The race to replace School District 71 board of education trustee and former chair Ian Hargreaves will be underway soon.
Comox Valley Schools has announced the nomination period for the board will run from Oct. 27 through Nov. 6, with voting to happen in December.
The position on the board represents Electoral Area C within the Comox Valley Regional District. Hargreaves had stepped down both as chair and board member at a meeting in early September. He was subsequently replaced as chair by board member Sheila McDonnell at a public meeting later in September.
RELATED STORY: Sheila McDonnell elected chair of Comox Valley Schools board
The new board member will represent the Puntledge-Black Creek area for the remaining two years of Hargreaves’ term.
To oversee the election process for the byelection, the school district has appointed Clyde Woolman as chief election officer and Marlene Leach as deputy chief election officer.
Comox Valley Schools will have nomination packages for interested candidates available at the school board office at 607 Cumberland Rd., in Courtenay during regular office hours – 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. The completed nomination documents are to be delivered by hand, mail or courier to the board office by the deadline in early November.
To qualify for the board of education, potential candidates must be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years old as of general voting day on Saturday, Dec. 12, a resident of B.C. for a least six months prior to filing nomination papers and not disqualified from nomination, being elected or holding office under the School Act or any other government act, or be otherwise disqualified by law.
RELATED STORY: Comox Valley Schools board of education chair resigns
Hargreaves stepped down at a special meeting on Sept. 1, citing frustration over matters such as a policy of how to end public meetings, adding he said over the past year as chair, it had become clear to him that his vision for how the board should operate was not the same as that of the majority of trustees.
“This has caused me great distress and stress,” he said at the time of the meeting.