By ROY WOOD

School Board Chair Marieze Tarr spent the first half of the year at the centre of a political storm that blew across the district when it announced it would close Osoyoos Secondary School because of declining enrollments and a growing budget shortfall.

The crisis was resolved at the last moment in June when the provincial government, facing angry constituents and a general election in May 2017, came up with money to keep OSS and several other rural BC schools open.

She agreed on Wednesday to serve one more term as chair of the board. She will not seek re-election as a trustee in the next election in 2018.

Tarr was the public face of the board throughout the winter and spring period and faced angry and at times personal attacks from parents and others in the community.

It was on that subject that she began an interview earlier in the week looking back over this year and forward to next. (The interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Oliver Daily News: How would you sum up the year for you and the board?

Tarr: It’s been a challenging year, as you know. But we’ve moved beyond the challenges into new financial era, which, if the (provincial) government fulfills its promises, should be good for the foreseeable future at least.

There have also been some highlights that came out of the whole consultation period. We heard some ways that the community felt that we should save money, and we’ve implemented a whole lot of those cuts.

By receiving extra money from the province to keep the school open, by increasing the student-teacher ratio, by cutting administration time, by cutting the network leaders program, plus an increase in student numbers we have managed to come up with a budget surplus. That is a good news story.

Our kids are doing well. For example, we just received an award for our trades programs.

I know the bad might overshadow the good for some people. But for the board and certainly for myself, I think I wouldn’t be telling you that I’m running for the chair again if I was not a person who chooses to concentrate on the good.

ODN: What have you learned about your constituents?

Tarr: I learned that the community of Osoyoos is happy with the education that students are receiving. I also learned that there’s a lot of passion for having a high school in Osoyoos and they want their high school at all costs.

ODN: Looking back at how things unfolded, is there anything you would have done differently?

Tarr: At the moment things are happening, you deal with what’s in front of you. So I don’t think that’s really a fair question.

Looking back on our lives, we can always say, “Oh, I should have done this or that.” But that really gets you nowhere. I choose to say so this is where we are now and move forward.

I still think it was a good process to go through we learned a lot of things and that’s what I choose to concentrate on.

ODN: How have you dealt with the personal attacks?

Tarr: I’ve totally got past that.

I’ve also, in the past couple of months, had a lot of people come forward and tell me what a great job I’ve done and thanked me for what I’ve done.

I choose to concentrate on that and not on the negative.

ODN: How do you see the relationship between school districts and the province?

Tarr: I think the ministry sure has listened to school districts in the past couple of months and I think our advocacy by the BC School Trustees Association has definitely worked. A lot of things the BCSTA has asked the ministry of education to change has have been changed.

I think there always is a bit of strain in the relationship. A lot of school districts are unhappy with how the ministry first said there was no more money and then all of a sudden brought more money to the table at the 99th hour.

But ultimately we have to put our differences aside and concentrate on the things that are important to the school districts and the ministry, which are the best education possible for our students. That’s what binds us together.

BC should be proud of our education system. The new Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results showed that BC students are among the top in the world in math, reading, writing and science.

We do a really good job of education our children. Of course, our teachers are to be commended for that, too.

We naturally need to let the ministry know when we are not happy and how we can do things better. But that’s how we move forward.

ODN: How does future funding look?

Tarr: Everyone wants a new funding formula and the ministry has assured us they are going to come up with a new funding model. They’ve also told us the money we got to keep OSS open will be in the budget for next year.

The rural education fund will be part of the new funding model, but they are looking at funding education and school districts in a whole different way.

We don’t know exactly when. They’ve told we can expect to hear something in the new year, so we are just waiting to see what that’s going to look like.

ODN: What are your goals for the next year or two?

Tarr: We are working on some new policies; particularly we are looking at coming up with a policy around the roles and responsibilities of school trustees.

We’re also going to spend a full day looking at our governance structure.

And, of course, continuing to provide the best possible education for the students in our district. And continuing to find ways to improve the mental health of our students. There’s certainly a great need for advocacy around the mental health of our students.

ODN: Are school boards still relevant?

Tarr: I’m hoping that they are.

We are the ones who are supposed to be setting the direction for the school district and setting goals.

Our just developed a new vision for the district for the next five years.

The role of trustees has certainly changed. It has become more and more about governance and setting policies and direction than ever before.

ODN: What’s board’s position on the BC Supreme Court action questioning the legitimacy of the recent by-election?

Tarr: As soon as the position is declared vacant then it is the board’s responsibility to declare a chief election officer. Then we hand responsibility to run the election over to that person. In this case it is secretary treasurer Lynda Minnabarriet.

So it’s not between the board and the candidate. It’s between the chief election officer and the candidate. The supreme court will ultimately make the decision.