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West Van drops one school board incumbent

Pieter Dorsman is the only current trustee not to be re-elected while Lynne Block is a new trustee.
West Van school board
West Vancouver will have four incumbents and one new school trustee.

There’s one new school trustee on the West Vancouver board of education – Lynne Block, a retired educator, came third in the polls, while incumbent Pieter Dorsman dropped off the board.

All five school trustee incumbents ran for re-election, and four of them were successful: Carolyn Broady, Nicole Brown, Dave Stevenson and Sheelah Donahue.

Block said she is “thrilled and honoured and really excited” to join the four incumbents on the West Vancouver school board, and she’s looking forward to bringing her “experience, knowledge and expertise to the table.”

Block said when she was campaigning, she didn’t hear much talk about a need for change. Rather, she said she felt her experience in education was “key” as to why she resonated with the public. She has worked in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education and with children with a wide variety of learning needs, from fetal-alcohol syndrome to autism. She also received the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

“I can’t wait to bring my 30 years of classroom and administration experience to the board,” she said.

Block said she was especially happy she received a lot of support from seniors, as she believes there should be more inter-generational learning, “more collaboration, co-operation and support between all generations.”

The harmonization of salaries and benefits is one of the big challenges for West Vancouver as their teachers are some of the lowest paid in B.C., Block said. She also wants “local language” for classroom composition.

 

West Vancouver school trustee preliminary results (official results will be posted on Wednesday, Oct. 24):

Carolyn Broady  5,967

Nicole Brown  5,816

Lynne Block  5,370

Dave Stevenson  4,640

Sheelah Donahue  4,439

Pieter Dorsman  4,290

Charlotte Burns  2,719