Long-serving school Trustee not ready to step down

For nearly 30 years, Ron Falk has served on the Hanover School Board, and he plans to run again in the upcoming Municipal Elections.  

“I'm very excited to have been on the board for quite a number of years. There are always challenges to look forward to and opportunities, and of course, the new early-years school in Steinbach is one that I'm involved with as well, and I'd like to see that kind of goal through to fruition.” 

Falk continues, “And, just the whole idea of getting back to normal. We've had two years that have been very, very trying for students and staff, really, everyone involved in education and just the possibility of doing things the way we have been doing them in many ways. I mean, there are some things that maybe we don't want to keep you in the same way, but at least going about education in a similar type of fashion that we're used to, that is really encouraging.” 

When asked, what keeps you going with that passion and that desire, Falk replies,  

“I have to laugh when I think of 30 years. My goodness, I was like a kid when I started, I guess. But anyway, it's just being involved in education. Education is really the impetus for so many things in life. If you don't have a good education, you're going to struggle in life, you're going to struggle in job, you're going to struggle in family, just security and providing and so, education just provides that basic foundation, the kickstart that every child needs.” 

“And just to be part of that and try to make it a great experience for students and staff is, I guess, what keeps me going. I love it.” 

If re-elected Falk senses that some of the bigger topics that the Hanover School Board will need to tackle are, “just getting back to a sense of normalcy and roped in together with that, of course, is the whole mental health aspect, which has really come to the surface as a result of the last couple of years. It has certainly been on our minds for the last or previous ten years. There has been a lot of stress on the system but also on individuals, whether it's staff or students and just kind of dealing with, with all the ramifications of that.” 

Falk goes on to say that the pandemic, which caused schools to close and move to remote learning are now welcoming back students who haven’t really experienced the culture of the classroom setting. 

“You have elementary school kids, who may have started kindergarten two years ago and now they're going into Grade 2, but they don't really know what a normal school year is like or the culture of that school and being a part of the culture and having the older kids, kind of trains the younger students in the culture regarding what's expected. So, it’s a pretty big deal and teachers and staff are trying to get the culture of the school back into their classrooms.” 

Just how would someone go about doing that? Falk says, recreating or creating the culture of the school will fall onto the various school administrators and teaching staff.  

“Just working with the kids and encouraging those who are now older who have also missed those two years, you know, to be the leaders and examples in the school. To have the courage to show the younger kids, ‘this is how we do it in this school’ or ‘this is what you can look forward to’. And when you're in our position, there's a lot of training that actually goes on behind the scenes and a lot of people just aren't aware of.” 

Falk continues, “The whole sense of community and learning in school, is not just books and pens and papers and computers. That's all very important, but the school is a community, and each school has a very distinct community. When you're doing remote learning or you're coming in every second day, that sense of community isn't there, and so building that community again is huge.” 

If elected voters can expect Falk to continue to work hard for the division as he has for the past nearly 30 years.   

“I think the passion that I've come with last the many years, passion for following up on and following our mission statement of just providing excellence and education. Being fiscally responsible is very important to me. As well, that we run a division where we can be very proud of how our finances are spent. That we're not taking more than we need out of the community, but we're taking enough to run programs that are going to be beneficial. Beneficial to the students and staff and education in Hanover.” 

Election for Hanover School Division Trustees takes place on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.