THUNDER BAY - Dougall Media reached out to school board trustee candidates in the public and Catholic board races and are publishing the answers to a series of questions posed to them. Not all candidates responded with answers to the questions posed.
1: Why did you decide to run for school board trustee?
I decided to run for school board trustee as I believe my work experience in education will bring a renewed perspective to the Board of Trustees at Lakehead Public Schools. I have worked for Lakehead Public Schools and three regional school boards as well as the Ministry of Education in a variety of roles including teacher, principal, superintendent, Student Achievement Officer, and Thunder Bay regional manager for Field Services. Many of these roles gave me a chance to work with different staff and students across Northwestern Ontario. Those work opportunities provided me with not only a local perspective, but a regional, and provincial one as well. As a Trustee, I can bring that breadth of knowledge as we, the elected board of trustees, participate in making decisions that would benefit all schools and their communities.
2: What is the biggest challenge schools in our community currently face? How do you propose to address it?
One of the biggest challenges that schools in our community currently face is helping students to return to a consistent routine in school and recovering lost learning opportunities due to the Global Pandemic. I believe as trustees, we need to ensure there are supports so our students and staff can return to a "normal" school year. This can bring stability to our schools, our parents/guardians and to their communities. As trustees, we can check with staff through the Director of Education and we can check in with students through the Student Trustee and the Indigenous Student Trustee.
3. What is the single greatest impact you plan to make for students?
As a Trustee, I need to support and collaborate with the Student Trustees in order to make the single greatest impact for all students. Lakehead Public Schools is a system that faces many of the challenges of Northwestern Ontario: isolated schools, rural schools, and urban schools. It is very important that Student Trustees feel comfortable enough to ask questions and make suggestions as they represent the voices of all students (K-12) in Lakehead Public Schools.
4. How can school boards support equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights initiatives?
Trustees can support equity, diversity, inclusion, and human rights initiatives, through policies and committees. Trustees must know the policies and learn what is happening in committees by reading minutes or, when possible, attending. Trustees must take advantage of opportunities for professional development and engagement at the board, through the community or using the resources available through OPSBA.
5. What can trustees do concretely to improve graduation rates at board high schools?
Every child that enters Lakehead Public Schools should be able to see themselves as a graduate. Graduation starts long before secondary school. Students must have every opportunity to succeed each year and that success will scaffold to graduation. One way that a trustee can concretely improve graduation rates at board high schools is by working with the student trustee. Student trustees represent the voice of all students in the board and it is through them that trustees learn how policies impact the daily life of our students. If there are barriers to students graduating secondary school, one important source to identify any barriers is through our student trustees. As is stated in the Student Trustee Handbook 2022: “Student voice is valued, and critical to informing policy decisions that best serve student experience for maximum achievement in academics and well being.” Lakehead Public Schools has two student trustees, including an Indigenous student trustee.
6: Do you feel the budget process adequately reflects the needs of the classroom?
Yes. There are many steps in the budget process. During the budget process, stakeholders such as the teacher unions(OSSTF and LETO), SEAC, PIC, AEAC, Principals,and School Councils have opportunities to provide input into the budget. According to Lakehead Public Schools website these groups either submit reports or attend meetings to discuss priorities. In addition, a web-based budget input option will be made available to the public.
7: As schools transition from COVID-19, what do you think needs to be done to address the effects of the pandemic on mental health and well-being, student engagement and learning recovery?
As we transition from COVID -19, we need to have as much regular routine in our schools as possible for staff and students and throughout each day take opportunities to listen to our students from K-12 to find out how they are doing. As a trustee, we have the opportunity to engage with our student trustees to find out how students are doing in our schools. Board reports would tell us, as trustees, how the staff in our schools are being supported as we transition from COVID 19. The Board improvement plan and school improvement plans should reflect that we are emerging from a global pandemic and what actions are being implemented to address areas of mental health and well being, student engagement and learning recovery.
8: Knowing and acknowledging that many Indigenous students already face significant gaps in learning outcomes and achievement, what would you propose to do to mitigate learning loss specific to the unique challenges and needs faced by many Indigenous students across many Indigenous communities in the province particularly those in remote areas?
Partnerships with First Nation communities and organizations is key to supporting Indigenous students in education. Lakehead Public Schools has a number of support systems for Indigenous students and their families: a new multi year strategic plan developed using an Indigenous Framework, an Aboriginal Education Advisory Council, an Indigenous Trustee, an Indigenous Student Trustee, and within the schools are programs to support Indigenous students. There are two ways you might mitigate learning loss specific to unique challenges and needs faced by Indigenous students: At school level, staff would connect with students, families/ guardians to address the needs of the student at that school. At the Board level a link to Indigenous students would be the Indigenous Student Trustee as they represent all Indigenous students within the board.
9: Can you comment on what schools need to support students with special needs?
Students with special needs are unique individuals with their own areas of strengths and areas of needs. However, one area of focus in Special Education is a result of the recommendations from the Right to Read Inquiry. The report includes 157 recommendations to the Ministry of Education, school boards and faculties of education on how to address systemic issues that affect the right to learn to read. With direction from the Ministry of Education, school boards will develop and implement a plan to address the recommendations. For example, training for staff in the early years in phonemic awareness would be part of the plan.
10: What are your views on the role of technology in teaching and learning?
Technology can play a role in teaching and learning by providing an opportunity for staff to enhance their lessons and in turn engage students in learning. Since most students are actively engaged in a variety of social media using technology, an area of importance in education is for students to learn how to navigate social media safely. For example the policy program memorandum 166 (PPM 166) that was released in 2021 and came into effect in 2022 required boards to establish an anti-sex trafficking protocol. Within the protocol is the need to teach students and their families the dangers they might not be aware of in relation to sex trafficking as they use the internet
