The Central Okanagan Board of Education has introduced a new meeting schedule for the 2024-25 school year that will see a reduction of regular school board meetings. 

The trustees will meet twice a month in September and June, and only once a month during the other months from October through to next May. 

In the past, the school board has met the second and fourth Wednesday each month from September to June. 

The change is influenced by the board's direction to staff to place greater emphasis on standing committee meetings to arrive at policy decisions and find more efficiency in the use of time and resources for public meetings. 

The schedule for standing committee meetings is accessible on the school district website. 

Another change is that planning and facilities issues will be folded into the finance committee agendas.

Board of education meeting will be the second Wednesday of each month - Oct. 9, Nov. 13, and Dec. 11 in 2024; and Jan. 22, Feb. 19 March 12, April 16 and May 14 in 2025. 

Months hosting two meetings will be Sept. 11 and 25, and June 11 and 25.   

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The board of education has declared the week of Sept. 23-27 as Truth and Reconciliation Week in Central Okanagan public schools, and Sept. 30 will be both National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. 

Orange Shirt Day is an annual event in remembrance of the Canadian Residential School system and the impact of government policy on First Nations. 

Wearing an orange shirt on that day has come to symbolize the experience of those who went to Indigenous residential schools, to honour them and show a collective commitment to ensure that every child matters. 

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Trustees welcomed a number of new additions to principal and vice-principal roles in Central Okanagan schools. 

In West Kelowna, they include Ryan Mansley, principal, and Randy Ellis, vice-principal, Mount Boucherie Secondary; Melissa Pastinelli, vice-principal Shannon Lake Elementary; Adam Miller, vice-principal, 脡cole Glenrosa Middle School.

In Rutland: Alex Reid, vice-principal of Rutland Middle School; Jasmeet Virk, principal of Pearson Elementary.

In Lake Country: Jennifer Hall, vice-principal, 脡cole George Elliot Secondary

Administration: Luke Campbell, district principal of Human Resources; Scott Sieben, district principal of Transitions; Natalia Asmolovskaia, SWIS (Settlement Workers in Schools) program manager.