Tarr re-ups for final board chair term;

Zandee acclaimed designated successor

By ROY WOOD

Osoyoos school trustee Marieze Tarr was re-elected by fellow trustees on Wednesday as chair of the Okanagan-Similkameen school board.

Following her acclamation, she told the board this would be her last year as chair. She announced in July that she will not run for the board in the fall 2018 elections and would not be able to complete another term in the chair.

Tarr was elected as one of two trustees from Osoyoos in 2002. She has been chair since 2011.

She asked the board on Wednesday to elect a vice chair “who will work closely with me and will be ready to take over” at the end of next year.

Oliver trustee Rob Zandee was the only name put forward and accepted the position as vice chair.

Zandee emerged as the trustee people from Osoyoos loved to hate earlier this year when he often spoke in favour of closing Osoyoos Secondary School despite efforts by the community to keep it open.

During a crucial vote in June over whether to apply for the Rural Education Enhancement Fund money to keep the school open, Zandee argued that leaving OSS open and not transferring students to Southern Okanagan Secondary in Oliver would result in the loss of a number of specialty courses.

Zandee and fellow Oliver trustee Rachel Allenbrand were the only trustees who voted against applying for the money that eventually kept OSS from closing.

Zandee was an unsuccessful Conservative candidate in the BC Southern Interior riding in the 2008 federal election. He was elected to the board in 2011.