Later this month, school board trustee Brenda Hooker will be stepping down from her vice-chair duties after taking a job in Fort St. John.
Hooker is staying on as a trustee and continue the committee work for School District 57 while working as a controller in School District 60, but will resign as vice-chair at the September board meeting.
"You need to be more available," said Hooker of the role, adding that it shouldn't affect her other work with the board.
"I really feel strongly that we can manage the impacts that would have on the board and I should be able to finish my term without having to have a by-election."
Hooker, a second-term trustee, was elected to the four-year position last November. She plans to attend the monthly public meetings in person and by phone for the various committee meetings through the week.
"I'll be back and forth quite a bit. It's my intention to attend every public board meeting just like normal," said Hooker, adding she negotiated with the new job to make sure she could fulfill her existing responsibilities before she accepted the role.
She also made sure she had the board's approval and said they have been supportive of her decision.
"When I ran last fall, I hadn't planned on moving away," she said, but the opportunity came up, she was looking for change and her son chose to do his post-secondary schooling in Vancouver instead of Prince George.
"It kind of all fell into place," said Hooker.
Hooker, who has worked as an auditor with Canada Revenue Agency for 15 years, is taking a one year leave of absence for the finance department job, one she sees as a potential positive for both districts.
"It's the opportunity to have best practices from each district brought to each other," she said. "It'll make me a better trustee because I'll know how it operates from the inside."
While the support from the board has been strong, she has seen some mixed responses from the public.
"Some feel that you should resign if you're not going to be residing in the community but the thing is, I still have my home there," she said. "It's not a conflict to interest. You can work for one school board and be elected for a different one.
"To me that's very important that I ran for a four-year term and I do my very best to complete that term."
