Hanover School Division says goodbye to trustee Ron Falk

Trustee Ron Falk had his last school board meeting on Tuesday where he said goodbye after 34 years in the Hanover School Division.

“I know you don’t think I have much of an emotion, but I do. I’ll be careful here that I don’t say too much, because I don’t want a breakdown or something unbecoming,” Falk told fellow trustees jokingly during the meeting. “I have enjoyed my time on the board.”

Falk noted that during his tenure, he has worked with 35 trustees, five superintendents, two secretary treasurers, and a lot of administrative staff. He said everyone works really hard for the students and families in the division and as board chair he strove to make life easier for everyone.

Trustee Charmaine Toews did the opening remarks for the board, where she praised Falk and asked former trustees and superintendents to give their accounts of working with him.

She read one account from former trustee Rick Peters.

“I came to appreciate Ron’s steady leadership, practical wisdom, and genuine commitment to students, staff, and the communities we served. Ron’s dedication over many decades has left a lasting impact on Hanover School Division and the families it serves,” wrote Peters, who sat on the board with Falk and was vice-chair when Falk was chair for eight years.

Former trustee Karen Peters shared that in 1992 she and Falk were rookies on the board and she said she was privileged to have collaborated with Falk while he was chair and she was vice-chair.

“Ron, serving the school division for 34 years is an amazing accomplishment, and we are very grateful for your committed leadership,” she said to him at the meeting.

Former trustee Randy Hildebrant told Toews that while he and Falk didn’t always agree on matters, he felt their “conversations, dialogue, and debates would be done so with respect and integrity, and as a result, provide an even better solution for the community.”

Toews was the last trustee to reminisce about Falk. She said in the 34 years he has been on the board you could count on one hand how many meetings he has missed during that time. She found Falk to be wise, experienced, level-headed, and calm when things were challenging. She noted he is funny and brought a sense of levity to meetings.

“I hope he will never doubt that what he gave to our division was appreciated, noticed, and beyond compare,” she said.

Some of the milestones Falk reflected on at the meeting were the growth of the division from about 3,500 students to about 9,300 today. Also, in the beginning, trustees were part of the hiring process from superintendents to teachers to janitors, but as the division grew that became impossible to continue.

“In a way, it kind of hurt to leave some of that behind because there’s a lot of personal attachments you gain to people that you interview and hire, and so you sort of miss some of that,” he said.

The inclusion of Niverville High School and Crystal Springs School to the division and the additions to Mitchell Elementary School, Green Valley School, and Steinbach Regional Secondary School were other milestones Falk highlighted.

“I’ve said to some people recently, that’s all my kids know, is Dad being on the school board. That’s all my grandkids know, is Grandpa being on the school board. And I feel like I’ve given my heart and soul to public education. It’s very dear to me. It’s very important in the society and in our communities here. It’s very important. So, I hope I’ve added value to the division,” Falk told the board.

The nine-term trustee noted to The Carillon that it has always been about education for him. Focusing on literacy and mathematics were goals of his while on the board, as was making sure as students mature, more opportunities and vocations would open up for them, and encouraging students to learn something new every week were important for Falk.

What prompted him to become a trustee were his children. He was a coach on one of his kid’s sports teams and thought a way for him to be involved in all of his children’s lives would be to become a trustee.

“And nine elections later, I’m here,” said Falk with a smile.

Falk said the division’s introduction of deeper learning about 15 years ago was “revolutionary” at the time.

“The province took a number of those ideas and incorporated them into their own initiatives, and so deeper learning, I think, just enabled our teaching staff, our administrators, just to look at the bigger picture,” he said.

“It started with the idea of what do we want our kids to look like when they graduate from school? And we had focus groups of parent councils. We had focus groups of teachers and board members, and that was a pretty big deal, and it was, I’d say, quite revolutionary and headed us in the right direction.”

Falk also noted the installation of internet in all Hanover schools changed and improved how children were taught.

“We paid for the whole shot because…the government at the time wasn’t offering any help in that regard, and so that took a while to pay off, but so worth it, especially for the outlying communities where internet is spotty, and maybe in some cases still is spotty today, but we have high speed (internet) in the schools, and any of our schools have the same opportunities as kids in larger centers, and so those are some pretty big initiatives.”

But like everything in life, there is a beginning and an end and for Falk it was the time to leave the division and move on to another chapter in his life, which for Falk is politics. The trustee has added his name to the list of candidates in the City of Steinbach election.

“Eventually, everything comes to an end. And it’s kind of like when you have a job, you wonder, ‘How do I know when I’ll retire?’ but when the time comes, you know, this is probably the time to do it, and it feels right, feels good, and there’s a lot of things I’ll miss about public education…a lot of people I’ll miss, but that is life and it moves on and sometimes we have to move on too.”

Falk said he hopes the legacy he leaves behind in the Hanover School Division will be his commitment to public education; giving it his all; listening to parents, staff, and students; and giving staff the tools they need to do a better job and removing stumbling blocks from their paths and giving them permission to “give it all you’ve got.”

“In a nutshell, that’s probably it,” he said with a smile.