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SD51 school trustees have turn to speak at all-candidates forum

School trustee candidates from Area C and the City of Grand Forks discussed various topics at a forum on Nov. 10.
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From left: Sally Garcelon

The all-candidates forum for School District trustees in Area C and the City of Grand Forks discussed various topics that ranged from student enrollment to the current teacher job action at Grand Forks Secondary School on Nov. 10.

Candidates for the city school trustees were also present the night before during an all-candidates forum that included city council and mayoral candidates.

Incumbent Sally Garcelon is running against Cindy Strukoff for the position of Area C trustee.

Garcelon has been a trustee for the past nine years and currently sits on the Boundary Literacy Advisory Committee and the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy. On the other hand, opponent Strukoff also had a lengthy resume, including positions on the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) for Christina Lake Elementary and Grand Forks Secondary School, and was a founding member of the Boundary District PAC in 2003.

For the city, where two positions are allocated, current incumbents include Chair Teresa Rezansoff and trustee Ken Harshenin, against newcomer David Grootjes.

Rezansoff’s local efforts are bolstered by her provincial work, as she is also the vice-president of the B.C. School Trustees Association, an advocacy organization that represents all 60 boards in the province.

A schoolteacher for 30 years, Harshenin has been a trustee for the past six years with SD51 and serves on various other committees, including the recreation commission and B.C. Public School Employer’s Association.

Grootjes is currently a teacher on call (TOC) and discussed the struggles of rural teachers, support staff and administration and how he hopes to make a positive impact.

David Reid, who is a trustee by acclamation for Area D, also lent his voice to the panel.

Also elected by acclamation were Area E – Kettle Valley North Rose Zitko, and Area E – Kettle Valley West Vicki Gee.

Moderator Chris Moslin directed the first question to all candidates, asking, “What do you believe are the critical issues that  a trustee faces today?”

Key issues that all candidates mentioned included lack of funding, declining student enrolment and the current job action.

In regards to the current funding, Garcelon stated she had just gone to a provincial council meeting with the other school boards in Vancouver.

“I voiced, with the other 59 school boards in the province, a very strong message that we needed more money for public education,” said Garcelon.

As part of her duty on the School Trustees Association, Rezansoff has advocated for more money from the B.C. School Trustees Association.

“Every year at the board … we advocate for student needs and public education,” added Rezansoff. “We do need more funding. It’s not enough to just shift the money around in the pie. The pie needs to get bigger and meatier.”

Aside from funding costs, school board transparency and forthcoming information were also discussed.

Grootjes announced that he has no issues with his vote being recorded into the minutes of a meeting.

“If you want to know what way I vote when an issue comes up in a meeting, I have no problem with the results showing in the minutes,” stated Grootjes. “If I’m afraid to show my name on the vote that I put forward, why am I volunteering to be on the board?”

Grootjes would also like to see less closed meetings.

Harshenin clarified that closed-door meetings are strictly for private matters, including staff and student issues.

“Closed meetings are when we deal with staff discipline ... or students,” Harshenin said. “Names of students or staff are noted and that is a privacy issue.”

Rezansoff stated that in terms of transparency, the website provides all the meeting minutes and information.

“We can’t always expect people to show up to board meetings because people are busy, but that is where we do our business,” stated Rezansoff. “We rely on our website as our tool of communication and it’s obviously not working as well as it should … One of the ways to push out information could be by using social media, which is what we discussed.”

Reid felt that the board was pretty transparent already.

“The website has a lot of information,” Reid said. “I’ve also been to the board meetings and there were only three people, who were from the (media).”

Last chance for advance polling occurs today, Nov. 16, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the RDKB office in Grand Forks and Christina Lake Community Hall in Christina Lake. Election day voting on Nov. 19 will take place at Dr. D. A. Perley Elementary School in Grand Forks and Christina Lake Community Hall from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.