HSD appoints new board chair

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This article was published 15/09/2023 (650 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hanover School Division has a new board chair with Brad Unger who defeated incumbent Ron Falk.

“If someone were to look at – I’ve never compared Hanover School Division to other boards – but if you look at his leadership you see stability and that can’t be overstated. Just some props to Ron for the many years of bringing such stability to our board. He continues to be very valuable. If you add the years of experience that he has they are more than the entire rest of the board, I think or very close to that. That’s tremendous to have somebody like that. We’re very, very thankful to have that level of experience there,” said Unger.

Unger has been on the board since 2014 as a trustee of Ward 3-Steinbach. His family lives and works in Steinbach where he is the funeral director at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, a position he’s held since 2008. This is his first time as board chair having served as vice-chair last school year.

“What I’m looking forward to some of it has to do with the fact that I’m chair, but another year of this group that we have. The nine trustees and senior admin that we have it’s unreal. When you form a team like this you hope there’s going to be a look around the table and you go, ‘Wow, I really like these people and we’re becoming more and more of a team.’ That is what I’m looking forward to. If I can be in a leadership position as part of that group that to me is really exciting.”

Unger said he has some ideas on what he would like to see happen during his term as chair and one of those ideas is giving every trustee the ability to be a leader and eventually one day chair. Another idea Unger has is making sure parents and guardians feel valued. He said they are the first and most important educators in their children’s lives.

He said that although there are trustees on the board who are new that everyone is committed to listening to the concerns of parents, teachers, students, and staff.

“Maybe there was a bit of a sense that with a new group that was harder to do than in the past, I just want to make that clear that we are committed to sharing your concerns.”

Falk has been on the board for 26 years. He served as chair for 14 years from 2002-2008, 2014-2019, and 2020-2023. He was vice-chair for the 2019-2020 school year.

“I enjoyed being chair. Done it for many years, not always consecutively, but certainly in blocks of time. It’s always enjoyable being chair, I think anyway. Leading the team, helping plan for the future. I’ve enjoyed that absolutely,” he said.

Some of the highlights Falk has had during his time as chair include capital projects such as moving the school division’s main office, building new schools and adding additions to existing schools, and hiring teachers, staff, and EAs.

“There’s a litany of things a person can talk about for an hour or two. Lots of highlights, absolutely.”

As for some advice for Unger seeing as it’s his first time as chair, Falk said it’s not an easy job and while it’s interesting and engaging there are challenges, but that’s part of being a leader. He said there is a lot to do and a lot to learn.

“The chair position is a pretty wide raging position to have because you’re not only dealing with the trustees and senior administration and setting agendas. It sounds like it’s a major thing and it’s important but there are lots of other things as well.

“Dealing with organizations like Manitoba School Board Association and the various functions that they have or various ways to be involved there and contacts. There’s a lot of information that comes through from the department of education, from the province of Manitoba a lot of things to keep on top of – it’s a time consuming job. That’s what makes it interesting, lots of variables.”