Sheppard making bid for second term for Okanagan Skaha School District

Barb Sheppard describes herself as an entrepreneur, a volunteer and a passionate supporter of Penticton, with a son in Grade 10 at Penticton Secondary. Community involvement is a significant part of her life, she says, and she sees being a trustee for the Okanagan Skaha School District as an important way of giving back to her community.

While her son attended Uplands Elementary, Sheppard introduced and lead the Farm Bag Fundraising Program to support Uplands PAC. She volunteered for the One-to-One reading program, the chess club, was a parent volunteer during a number of field trips and brought community partnership opportunities to the attention of staff.

Locally she has been involved with the B.C. Interior RV Show, the Okanagan Similkameen Healthy Living Fair, the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale and the Okanagan International Children’s Festival as well as many others. Running her own business has allowed her the flexibility to be involved in the community.

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She was a board member of Community Futures Okanagan Similkameen for 15 years, which she said gave her extensive experience working with boards on budgets and policy. In addition, she is a life-long learner and in the past delivered an “Event Planning” course at the Shatford Centre, the same course she offered for five years as a Continuing Studies option at the Penticton campus of Okanagan College.

Sheppard said she did extensive research before deciding to first run for school trustee in 2014. She thrives on being a part of a team that sets and achieves their goals, she said, so it was important to her that her skills and experience fit well with the needs of SD67. When she won a seat on the school board, Sheppard made a promise to commit to a minimum of two terms.

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Sheppard said that during her four years as an SD67 trustee, she has ensured she attends all of the meetings prepared, ready to ask questions and listening to the team before voting. She also says she has committed to the role of school trustee and stands by the trustee code of conduct, attending both the trustee academy professional development workshops the annual general meeting.

Sheppard said she looks forward to continuing to put her business, governance and community background to work as a second term trustee. Between her board governance work and her work with various committees and community organizations, Sheppard has developed an ability to listen to the sometimes conflicting needs of various parties and look for options that meet the best interests of the group and to create and maintain relationships and deliver solutions that work.

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