The board of trustees voted, and Erika Lougheed will serve another year term as the Chair of the Near North District School Board. She will be joined by a new Vice-Chair, Ashley St. Pierre, who is taking over the seat from Howard Wesley.
Each year, the positions are chosen by a secret ballot cast by board members. Candidates must be nominated by someone on the board, and if elected, will serve in that role for a one-year term.
“I’m happy to do it,” Lougheed said of chairing the board. “I have experience with municipal politics that translates well here, and I feel confident going into the second year.” Lougheed served as a municipal councillor in East Ferris before being elected to the school board in 2022.
See: Lougheed elected new Near North Board chair
As chair, Lougheed will continue to preside over meetings of the board while ensuring everything complies with board procedures and practices. She also establishes agendas for meetings in consultation with the board’s director of education.
There’s a dedication to procedure, “like making sure when we have motions come to the table that they fit within our bylaws,” Lougheed explained. The chair also serves as the spokesperson for the board.
If the chair is absent, the vice-chair fills these roles. “I’m excited to have vice-chair St. Pierre with me” for the term, Lougheed added.
Ashley St. Pierre is entering her second year as the Indigenous Trustee, which means she represents seven First Nations within the region covered by the Near North District School Board. She was appointed by each Nation to sit at the table, and she lives in Moose Deer Point First Nation, about 40 minutes south of Parry Sound.
She works as an education counsellor and is pleased to be chosen to sit as vice-chair. “It’s an honour,” she said, and “it’s an honour to be the voice of the First Nations on the board.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
