Chris Stern Wants to Make a Difference
Prince George, B.C. – Chris Stern says he’s running for School Board in November to protest what he calls B.C.’s underfunded public education system.
“Not much is really being done about it. I am very progressive and passionate about what I believe in and (if elected) I’m going to lobby for more funding and lobby hard.”
Chris Stern
Ultimately he says he’d like to see more funding go towards special needs kids which he sees as an “investment” into their futures.
“Being qualified for something when they graduate instead of struggling and being pushed aside.”
Stern, a married father of three, is currently employed with the City of Prince George as a foreman in the water/sewer division and has been involved with such organizations as the Buckhorn Rec Club and the Buckhorn Fire Hall.
He’s says his past background working for school districts in Alberta and his experience attending council and school board meetings would serve him well as a School Trustee.
“Just having an idea of how schools work in the maintenance end, what needs to be repaired, I know what can be fixed, I know what can’t be fixed and I think we need more people there (the Board) that understand the school’s themselves.”
Comments
Sounds like he will work hard for our children. Common sense approach. I hear a lot of concerns about infrastructure issues in the school district with 70% of schools being rated as “poor”. With his background in school maintenance, I am hopeful he can assist in this area if he is elected.
I find it hard to buy into the old ‘underfunded’ argument when we Just spent $2.3 million for a school that has 20 students. We need to spend smarter, then we can talk about funding levels. We’re not there currently.
Chris Stern’s Mom HAS posted her opinion. Lol!
I agree that I’m not convinced funding is the issue. There is a ton of waste in admin and maintenance (or appears to be). I also tend to be suspect when any public sector employee complains of governement underfunding. “When you can’t work within the budget, simply make a larger budget” doesn’t seem to work anywhere but taxpayer funded systems.
Jimmy Hughes. HAS is no relation to Chris. I just like what he has to say.
It’s too bad that the school trustees are turning out to be a bunch of NDP-wannabes with the same economic views. I would have hoped that the trustees would be more non-partisan.
Now you see why trustees can’t negotiate local teacher contracts.
Interesting comments but perhaps ill-informed. Chris is right the education system is underfunded though I agree that we can always be more efficient with scarce resources and this is crucial to not over burdening taxpayers. Let me give one example of a classroom I know about. 2 Grade split, at maximum size, 6 identified special needs with at least another 3 waiting for assessments and only one teacher with absolutely no support. How is that adequate education for any of those 30 children? And this is just one example of many similar classrooms in our District. Even a small increase in resources can make a huge difference for kids.
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