THUNDER BAY - Dougall Media reached out to school board trustee candidates in the public and Catholic board races and are publishing the answers to a series of questions posed to them. Not all candidates responded with answers to the questions posed.
1: Why did you decide to run for school board trustee?
I want to make sure our educators, administrators, and students have the resources they need to succeed. I have experience in provincial lobbying, board governance, and strategic leadership and believe this combination is needed at the Catholic Board. I also have a youngster in the system, so I bring a current level of experience in dealing with today’s practices and protocols.
2: What is the biggest challenge schools in our community currently face? How do you propose to address it?
Student engagement is a large opportunity for improvement. Students face a myriad of distractions and competing interests which all take away from the classroom. Technology in classrooms should be one of our biggest assets, and currently it is a distraction. To address it, I would undertake a review of current practices and seek input from educators and students to bring forward solutions that are equitable, and re-inforce collective engagement.
3: What is the single greatest impact you plan to make for students?
I want to make sure that old, outdated practices and policies are keeping pace with today’s world. I want to make sure the board is current with the challenges today's youth face so that we can best address those concerns with appropriate policies.
4: How can school boards support equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights initiatives? What can trustees do concretely to improve graduation rates at board high schools?
First question. – Our community has many resources to help our teachers with these topics. Education will always be the way forward and providing resources and training to our teachers is paramount in supporting those initiatives. Second question. – Graduation rates are one metric to measure the success of a school, but not the only one. Administration should have a measured approach in dealing with performance of their schools and I am not sure they do. As a trustee, we are tasked with providing governance to the Director of Education. The performance of that position should be measured using key performance indicators, of which a metric for graduation rates should apply.
5: Do you feel the budget process adequately reflects the needs of the classroom?
Maybe, not sure, is it the process or the people involved that are the disconnect between the classroom and budget? I think we have an opportunity to review how we do things within the Catholic Board to ensure the budget we have has the greatest impact for students and staff. I do support zero based budgeting and sunset clauses on policy around finance and believe they build stronger organizations and financial resiliency.
6: As schools transition from COVID-19, what do you think needs to be done to address the effects of the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing, student engagement and learning recovery?
Pandemic or not, we need to be aware of the mental state of the students and staff and have procedures in place to support those that need it. Firstly having staff trained in identification as mental health and wellbeing can be very hard to detect. Secondly making sure our schools and classrooms have safe spaces to talk and seek help. Learning recovery is going to be hard work, everybody’s home life through the pandemic was different and students had varying levels of support. Teachers are currently working through learning recovery and will need the continued support of administration as this will take years.
7: Knowing and acknowledging that many Indigenous students already face significant gaps in learning outcomes and achievement, what would you propose to do to mitigate learning loss specific to the unique challenges and needs faced by many Indigenous students across many Indigenous communities in the province particularly those in remote areas?
I know it is hard to do, but before boards and governing bodies start developing ideas on how to address the issues in the question they should really listen. Listen to the subject experts, the Indigenous leaders, and the people that work directly in this environment. The work of the board is to make sure that information is put into action.
8: Can you comment on what schools need to support students with special needs?
Students with special needs are best supported by people, no compromise.
9: What are your views on the role of technology in teaching and learning?
Being fluent in technology and its uses is now an expectation in post secondary education and most working environments. The school systems has a duty to prepare our children for this expectation. I am a strong advocate for advancing technology in as many cases as we can. What I am not in favor of is students using their own connected devices in the classroom, for education, games, and communication. Students do not have access to the same level of hardware, connectivity, programs, thus creating imbalances in the opportunity to learn.
