The 14 trustees of Horizon School Division's Board of Education were sworn in on Wednesday.

Director of Education Kevin Garinger led the ceremony, which had lawyer John Will - a former trustee himself - on hand to make things official for the representatives.

Lachlan Maclean performed a ceremonial introduction and conclusion to the event with bagpipes.

Jim Hack is a returning trustee to the board, serving schools in Ituna and Foam Lake.

"A board member's basic duties is the governance part of it. Strategic plan, finance, those sorts of things," he said of their responsibility.

"It influences the schools because it is our strategic plan. Literacy, for example, is one of ours and it very much has an impact on the school. Budgeting, the schools need money, so our decisions do affect the school."

Hack will also serve another term as Board Chair, while Wil Lengyel remains as Vice-Chair.

Hack says that the division continues to progress forward, and a large part of that is thanks to the work of Garinger and his team.

"This is my third term as a trustee, and since Mr. Garinger has come, our school division has spiraled up at a fast rate," he explained. "Our literacy rates are up an incredible amount, and we thank his leadership for that and of course the hard-working staff and teachers out there."

He added that their major focuses in the division continue to lead them along.

"I think the big thing is to keep doing what we are doing. We've made such great strides in our three goals we have. Literacy, safe and caring and assessment - and we want to continue on with that."

Hack is joined by six other returning members - David Holinaty, Wil Lengyel, Nathan Bitternose, Albert Pinacie, Jennifer Lemky and Benny Paul Crow-Buffalo.

New the board are Linda Mattock, Mark Fedak, Lori-Anne Proznick, Christine Gradin, Cheryl Vertefeuille, Jolene Koopman and Sheryl Kayseas.

You can hear more from Hack below.