Trustee Neufeld M.I.A.

SD #27 Superintendent Mark Thiessen 

This past Monday - School District #27 Superintendent Mark Thiessen met with members of the Columneetza PAC (Parent Advisory Council) to discuss the upcoming changes to school grades at Columneetza (Gr 10-12 to Gr 7-9).  For this move - I give him full marks for this move as he didn't have to go to this meeting and defend what was a Board decision.  A point repeated on Welcome to Williams Lake's Facebook page by a couple of parents who said:

This just shows you how down to earth Mark Thiessen truly is. S.D 27 is very lucky to have him as the Superintendent of Schools. Great job Mr.Thiessen

AND

We, at Columneetza PAC were very thankful that he made an appearance and was willing to meet our very tough questions head on. We will continue to advocate for the best interests of students in our district, as we see them, and we appreciate his efforts to support us in that

He did make a recommendation to the Board (Gr 7-9 at WL Jr and Gr 10-12 at Columneetza) which, according to the Advisor, was rejected by the Board in favour of Gr 7-9 at Columneetza Sec and Gr 10-12 at WL Jr Secondary

Meanwhile - a even better move, in my opinion, would have been to have City of WL (Zone 6) Trustee Dr. Doug Neufeld alongside Superintendent Thiessen to explain why he and his colleagues made the grade decisions for both Columneetza/WL Jr Secondary

In my opinion - elected officials should not send Staff to defend their decision(s).  If you are brave enough to make that decision - go and defend that decision before the general public.  If the public believes you, you get re-elected at the next election