Ron Kowalchuk (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Fond farewell

Living Sky honours retiring board members

Nov 5, 2020 | 5:33 PM

It was a night of many goodbyes at Living Sky School Division this week.

The division honoured five retiring board members for their service with dinner, a gift and a video presentation, while also following COVID-19 precautions.

School board members Ron Kowalchuk, Glenn Wouters, Todd Miller, Tracie Heintz and Garth Link are departing from their positions and not seeking re-election.

Long-time member Kowalchuk said he enjoyed his time with the board.

“After 38 years I thought it was time to step down,” he said in an interview with battlefordsNOW. “I’m 72 years old, and I thought it was time to slow down and let somebody else try it for awhile.”

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Kowalchuk has been serving on school boards since 1982.

Long history

For the first 10 years he served on local area school boards, starting with Blaine Lake. Then, he served with Living Sky School Division, formed by an amalgamation of the former Battlefords School Division No. 118, LandsWest School Division No. 123 and the Sonningdale and Cando School Districts of the Biggar School Division No. 50. Living Sky elected its first board in 2005.

Kowalchuk is proud of the board’s achievements over the years, adding that looking to meet the students’ needs is always the first priority.

As part of the Living Sky board, he is glad to have helped Hafford and area rural schools have access to a mobile welding trailer.

“There are still more [programs] that can be done that way,” Kowalchuk said.

Kowalchuk is also retiring from his position as the mayor of Hafford where he served in the role for eight years, and prior to that as a councillor for 23 years.

“I’ve always been an advocate for local government,” he said.

Kowalchuk who lives in Hafford has also been a volunteer firefighter for 40 years.

Glenn Wouters. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Glenn Wouters who lives in Battleford is also a long-time Living Sky board member who is retiring.

He said he first started in public service over 30 years ago, and has been involved with various organizations over the years.

“It was simply just an interest in community work,” he said of why he became involved in the first place. “The opportunity came up and I decided to go, and I forgot to quit.”

Wouters served about eight years on the Living Sky school board.

He is also a former mayor of Metinota after serving for 12 years, and a former councillor with the City of North Battleford, serving for nine years about 10 years ago.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW