In a 7-2 vote, Trustees with the Bluewater public school board have said yes to a controversial plan to let the Education Director and Chair travel to South Korea.
It is part of an effort to develop a teaching partnership.
Trustees decided to let Chair Jennifer Yenssen and Director of Education Mary Anne Alton spend a week in South Korea.
They will build a partnership with at least three school boards so Korean students and teachers can come to West Grey to learn English.
And it could see Bluewater teachers possibly teach in South Korea.
Trustees supporting the plan believe the partnership will help promote cultural diversity in Grey Bruce.
Yenssen is pleased things are moving forward, noting she is not running for re-election and it’s a project she wants to pursue in her last year as a trustee.
She believes there are benefits for staff and students in Bluewater.
Vice Chair John Chapman and Trustee Ross King voted against the trip.
They are not opposed to the idea of partnerships with other countries and cultures — but believe the board needs to get its own house in order first.
Chapman says many concerns have been expressed about how the board does business in the past ten months — and he believes time and energy should instead be focused on the needs within Bluewater.
He says a dozen of his constituents have contacted him about the Korea trip and all of them feel the first priority of trustees should be local needs.
The efforts stem from business partnerships West Grey has been developing with South Korean contacts.
Jenny Han and her husband Francisco are two Korean contacts the board is working with on the plan.
Jenny Han has been involved with partnerships between school boards in the Greater Toronto Area and South Korea in the past.
She says usually people in that program only mix among their own community and continue speaking Korean with each other — but in Grey-Bruce, there is a limit because not many people here speak it.
Han says 30 to 40 South Korean teachers would likely visit West Grey during August of this year.
For her efforts, Han has been given the title of International Education Coordinator for the board, complete with business cards and an email address, but no financial compensation.
As for cost, Yenssen’s trip would be paid for out of her trustee professional development budget. Alton’s would be covered by the Ontario Association of Directors of Education.
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles notes there are a number of school boards with similar programs.
He says part of his reason for encouraging Bluewater to get involved is that the partnerships have helped those other boards be more successful.