The five candidates vying for three school board seats in rural area two had their first all-candidates meeting on Oct. 29 following an Area E all-candidates meeting at Frank West Hall.
Incumbents Betty Baxter, Lori Dixon and Greg Russell along with new trustee candidates Sarah Bradley and Allen Stevenson tackled questions about what their top priorities were, how more funding could be sought for School District No. 46 (SD46) and how more opportunities for learning could be fostered.
Each candidate pointed to the SD46 achievement contract as the place where priorities are identified and noted the school board’s strategic plan holds them accountable to address those issues.
While things such as increasing school completion rates and literacy rates and continuing to improve early learning programs are goals in the achievement contract, Stevenson pointed to physical activity and the cleanliness of school environments as two areas deserving of more attention.
He said there could be opportunities to get kids involved in things like Bike to Work Week and noted “various schools have different ways of dealing with cleanliness in the schools, kids picking up after themselves, and I think that’s important across the board.”
Dixon said the most important thing the school board does is create a strategic plan to ensure trustees are advancing the achievement contract. She invited the public to come to school board meetings and talk with trustees to ensure community priorities are reflected.
“Grab a hold of me and let me know what you think,” Dixon said.
Russell said an important focus of the achievement contract is to increase graduation rates, but noted social and emotional learning is something he would like to see adopted district-wide.
“We have programs, but a whole mentality of helping children learn compassion is important because if you’re learning in a compassionate environment it makes for a much better learning environment for our students,” he said.
Bradley said she’d like to see the idea of lifelong learning brought into the achievement contract, adding her background in sport has her constantly learning and growing.
“Whether it’s sport, the arts, drama, music, dance, the community here on the Coast has many other ways for people to learn other than just your traditional academic setting,” she said.
Baxter said she’d like to see outdoor education embedded in the curriculum.
“We passed a motion in 2012 to say ‘let’s stop studying outdoor education, and let’s do it,’ and we’ve got a couple of programs up and running. I’d love to see us push those further,” she said, adding she’s also heard from the public that there’s a need for more language and music programs in SD46.
On the issue of more funding for SD46, all noted the final funding allotment per child is decided by the Ministry of Education, and incumbents noted they have been trying to get more funding for years.
Stevenson suggested bringing more foreign learners to the Coast to raise more money for SD46, and Russell noted more partnerships within the community could be a low-cost way to offer more learning opportunities to students.
Baxter said SD46 has been trying to do other things to help stretch resources, such as offering common time tables between schools that allow students to take courses together.
All talked about creating partnerships within the community to help advance student learning, such as a partnership with an art gallery that could see students visit, learn and possibly hang some of their artwork for display.
“If there are opportunities we’re missing, we need to hear from our community partners,” Russell said. “That’s so important.”
Voters in rural area two (Roberts Creek/Elphinstone/West Howe Sound/Sechelt Indian Government District) will pick three school trustees from candidates Baxter, Bradley, Dixon, Russell and Stevenson to represent them on Nov. 15.
The remaining school trustees for SD46 have already been acclaimed.
Acclaimed trustees include Lori Pratt for rural area one (Egmont/Garden Bay/Pender Harbour/Halfmoon Bay), Christine Younghusband and David Mewhort for the District of Sechelt and Pammila Ruth for Gibsons.
