Upcoming Trustee Elections

As I have mentioned before, it is important to keep public education front and centre as so many issues compete for air time during a year in which we are scheduled to have federal, provincial, municipal and trustee elections. Even as you contemplate so many critical issues facing you as a voter, on so many levels, what is on your mind when it comes to public education? What should trustee candidates be thinking about as we move toward November elections for Boards of Education?

For your information, the BC School Trustees Association has developed an extensive set of resources that can be accessed via the BCSTA website, including links to viewable and downloadable Frequently Asked Questions and a document entitled Stand Up for Public Education: Become a School Trustee. The FAQs include:

1. What, exactly, is a school trustee? A school trustee is a member of a locally elected board of education, responsible for representing the community’s voice in public education. Trustees set local policy, employ school district staff, prepare and approve the district’s budget, approve local courses and resource materials among many other duties.

2. Why do we need school trustees? School trustees identify and represent their community’s priorities within the context of the school district’s needs as a whole. BC is large and diverse, with different priorities in each district. No central authority could represent all communities’ interests. School trustees work within their boards to meet their communities’ unique requirements.

Topics of Interest

Thanks to CFAX, the Times Colonist and other media outlets for picking up on our news release regarding this blog. It seems as if there is growing interest in using this medium for community dialogue regarding public education in Saanich and across British Columbia. I would like to keep this dialogue alive and relevant, so would invite readers to post topics through the "comments" link. I and others will be happy to take the topic as a starting point for an airing and sharing of views on things that matter to you.

For example, I wonder if people would like to share views here on the province's feasibility study around extending from half-day to all-day kindergarten and creating early learning and care environments for 4-year olds and 3-year olds in our schools. Or perhaps environmental issues as they relate to education? Healthy schools and daily physical activity? Over to you . . .

Parent Advocacy

I had the pleasure last night of attending an excellent workshop sponsored by our District Parent Advisory Council (COPACS) and hosted by BCCPAC advocacy leaders Cathy Bedard and Janet Phillips. About 50 people enjoyed a well hosted evening. With parents, teachers, administrators, community partners, trustees and friends from neighbouring districts in attendance it was good to see more evidence of our vibrant and extensive partnerships in Saanich. We were reminded that true and solution-focused advocacy for children and families is based in strong relationships and clarity around rights, information, voice and inclusion. We also talked about how barriers can so easily come up through lack of common understanding of the issues, the pathways to resolution of concerns and the degree of urgency to the parent. If we misfire on any of those, conflict can so easily arise.

We talked about barriers last night, about what prevents good communication, advocacy and collaborative problem-solving. I am equally interested in what it looks like when it is working. So . . . my question: What does advocacy look like at its best, and what do we in the system have to do to ensure that parents are genuinely invited into problem-resolution conversations and processes when something isn't working?