve as trustee of the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division.Spitzig, the current board chair, is running for his fifth term on the board which serves students from Bow Island to Pincher Creek. He is one of nine trustees on the board. Nominations close for the board election on Sept. 20. Voters go to the polls on Oct. 18.
For Spitzig, a main priority is the construction of a new school in West Lethbridge. That will be the subject of discussions Spitzig and superintendent Ken Sampson will be having in two weeks with Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange in Lethbridge.
“”I like what I’m doing, it’s enjoyable. I’m there for the kids, the students,” said Spitzig of his decision to run again.
“This year we’ve got that new westside school we have to get built. We have to do a lot of lobbying with the government to get that,” he said Friday.
“We’re meeting her (LaGrange) on the 18th and that will be one of the topics we bring up,” Spitzig said.
“We’ve had the new school on our priority list for the last four or five years. We’ve needed that new school and they keep telling us we’re on the list but nobody knows where the list is,” Spitzig said.
Another big priority for Spitzig is to maintain the essence of Catholic education.
“We really have to fight to maintain our Catholic existence and we have a couple of groups we can worth with, Grace being one out of Edmonton. That’s a grassroots committee that was started by the Alberta Catholic School Trustees Association. And it promotes Catholic education.”
“Our big concern right now is Father Leondard Van Tightem on the westside, the K-9 school. It’s fairly full which is why we need that westside school.
But the board’s priority is also to take care of all students across the division, he added.
“We’ve got 5,000 students that the trustees take care of right across the division. We look at everything. We may have our own schools we deal with on a regular basis, but when we make decisions it’s for the division,” he said.
“Our principals are really good. The principals care for each other and for all the schools, as well.” Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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