The Life of a School Trustee (Jul 25, 2022)

Miscellaneous

Repeat from last week or until no longer relevant or until I delete it:

Blair is now a member of our club.

Exchange student Max is arriving August 16^{th .} So start planning some activities for Max.

Zoom Meeting Rules

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Be kind and be calm and safe...

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

Live in the sunshine swim in the sea and live in the wonderful air.

VISITORS

Laurence Bourke

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Max flight arrives August 16^th 10 AM.

Sam did a great job as acting president in Melinda's absence.

sergeant At Arms Tidbits

Larry is taking five days off as he has been working hard and a lot of stuff going on. Off to Birch Bay for some relaxation and entertaining. Sees the surgeon August 2 so somewhat anxious but will lay back and do nothing while in Birch Bay and Happy Pride.

Danny came back from hiking Brandywine Falls a 250 foot climb and a 5 mile hike that took 2 hours to reach the top. He then hiked for 3 hours around Joffre Lake. He is now leaving to Dubai and the Philippines and will be back in September. Have a safe trip.

Dick was taken out for Chinese dinner at the Fisherman’s seafood house where he saw Chris(who mistook him for Dave 😖 ? )and Malcolm. Off to Point Roberts for the weekend with the in-laws.

Susan had a couple weeks of starting work at 7 so she missed the last two meetings but enjoyed the event with Jennifer Jones and is currently enjoying the summer and things are going well.

Debbie T. after finding the right place to stand, advised us that they went camping to Englishman’s River with the infamous trailer that made it there and back and the dogs had a good time. Her golden retriever was not well as her? belly and legs had gone crimson red with hot spots caused by the heat. The dogs is now on anti biotics and pain killers. She(that is Debbie) is looking forward to the pride parade Sunday with the school district group.

Peachy's son had a day off, so they spent it cooking and watching Netflix.

Gordon delighted us with the "Dalglish Shuffle". He is impressed with Danny’s travel but Gord managed a trip to Steveston village and lunch with Dean Rohrs and husband. She extended her apologies for not making the Paul Harris dinner. It was a lovely meal at Steveston Seafood House and near another noisy table that must have been imported from our club.

Pat was in Palm Springs enjoying the 110 F. heat but only golfed once. Spent time with a friend who is in rehabilitation.

Blair pre-empted all the others at the particularly noisy table this morning and claimed he won’t sit with them again – at least until next week. He played pickleball twice in the heat on the weekend and took elevator instead of stairs on Monday.

Mary Lou was here in person and spent a crazy week with a friend from Australia playing tourist, watched dragon boat racing, went to Shawnigan lake and Victoria. The high light was Alan’s birthday dinner and amazing fire works. Off to the cabin tomorrow.

Chris B. was, as usual, visible and audible. She is not enjoying the heat every day which is going to feel like 36 and could not sleep through the noise of the fans – she did not mean her noisy fans sitting at her table Thursday morning. She is now finished the intense teaching of educational assistants who are going to be great. If I heard correctly all the teaching materials were lost and will have to be rebuilt. Yikes no back up? Grandson in town at the end of the month and will do little boy stuff. Apparently, he already knows how to P. Saw Barb and Dave at the restaurant – whoever Dave is, but not right away as Barb was with a lot of people and then Dick (Dave) did show up and Chris was so excited she thought it was Dave (Dale, Dalbir, Amir) no I mean Dick. Or did Dave leave????

Peter taught grandson to P. in a bush. His business is booming with a record month in May followed by a strong June. Had a lot to do with the damp weather. Slower with the drier weather but still doing well.

Bob’s cousin in his 40s passed away from auto immune hepatitis as he went for surgery and dialysis and found out he had a brain bleed. Bob met with friends from elementary school at O'Hare’s.

Kal says Laurence has not missed a beat as he fit in perfectly with what is now called the noisy table(aka the Bad Boys Table). Learned new pronunciations of Malcolm and Jacomb.

Bill reported that Jake is having bunion surgery.

Laurence claimed he has nothing to do with the noisy table(but he was sitting at the Bad Boys table when I decided to join). He used to have a great face book hockey photo but his company asked him to replace it with something more professional. The table voted he replace the hockey photo with this 👺 . Son Cameron graduated from UVic and Laurance is happy the bills have stopped. Cameron during first year said he would never live in Victoria but now has met a girl and is staying in Victoria.

Dalbir had a nice Friday dinner with Kal and Lavina and also went to John Fogerty who was on stage for two hours. He had dinner at a Carderos Lyft and Glowbal during the week. Celebrated his Granddaughter’s 3^rd birthday and off to the cabin tomorrow.

Christine M. missed the last couple of weeks as on Hornby Island and then to a friends cabin past Cache Creek and engaged in no fish fishing. The kids are leaving Friday for Europe for a month so she is home alone with the pets. 🙀. Went for dinner at Autostrada. Going to the driving range after the meeting to practice her drives.

I am off to Scotland for three weeks and regaled the crowd, including the noisy table, with tales of battling the ants.

