Sunshine Coast School District

Board of Education

L-R front row: Christine Younghusband, Silas White, Lori Pratt; L-R back row: Betty Baxter, Dave Mewhort, Greg Russell, Lori Dixon

SILAS WHITE – (Chair) Representing the Town of Gibsons
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Having graduated from Pender Harbour Secondary in 1995, Silas White is proud to be a product of School District No. 46. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of British Columbia and then running his award-winning national book publishing company, Nightwood Editions, out of Toronto for four years, he returned to the Sunshine Coast and married his wife Amanda in 2005. Silas has served on many boards and committees including the Area 'A' Advisory Planning Committee of the Sunshine Coast Regional District, the Board of the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Executive of the Association of Canadian Publishers, the Board of the Sunshine Coast Arts Council and the Board of the BC Public Schools Employers Association. He recently completed a Master’s degree in Public Administration through the University of Victoria. Silas and Amanda have two daughters, Simone and Eloise. He was elected to his first term of the board in 2005, and has served as Board Chair since December 2007.

BETTY BAXTER –  (Vice-Chair) Representing Area 2
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Originally from southern Alberta, Betty has lived in BC since heading to UBC as a teenager and more recently, has lived on a farm in Roberts Creek since 1995. She completed her bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1975 and obtained a Master of Arts degree in Psychology of Sport from University of Alberta in 1989. Betty has traveled the world as an international athlete in the 1970s and 1980s, including time as a professional volleyball coach in Oslo, Norway in 1989-90.

Since that time, she has operated a small business offering services in adult education, mediation and leadership training. In the past 15 years, her clients have included many school boards from across the province. Her experience on the boards of non-profit and sport organizations, as well as consultation work with public and private sector companies will inform her work on the school board. She was first elected in 2011.

LORI DIXON – Representing Area 2
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SD46 trustee: 1999-2008
30 year career at Mom-Ay-Mon Nursery School, 15 years with Kahtou News
Married 29 years; lifelong Coast booster from SIGD
Platform:
•    Enhanced public consultation, program evaluation and reporting
•    Support creative and sound teaching/learning practices
•    Amplify Science education through Outdoor Learning programs

DAVE MEWHORT – Representing the District of Sechelt
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Dave Mewhort has been a resident of the Sunshine Coast since 1974.  Over the years Dave has run for, and been elected to, the school board five times. Before arriving on the Coast, Dave graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Mathematics and later received an HBA in Mathematics and Sociology.

After receiving these degrees, he traveled the world visiting 35 countries during the next two and one half years. After moving to Sechelt, Dave became a social worker and the Director of the Wilson Creek Family Centre (a residential treatment centre for emotionally disturbed children).  As Director, Dave was a founding member and President of the Federation of Private Child Care Agencies of BC and the author of the first ever set of Standards of Care for children in care in the province of British Columbia.

Over the years, Dave has held a variety of positions with the School Board and has chaired many Committees including Bargaining, Policy and Transportation.  He has also been the Provincial Councillor and more recently, the BCPSEA representative and Vice-Chair of the Board of School Trustees.

Dave has two grown children who have gone through our school district.  He is married to Sue Thompson, owner and operator of Sew Easy in Trail Bay Mall in Sechelt.

LORI PRATT – Representing Area 1
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Lori Pratt grew up in Alberta, moving to the Sunshine Coast in 1994. She was a "stay at home" mom for many years, enjoying the early years of her children's development. Lori is a proud mom of three girls, all of whom are enrolled in Pender Harbour schools. She has been an active member of the Parent Advisory Councils at those schools, as well as being a contract coordinator for the Pender Harbour Community School. Lori has volunteered in many aspects of her community. She is currently employed at Painted Boat Resort as an Event Coordinator.

Lori has always felt that it is important to be involved in her children's schooling and hopes that she can encourage more parents to take an active role in their children's educational careers.
She was first elected as a trustee in 2008. You can follow Lori on Twitter @LoriAnnPratt or follow her blog www.loriannpratt.wordpress.com
 


GREG RUSSELL – Representing Area 2
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Greg Russell has been a resident of Roberts Creek since 1996.  As "The Gentleman Gardener," he has received many awards for his landscaping work and gardening skills. Greg is married to Carola Russell, the owner of Carola's Quilt Shop in Gibsons.  They have one daughter, a 2005 graduate of Elphinstone Secondary School. Greg served on the Parent Advisory Councils at Roberts Creek Elementary and at Elphinstone Secondary for nine years.

Greg continues to be a community volunteer at those schools. He has been a council member on the Gibsons/Elphinstone Community School Council since 2001. He also is a member of the Bell Walk for "Kids Help Phone" committee of the Sunshine Coast, serves as the Roberts Creek representative on the (South Coast) Community Policing Consultative Group, is the chair of the Sunshine Coast Youth Awareness Committee and is a member of the "Communities In Bloom" committee for the Town of Gibsons. In 2007, Greg was honoured by the Town of Gibsons for his volunteer service to the community.

First elected to the Board of Education in 2002, Greg was re-elected in 2005 and again in 2008 in Rural Area 2, representing Areas D, E and F and the S.I.G.D. He served as Board Chair in 2006 and 2007.

CHRISTINE YOUNGHUSBAND – Representing District of Sechelt
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Christine Younghusband has been a resident of the Sunshine Coast and worked with School District No.46 (Sunshine Coast) as a secondary mathematics and science teacher at Chatelech Secondary since 1994.  Currently, Christine is self-employed as an educational consultant, works as a Site Assistant at SFU, and she is a doctoral student studying Educational Leadership at SFU.  She has a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education from UBC and a Master of Education from SFU.  

Christine was an active member of the Sunshine Coast Teachers’ Association during her teaching career with School District No. 46.  She continues her involvement in education with the BC Association of Mathematics Teachers (BCAMT) Executive Committee, the Certificate of University Teaching and Learning (CUTL) at SFU, and Capilano University (Sunshine Coast Campus) as a volunteer tutor.  

Living on the Sunshine Coast has been wonderful for Christine and her family.  Her husband Randy works with the Sunshine Coast Association for Community Living  (SCACL) and daughter Zoe attends West Sechelt Elementary.  Christine looks forward to continuing her involvement with student learning and Board of Education with SD46 as one of the newly elected school trustees.

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