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Welcome new teachers to SD51

The new school year brings new faces to the front of the classroom throughout the school district.

There are a lot of new faces at the front of classrooms across the Boundary area in this new school year. Some have already been teaching in the area but have changed schools; others have come from far and wide, even as far as Scotland.

In Grand Forks, Hutton Elementary has a much larger influx of new faces. Darci Bysouth has come home to Grand Forks after many years abroad in Scotland, and is now teaching grades 4-5 and special education. Linda Frank has also made a trip, but in lesser distance as she has come from Midway Elementary to teach grade 2-3 classes. It is not just teachers that are new to the Hutton team: Jessie McGraw is joining them as an educational assistant.

Linda Dolezsar has come from Walker Development Centre to be doing some special education, with Paul Strukoff splitting his time between Walker and Hutton.

Perley Elementary School also has Melissa Shaw and Martin Vanlerberg, both formally from Greenwood. Lisa Thatcher joins the team from Hutton, and Tara Sherstobitoff arrives from Christina Lake. Amy Perry also is back after a year off.

Grand Forks Secondary School will be seeing plenty of folks new to the district: Marcie Carney, a special education teacher; Erin Madsen, an English teacher; and Shannon Wolf, who will be teaching band.

Brenda Clemons, who hailed from Perley, is teaching in Christina Lake.

Among those new to their elementary students in the West Boundary schools are Robyn Grey, a veteran of Grand Forks Secondary School, now teaching grades 6-7 in Greenwood Elementary (GES), as well as Jennifer Eaton, who has lived here all her life but has moved to GES after a year at Beaverdell Elementary.

Replacing her at Beaverdell is Christopher Hayes, who has also come to the area all the way from Ontario. Erika Thorpe continues to teach at GES, but is also spending some class time at Midway Elementary.

Nicole Hecht is a fresh face at Boundary Central Secondary School (BCSS) teaching English 9-12. She comes from a very busy career involving schooling in Montreal, Castlegar and even going to Chongqing, China to teach senior English for two years. She came back to the area (she graduated from Grand Forks Secondary) to be near her family, and loved the atmosphere all that BCSS had to offer.

When asked what had drawn her back to the area, Jennifer Eaton remarked, “We live in a beautiful part of the world with the Kettle River meandering right through our backyard, surrounded by mountains and nature, fresh air, wildlife and the close-knit feeling that comes from small size of our communities. We have to work a little harder to entertain ourselves in a rural community but team sports, community events, and personal hobbies keep my family busy. We are lucky to have a beautiful arena close by, Mt. Baldy just up the hill, and the river to swim in during the summer. My kids are lucky to be growing up in such a peaceful, safe surrounding.”

Welcome our new teachers, new friends and old.