Garth pointed out that Bobby comes prepared with duct tape, ruler and calculator – hail our new treasurer. Motto – Be Prepared! Garth’s house guests are back today. Saw a good concert at the Chan Centre.

Bobby’s son Ethan had an ultrasound that showed a full tear in Achilles tendon so will probably require surgery. The garden is looking good and picked the first of the zucchinis (won’t be the last) the bell peppers are looking good. Planning to go to Whistler but if not he will let people know the place is vacant. Otherwise busy at work.

Sam played a game of kidney stone chicken with father, Bill. They went to a movie theatre and Bill was not looking great and said he needed to go to the hospital. While driving there, Bill had to stop on Cambie and make like Voldemort was shooting bolts at Bill with a magic wand. (picture Bill writhing on the ground). Sam called 911 and they said the ambulance would be there in an hour. Called Shelly who drove him to the hospital. Bill threw up 2 minutes into the chair and slid out of the chair onto the floor. Bill was into ICU quickly where he calmed down, as a third kidney stone was stuck in his ureter (ouch glad you are better). Bill told everyone at the hospital he had run 18 kilometres – some were even told twice. Has now seen the movie.

SPEAKER

Debbie T. our long-time school trustee told us about what School Trustees do and why it is so important to learn about the candidates before voting. There are 60 boards of education in the province who are elected in the fall every four years. There are 7 trustees elected in Richmond. The Boards work together with Boards from different regions as well the mayor and council. The candidates are often just lay people with an interest in education but experience in accounting is really helpful as well as planning. Trustees are community leaders who work alongside the minister of education and childcare and development and MLAs. The main responsibility is student achievement and moving toward new education processes working with staff. The Trustees are also responsible for the fiscal management of the district. The annual budget is $180 million the majority of which is spent on staff. There are also difficult decisions every year in letting some staff go. Staff will make recommendations to the Trustees who will also consult with stakeholders before submitting the budget and it must be balanced. Trustees also develop a five year strategic plan for the district. The staff and Trustees follow the plan in their decision making. Staff reports back to the Trustees what they are doing to meet the plan. Goals for the plan are set with the intention of raising student achievement. The Trustees attend one in camera meeting and then a public meeting the 4^th Wednesday of every month with in camera at 5 and the public meeting at 7 which can go until midnight. There are many standing committees for different issues and those issues are discussed with stakeholders and community. For example an Education committee discusses new programs, the finance and legal committee discuss budgeting and staffing, and the building and facilities committee does a lot of advocating to the province. There are continuing seismic upgrades and 20 schools to go. Debbie’s first committee meeting she got the door prize because a neighbour’s house had been broken into near the new McNeil school. The Trustees have developed a SOGI policy and are working on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Many of these policies and education plan can be found online here Home Page | School District No. 38 (Richmond) (sd38.bc.ca) .

The Trustees engage with students, stakeholders, and the community to learn and attend to their needs and also attend community events. The Trustees deal with the Richmond Teachers Association, the Principals and Vice-principals and the Trustees have their own organization the BC School Trustees Association that advocates locally and federally for community members and schools. They also work with the bargaining agent for the schools and the press. Debbie has had to deal with calls complaining the flags were not coming down at dusk, model airplanes in the wrong place and complaints about grad and retirement. It has been an adventure for Debbie and she urges us to read and learn about the candidates for school trustees as it is really important. Thank you Debbie for all your work over the years and your presentation today.

CLUB BUSINESS

Max is coming.

Meanderings

So with the visit of Pope Francis I thought a brief history of his life from Wikipedia would be of interest. So here it is:

Pope Francis born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 2013. Francis is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since Gregory III, a Syrian who reigned in the 8th century.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness, he was inspired to join the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots and the Kirchners considered him to be a political rival. Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is credited with having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments.

Francis maintains the traditional views of the Church regarding abortion, clerical celibacy and the ordination of women, but has initiated dialogue on the possibility of deaconesses and has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia. He maintains that the Church should be more open and welcoming for members of the LGBT community. Francis is an outspoken critic of unbridled capitalism, and free market economics, consumerism, and overdevelopment; he advocates taking action on climate change. In international diplomacy, he helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises and made a deal with China to define how much influence the nation has in appointing Catholic Bishops. Since 2018, Francis has been an opponent of neo-nationalism and populism. He has faced criticism from theological conservatives on many questions, especially his suggestion that divorced and remarried Catholics may be admitted to receive the Eucharist.

If you are interested in reading more, here is the link. Pope Francis - Wikipedia

Upcoming Events

Next Board Meeting August 8th.

Friday May 6th 2023 Gala Auction

TODAY'S CHUCKLEs

🤣 🤓 🤪 🥸 😋😘 😜 😏 😂 😇

😁 🙃 🤡

Dating after 50 is like trying to find the least damaged thing at a thrift store that doesn’t smell.

I saw some idiot put a water bottle in the donut holder on the treadmill.

I just learned that the paper towels by the gas pump are for wiping your tears away after filling your car with gas.