Are Two Trustee Forums Enough?
Prince George, B.C. – Just two trustee forums have been scheduled in preparation for the upcoming school board election and the chair of the Prince George District Parent Advisory Council is asking aloud if that will be enough to get to know the candidates.
“There is going to be two two hour forums and 18 candidates. It won’t be an in-depth way to get to know people.”
She says one question she’ll be asking of them is why run for trustee on the Prince George School Board?
PG DPAC Chair Sarah Holland
“What do they see their role as? I attend all board meetings and I would have thought the gallery would have been a lot larger with people with the prospect of candidates showing up at meetings.”
She says one issue that candidates shouldn’t be focusing on is lobbying for more funding.
“It shouldn’t be a major, major issue because the trustees job is to advocate for funding which is primarily in writing letters typically to the education minister which presumably get filed in the nearest receptacle.”
Holland says the reality is trustees “do not have a helluva lot of power as to how much money you get” but rather their job is to “allocate money in the best way possible.”
She also says it’s ironic a lot more attention is paid to city council considering “the school district is a major employer and has a major impact on the lives of all our kids.”
The first trustee forum takes place October 29th at CNC, the other at Vanier Hall November 4th.
Both start at 7 pm.
Comments
Hey 250, I notice that a lot of your articles are posted at 3 or 4 in the morning. Don’t you let your staff go to sleep Ben?
I agree that there is little time to get to know the candidates for School Trustee, and for Councilors.
People have to sit through hours of repetitive talk and then try and make some sort of decision. No easy task.
Don’t know what the solution is, however the candidates have some responsibility to get out and about and get their positions known.
At one time politicians came to the people with their message, it now seems they want us to come to them to find out what they stand for. Hmmmm.
School Trustees are not politicians, more like rubber stamps.
From the article: “She says one issue that candidates shouldn’t be focusing on is lobbying for more funding.”
Thank you! That seems to be the number one thing a lot of the incumbents are saying. Not good enough. Spend smarter, then you can talk about expanding the budget.
Anyone know how much a school trustee gets paid in SD#57 ?
The trustees also represent people in MacKenzie, McBride and Valemount. Perhaps those communities are also having forums for trustees.
If the BCTF wins its court case and gets complete control of the classroom dollars then it won’t really matter who is on the board. The lunatics will be running the asylum.
The BCTF won’t gain complete control of classroom dollars if the court of appeals upholds its victory at trial. It will merely be able to bargain about class composition and size. The province will retain the ability to take its own position on those issues and negotiate. Furthermore, there are plenty of issues that will remain not subject to collective bargaining, such as the curriculum.
Here’s something curious: the most recent minutes posted on the school board web site are for December 17, 2013. Not very up to date.
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