A joint committee of Langley Township council and Langley Board of Education will soon begin work, in order to ensure that communication between the two bodies is better.
Mayor Jack Froese and new board Chair Wendy Johnson have made the committee a priority since their election to their positions last fall. The Township was expected to ratify its choices for the committee at Monday night’s council meeting.
“The school district needs to be involved at the very early stages (of development),” Froese said. “We need to have a good connection between council, the school board and staff from both bodies.”
“We proposed the structure to the Township,” said Johnson. It will include two trustees, two councillors and senior staff from both governments.
Froese said the new committee, which will serve as a liaison body, will meet quarterly. He expects that it will involve staff from both the Township planning and parks and recreation departments.
“Both Jack and I agree wholeheartedly that things needed to change. We couldn’t continue the way it was,” said Johnson.
School planning issues were top of mind for many participants at Saturday’s town hall meeting at the Langley Events Centre, with concerns from Willoughby parents raised over and over again.
Johnson said the City will probably get involved as well. Although it is not facing the same issues with overcrowding and developing neighbourhoods, there are future issues like aging schools, she said.
Johnson said they hadn’t discussed whether the meeting’s discussions should be made public, but she thought it was a good idea.
“We should report publicly,” she said.
There is also a plan for both the school board and the entire council to meet twice a year.
The committee should get going as soon as possible, said Johnson.