Voters clearly wanted to see more of the same when it came to electing the Okanagan-Skaha School Board.
Incumbent trustees from Penticton and Summerland were re-elected to the board of education during the 2022 municipal election.
For Penticton seats, Shelley Clarke topped the polls with 4,138 votes, followed by former board chair James Palanio (4,043 votes), Tracy Van Raes (4,061 votes) and Barb Sheppard (3,370 votes).
Summerland voters also wanted experience around the table with retired Summerland Secondary teacher Dave Stathers taking the most votes (2,056) and Linda Van Alphen (1,927 votes) re-elected.
Two candidates were running to unseat a Penticton trustee; retired RCMP officer and children’ s book author Kate Hansen and city council watchdog Lynn Kelsey.
The other two candidates for the two Summerland school trustee positions were Erin Hayman who finished with 1,261 votes and Maureen Harrington who received 600 votes.
Karen Botsford defeated Jesse Martin for the seventh seat as the rural representative. That seat was formerlyt filled by Kathy Pierre.
The school district has some big projects coming up, including an $11 million gym to be constructed in Summerland.
The board will also be tackling the Long Term Facilities Plan which will likely include a school closure or reconfiguration of schools.
In the all-candidates meeting, each incumbent trustee acknowledged that with low enrolment over the last decade, the district is going to have to ‘right size’ the district which includes looking at closing schools.
READ MORE: Penticton has a new mayor
READ MORE: Summerland chooses incumbent trustees
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