A total of 21 candidates are vying for open trustee chairs on the Kamloops-Thompson school district’s board of education.
Eight incumbents - Joan Cowden, Diane Dosch, Annette Glover, Kathleen Karpuk and Gerald Watson in Kamloops, as well as Denise Harper in Chase, John Harwood in Clearwater and Joanne Stokes in Barriere - are seeking re-election to the board.
Incumbents Harper and Harwood are running unopposed in Chase and Clearwater, and will therefore be back on the board.
In Barriere, incumbent Joanne Stokes is running against newcomer Rhonda Kershaw.
Challengers from Kamloops are Lynda Douglas, Ryan Foster, Boris Gimbarzevsky, Mitchell Messmer, Adrian Miller, Tanya Orozco, Acacia Schmietenknop and Meghan Wade.
Of those newcomers, Wade is the only one with experience as a trustee in SD73, having served on the board between 2005 and 2008.
The SD73 board is made up of superintendent Terry Sullivan and nine trustees, five of whom represent Kamloops.
The four outlying areas of Chase, Logan Lake, Barriere and Clearwater are represented by one trustee each.
Logan Lake had previously been represented by Diane Dosch, but she moved to Kamloops and is now running locally.
Four candidates - Cara Holmstrup, Cara McKelvey, Melvin Thistlethwaite and Jodi Tilburt - are seeking the vacant trustee seat in Logan Lake.
The only incumbent trustee not seeking re-election is board chair Ken Christian, who has thrown his hat into the crowded ring of potential city councillors.
– Kamloops This Week