The Abbotsford school district’s board of education has a new face at its helm.
Rhonda Pauls was elected by trustees to lead the board over the next year, taking over from Cindy Schafer, who stood for, and was elected, vice-chair. Shirley Wilson had been vice-chair.
Schafer had previously served as chair for seven years, between 2008 and 2011 and from 2013 through the past year.
Pauls was first elected to the board of education in 2011, and served one year as vice-chair of the board in 2012. Prior to becoming a trustee, she served as vice-chair, and then chair, of the District Parents’ Advisory Council.
“We have so much to celebrate as a district; however, the fact that our students outperform the provincial average in most areas is not good enough. It is our collective goal to be constantly improving,” she said in a release. “Our students are the next generation of leaders and our challenge is to guide and prepare them for a life and work force that we know is evolving faster than we can even comprehend at times. But we embrace this challenge.”