There will be a new person heading up the Foothills School Division after the October election.
Christine Pretty, the division’s chairwoman, won’t run for re-election as the Millarville-Red Deer Lake area trustee.
“Both of my kids are away at university now and I want to visit them,” Pretty said, about why she was not running. She added she also needs more time with friends and family.
She will end a seven-year tenure on the school board when Foothills residents go to the polls on Oct. 16, four as chairwoman. Pretty was voted chair in a vote among the five trustees after the 2013 election. She replaced Diana Froc.
“It can be difficult for sure, but when you are nominated and elected by your peers it is something you want to do, serve the board, serve the community and step up to the plate,” Pretty said.
The most newsworthy event under her tenure was the announcement of the Town of Okotoks, and The MD of Foothills working together to build a new K-Grade 9 school on 32 Street, just west of Holy Trinity Academy.
The announcement came on the heels of a school division proposal to build a high school near the Crescent Point Field House because there was no land for schools in Okotoks.
“Those were hard decisions to make,” Pretty said. “I feel by working hard on relationships with the Town — we always had great relationships with the MD and Christ the Redeemer [Catholic Schools] — and working together we now have a great place for our school. We have school sites 10 years out now.
“We are all meeting on a continual basis, and planning for our students together and that’s huge.”
It’s not all bricks and mortars that are highlights. Pretty said the board worked with administrators in looking at provincial data in improving not only academics, but other areas, such as social/emotional and mental health support for students.
“Having that data and using it, we made great strides in terms of our results,” she said.
She was first elected as the Millarville-Red Deer Lake trustee in 2010.
“I was active on the school council and was the chair at Red Deer Lake [School] and our trustee Jay Lyons was retiring,” Pretty said. “He approached me and thought I would be a good candidate. I have always been involved in education and I believe in life-long learning.”
That life-long learning took a spike for Pretty after being elected in 2010.
“That first term, especially because it was only three years, was definitely a learning curve,” she said. “It takes time to fully understand what governance is and what it means — to think big picture about the school division.”
She said during her seven-year career as trustee another highlight was helping out the division’s friends at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools when the separate schools were devastated in the 2013 flood in High River. Public schools opened their doors for their separate school peers in High River.
“I was really proud – we have to be mindful of what we are doing and setting examples for kids,” Pretty said. “It made things a little tougher for our staff and students, but it was the right things to do. Those are the kind of examples you want to set for kids.”
She said the division is in capable hands in the future. However, she would like to visit the 32 Street area school when it opens.
Jeannine Tucker, the Black Diamond-Turner Valley trustee has indicated she will run again.
The deadline to file nomination papers is Sept. 18. They must be filed at the school division office in High River between 10 a.m. and noon. The municipal election is slated for Oct. 16.
This is the first time in FSD’s history two trustees for Okotoks will be elected.
