Prairie South School Division has appointed two rural residents to help oversee a student scholarship fund, a move that brings new — and younger — blood to the group, the division says.
Trustees named Jeff Feeley and Patti Rodger as new directors of the Moose Jaw School District No. 1 Bursary Fund for 2022 during a recent board of education meeting. Trustees also reappointed Greg Veillard, John Livingston, George Patterson, Claude Duke, Pam Ludwar, Al Kessler, Mary Jukes, Jan Stewart and Ron Purdy.
The board of education appoints directors to the bursary fund every year.
The fund is a separate legal entity that the Moose Jaw School District No. 1 created to collect and invest donations to provide scholarships to deserving students, explained business superintendent Ron Purdy. PSSD’s board of education is now the sole member of the fund and appoints directors.
The bursary fund has registered the business name of Prairie South Schools Bursary Fund so it can be seen as more than just a fund for the City of Moose Jaw, he continued. The money that the school division was holding for scholarships has been transferred to the new fund. The only thing that changes is where the money is housed, how it’s accounted for, and the return it earns.
Adding Feeley and Rodger provides a more rural flavour to the scholarship board, while they also help ensure the board can continue to function as current members age and leave, added Purdy.
“To start having rural people involved is a good idea,” said trustee Lew Young.
Young wondered if bylaws governed this scholarship committee since many directors have served for decades. He also wondered if the division thought of imposing term limits on directors to ensure more new members joined.
A separate constitution governs the bursary fund and lays out the number of directors needed but does not say anything about how long their terms should be, said Purdy. The board of education would need to change the constitution to insert that requirement.
Most of the directors are retired teachers, while no one is lining up to join the committee, he added.
This was the first time Young had seen a full-time division employee — Purdy — serving on the committee, which he thought was interesting since every other director was not full-time or worked for the division.
Since there was no lineup of people wanting to join, Young thought there should be a process to nominate others since he was sure that retired teachers in the southwest corner of the division would be interested.
Inviting more people to join the committee was one recommendation that directors made in 2021, hence the recruitment of Feeley and Rodger, explained Jukes. Inviting others to join also ensures that more diverse ideas are included from across the division.
“So, I think we’re moving in the right direction,” she added.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 11.
