As a school trustee running for re-election, I am in this race because there is unfinished business for Creston schools and our community. Since the amalgamation of the Creston School District with the larger Nelson District 25 years ago, Creston has faired poorly. There are six trustees on the north side of the district with close connections to Nelson and three trustees in the Creston region. One of the first decisions the new district made was to saddle Creston taxpayers with paying off a share of the $1 million debt that Nelson schools brought to the new amalgamated district. Creston had always operated with a balanced budget and Creston schools were never given any credit for the strict financial discipline we followed.
I am dedicated to community and strongly believe that a strong relationship between our schools and our community must be re-established and maintained. Last year, a $750,000 computer purchase was approved by the current school board. The contract went to a Kelowna business while a local business who wanted to participate in the bidding process was excluded. I was the only trustee who fought to try to give local business an opportunity to participate but my lone vote was shut down by our current board. Our board chair even refused to allow my motion that would require us to give local business an opportunity to bid on district contracts, a policy that other districts have.
I believe that we need to re-establish the relationship between the school district and our community. The importance of this relationship can be seen on graduation night with tens of thousands of dollars in donations for scholarships coming from local businesses. It is sad that the benefits of this relationship hasn’t flowed back to these generous donors. I will continue to work to require the board to give local business an opportunity to bid on district contracts.
As a retired teacher of 28 years in our public schools, I understand education and hold the board to account when they present education policy. I was the first teacher in the district to pilot the First Nations 11 course in the 90s, and I have maintained a strong relationship with the Yaqan Nukiy community ever sense. My two children graduated here in Creston and my son is about to graduate from the University of Regina education program. Education has been my life and advancing the benefits of education to every child is my vision and goal.
Finally, during her election campaign, our MLA Brittany Anderson promised that she would work with Creston trustees to return our school district, as long as that is the wish of our community. By electing Clements Verhoeven in Creston, and Mary Jayne Blackmore and myself in the South Rural Zone, you will have three trustees working to return Creston’s school district where it belongs.