I am 55 years old, married with two adult daughters. We are raising two of our four granddaughters. The eldest graduated from OSS in 2014, in the midst of the teachers’ strike and the other is currently in grade 11 at OSS. The other two granddaughters are in grades 3 and 10, here in Osoyoos. I moved to Osoyoos from Smithers in 2002 and have never looked back. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I am semi-retired so can dedicate a lot of my time to my duties on the Board. I stay in touch with what is going on with our children through my grandchildren and my involvement as Vice President of the Sun Bowl Skating Club and as a high school volleyball official.
The financial pressures felt by our current School District are real. They need to be addressed. Throughout the school closure consultations, numerous ideas were presented as ways to help deal with the monetary shortfalls. All of these ideas need to be looked at to see which ones are viable and could be implemented and which ones should be considered for the future. There were a lot of possible cost savings, and possible revenue generators, identified and all of the ideas presented need to be evaluated. Other ideas were brought forward at the budget meetings.
All of our communities must play a part in helping to ensure the financial health of our school district. I believe that the Board of Education must take a lead role in sitting down with our community leaders and creating an action plan to help address the issues of lower enrollment in our schools. I believe that the answer to keeping all of our schools open while providing quality education to all of the students is out there. We just have to look for it. We just have to ask others to help us find the answers. I believe that as a School Board we should make sure we ask for the help, clearly and plainly.
I value small schools, which all of our schools are. I believe that small schools can, and often do, provide great quality education. However, small schools do present a challenge. I know that increasing course options at the secondary level can be achieved by looking at different delivery models. The modified time table that was implemented at OSS this year is a great indication of this. This modified time table allowed for many new options. Technology can be utilized to create other delivery models like video classes, a method utilized in other schools throughout the province as well as colleges and universities. We need to explore and utilize all available options.
I am passionate about educating our children in their own communities. I believe that when we start bussing our children to other communities for school, we take something away from both our children and our communities. I believe that emotional, physical, mental, and educational health are put at risk when we choose to do this. That is why I attended and spoke out at the school closure consultation meetings. That is why I wrote to the School Board during and after the votes. I had been considering running for a position on the School Board prior to the announcement of the possible school closures and when I decided that I was going to run for School Trustee in 2018, I decided it was time to familiarize myself with what was going on at the Board level. I attended the strategic planning sessions that were held to develop the vision and mission for our district, the budget meeting, and School Board meetings. When it was announced that June Harrington was resigning from the Board, after speaking with Brenda Dorosz, I decided that I would run in the by-election.
I have several guiding principles. One of them is, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” I want to be part of the solution. Another being, “You get what you give.” A lot of damage was done to the level of respect, confidence and trust that our community has for the School Board. I am hopeful that through consultation and collaboration, I can help heal these wounds. Finally,
“If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” If elected to the Board, I can and will commit to doing everything I can to ensure equality throughout the district and to ensure that all of our students are receiving quality education.