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.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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12 comments:
What is the job description of the trustees?
Thanks for the question. I have expanded the post to provide a basic definition as well as links to the excellent BCSTA website that contains extensive background information.
Topics I'd like to see addressed by trustee candidates are globalization of the population and environmental issues that the province and region are facing, and how awareness of these could be incorporated within the school districts. How can local policy support globalization within schools and environmental issues that schools face. A very current example would be non-motorized access to schools. A guideline for schools on how to facilitate communication about non-motorized access to schools with the parents, neighbours and municipalities and other relevant authorities. Which obstacles are likely to arise, which steps are to be expected, what are the needs or concerns of the families within a district regarding non-motorized transportation to and from school, and so forth.
With the rapid changes that we, as a society, are facing, I believe that it would be much easier for a system to adapt if the dialogue about these changes has already been opened.
Also, I would like to see addressed (perhaps re-assessed) the way in which recently graduated teachers who are moving into the school system are supported and mentored into the full swing of a school's busy and often overloaded day. I am thinking specifically of a set of guidelines to which the individual schools and new teachers can turn.
I'd like to add that I have not checked whether there is any information on the BCSTA website that states the current discussions that are taking place within the board.
Kudos to you for opening up discussion about education to the public in this way through your blog. School Trustees play an important role and it is refreshing to see the issue addressed here. Another topic I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts on is the District plan on technology.
The timing of your question is good. Our technology plan is in the process of being reformed from the ground up to capture all of the opportunities and realities of the 21st century. Computers and information technologies have become so much more effective and, given decreasing costs and increasing power, efficient in terms of teaching, learning and managing the system, and we welcome the opportunity to keep pace. We have strong new leadership in Info Systems in our district so we are all looking forward to the emergence of our new plan. If that interests you, please stay tuned, and expect significant upgrades to our district, school and parent websites in the coming months.
I am finding it very frustrating and unusual that there is no information on who is running for School Board Trustee and what their platforms are. I have searched the profile section of the link provided on the district webpage and there are no profiles. How can we vote for trustees when we do not know who they are? And how can we help our 18 year old students become aware of who they can vote for when there is no information provided?
Good question. With the election on November 15 and the filing deadline for nomination papers October 10 it is still a bit early to see trustee profiles. As of October 13 you should be able to view candidate profiles on-line via the BCSTA website (bcsta.org, hot link on my post re trustee elections). The link on the BCSTA home page is "2008 Trustee Election Resources".
As you have noted, we have a link to the BCSTA home page on the SD63 website (right hand side, "Trustee Elections - Nov 2008".
I am at
http://www.bcsta.org/electionsHome/candidateProfiles
and I see that the majority of the SD63 candidates haven't yet submitted a profile. Is there a different location where I can find out who these candidates are, and what they bring to the table?
I see that the three candidates who are contesting two seats in the North Saanich zone of our school district have their profiles posted. We also have five candidates who have been acclaimed, and they are listed on the website. I have taken your comment as an incentive to remind our five acclaimed candidates of their opportunity to post a profile if they wish.
Thank you. I see that Ms. Loring-Kuhanga has added her profile. It would be nice if there was more coordination between newspaper and internet when it comes to information about the candidates - and I can see that this is happening progressively with each election. With the increased demand for access to information via the internet, the next elections will undoubtedly be more equally represented via internet and local media.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
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