CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – The District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) for School District 72 organized and held an all candidates meeting in Thunderbird Hall Friday night.
The meeting brought together the 12 school trustee candidates: John Kerr, Christian Stapff, Daryl Hagan, Joyce McMann, Peter Sutherland, Richard Franklin, Vanessa MacLean, Andrew Beaudin, Manfred Hack, Linda Jay, Kat Eddy, and Ted Foster.
The 12 candidates are all vying for a seat on the five member school trustee board.
Elder Carol Bear gave a blessing to start off the night, which was then followed by an introduction of the candidates and the question and answer period.
The DPAC posed four questions to the candidates:
- Why do you want to be a school board trustee?
- What things must we get right in education over the next decade?
- What do you see as the role of schools in making sure that all Canadian students understand Canada’s history in terms of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples?
- What should be done to contribute to the overall mental health and well-being of students and staff at schools?
After this question and answer period, audience members were encouraged to submit their questions for another round of question and answer.
The bulk of the questions were regarding SOGI, but was simplified into “what are your views on SOGI?”
The next two questions were “what is your position on staffing shortfalls, building and school closures with respect to a balanced budget?” and “what was your experience with the public school system?”
Candidates agreed that having a balanced budget is important, and that sometimes tough calls have to be made in order to keep the system running well. Kerr pointed out that SD 72 is fortunate not to have a shortage of staff, but closing schools is a difficult decision to make. Franklin said it’s the school board’s job to keep the government accountable and get the funding from them.
The MyCampbellRiverNow.com newsroom will run the candidates’ responses to the questions in the coming days for ease of reference.
