Delta School Board selects chair and vice-chair, council sets regional seats

Delta's new school board and city council each completed their opening steps this week. The Delta Board of Education held its inaugural meeting on November 3, 2026, swearing in seven trustees and selecting a chair and vice-chair. Delta City Council, sworn in the day before, this week approved its seats on regional bodies and confirmed the acting mayor rotation for the year ahead.

The board's inaugural meeting

The Board of Education met at 7:00 p.m. on November 3 at the School Board Office main boardroom at 4585 Harvest Drive. Nathan Wilson, the district's Indigenous Cultural Enhancement Facilitator, opened the meeting with a traditional welcome, according to the official inaugural agenda. The Honourable Judge S. Sidhu then read the Trustee Code of Conduct and administered the oath of office. Each of the seven trustees signed both documents.

Superintendent of Schools Doug Sheppard called the meeting to order after the swearing-in.

Five trustees returned from the previous term: Joe Muego, Erica Beard, Ammen Dhillon, Masako Gooch and Val Windsor. Two trustees join the board for the first time: Tamara Bissett-Laza and Jesse Bierman. The North Delta Reporter reported this on November 10, 2026.

Chair and vice-chair selected

Superintendent Sheppard called three times for nominations for board chair. Muego was selected, making it his third year in a row in the role, the Reporter said. Dhillon then served as acting chair, called for nominations for vice-chair, and was himself chosen: his second straight year in the position.

The board also selected trustees to represent it on the Provincial Council of the British Columbia School Trustees' Association, and on the BC Public School Employers' Association and the Provincial Bargaining Council, per the agenda. Both positions have an elected trustee and an alternate. Those representatives speak for the district in province-wide discussions about school funding and collective bargaining.

Both the chair and vice-chair terms run from November 3, 2026, to November 1, 2027, according to the agenda.

What Muego said

Muego described the chair's role as a privilege rather than a source of power. The Reporter quoted him: "Privilege to be the voice to the public, we the seven elected leaders sitting at this table."

He said the board collectively had its members' names checked over 86,000 times in votes across Delta and the Tsawwassen First Nation. "That is a tremendous amount of faith and expectation," he said.

Muego said he sees the new board as part of a broader season of change in Delta. He called on Mayor Melissa Granum and all six city councillors who attended the meeting, saying their presence marked "the first steps towards building on our remarkable partnership, for the benefit of all of Delta."

The board's newly elected provincial MLAs for Delta, Ian Paton and Monica Mohan, were not present, as they were in Victoria for orientation week. Muego called on them to "champion public education and the importance, despite fiscal constraints, to prioritize education."

His stated goal for the term: "new levels of engagement and a determination to improve, as both a school board and district." He said the board received "an overwhelming mandate from the people of Delta to make Delta schools the absolute best they can be for all learners."

How council assigned regional seats

Mayor Melissa Granum was sworn in on November 2 at City Hall, as the Reporter covered on November 4. The council this week unanimously approved its appointments to regional and local bodies, the Reporter reported on November 10.

Mayor Melissa Granum and Councillor Alexander Fischer will represent Delta on the Metro Vancouver Board, with Councillors Daniel Boisvert and Jat Puri as alternates.

Councillor Boisvert was appointed to the Delta Police Board, with his term ending November 1, 2027. Mayor Granum will represent Delta on the TransLink Mayors' Council, with Councillor Tammy Hansen as alternate. Councillor Puri was appointed to the Fraser Valley Regional Library Board, with Hansen as alternate, also until November 1, 2027.

The acting mayor rotation was also confirmed. Puri serves from November 3 to December 31, 2026. Alicia Guichon follows from January 1 to February 28, 2027. Sylvia Bishop is next from March 1 to April 30, 2027, then Fischer from May 1 to June 30, 2027, Hansen from July 1 to August 31, 2027, and Boisvert from September 1 to October 31, 2027.

What comes next

The board's next public meeting is Tuesday, December 8, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. at the School Board Office, 4585 Harvest Drive. The full meeting schedule for the year is posted at deltasd.bc.ca.

The council's next regular meeting is Monday, November 16, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. at the North Delta Centre for the Arts, the Reporter reported on November 10, 2026.

Residents can follow each trustee's and each councillor's promises for this term at the Delta promise tracker.