Response to DPAC questions

School District 57 Parent Advisory Council (http://sd57dpac.ca/) asked trustee candidates seven questions. Here are my responses:

1. What do you think is important to parents in the district?
There are three basic things that all parents want: they want to know that their kids are safe, loved (or at least cared for), and learning something useful. Additionally, I think parents want to know that their kids receive adequate support, that problems (like bullying) will be dealt with quickly and fairly, that their role as parents will be respected, and that their kids will get a solid foundation in reading, writing, math, and opportunities to grow in the arts, phys-ed, citizenship, and practical skills.

2. Why are you running for trustee?
I am running for re-election because I have high expectations. For the last three years I have tried to raise the game for everyone involved in student success. I have worked for healthy caring schools and good relationships between all partner groups. I talk regularly with stakeholders and partner groups, especially when I know there are outstanding issues and dysfunction in our district. I have fought for transparent governance, asked tough questions of management and others, and refused to simply rubber stamp motions. Although I respect my fellow trustees, this usually puts me in the minority, often 1 out of 7.

3. What have you done to prepare yourself for the role of trustee?
To prepare for being a trustee I do three things:
a) I talk to people involved like teachers, principals, parents, and support staff to find out what's going on
b) I read the material prepared by senior staff and ask tough questions about it
c) I make motions to actually deal with the issues that come up, either on my own or with other trustees

4. How will you ensure that the schools in this district are safe and caring places for all students?
I will ensure safe and caring schools by continuing to find out what is behind the issues that come up and by holding senior management accountable for dealing with them. I will continue to be persistent. In 2012 I was the only trustee to support a stand-alone policy on LGBTQ bullying. Eventually the others came around. I also started out alone in pushing for class composition reports and better information release on school registration data and future projections. I keep in close contact with a network of parents, teachers, administration, and support staff.

5. How do you see your role as trustee in relation to the superintendent and staff?
I see my role with district staff as being an important part of providing transparency and accountability. I have prepared detailed responses to each of the superintendent's reports and district achievement contracts, and have asked tough questions at every in-camera and public board meeting. I insist on better data for decisions, e.g. the new student information system, and set high expectations for board office communication and reporting, e.g. I've kept the pressure up for a better and more useful district website. One of my favourite roles was being the DPAC liaison for two years.

6. How will you demonstrate and communicate the accountability and transparency of the school board to parents and to the community?
I will demonstrate accountability and transparency by asking for a restoration budget to by developed alongside the balanced budget. This shows partner groups and the government what a fully funded schools would look like, and would be developed with inputs from all partner groups. In fact our partner groups made very good suggestions during the "Extended Committee" process over the last two years but we failed to implement those changes in part due to insufficient funds. I also believe we need less closed-door meetings and would push for more inclusion and a redesign of our meetings. Lastly, we have a strategic planning process coming this year and I would like to ensure that it is not a "done deal" process but one that actually listens to and uses the input of partner groups and the community.

7. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
There are different strengths and weaknesses on every board. By my own admission I am not a politician. I am in fact an introvert who works very hard because I am trying to make a change. My work may not always be in the spotlight, but it is important because many of the other trustees are not comfortable doing it, like bringing issues into the light and asking difficult or awkward questions on behalf of parents, students, and employees.

Answers to Questions

About two weeks ago I posted some questions that I thought voters should ask of trustee candidates. Here are some of my thoughts about how to answer these questions.

1. Why bother voting in local elections? What difference does it make?

Both the City of PG and School District 57 work with budgets of more than $120 million.  Because local government is accessible, citizens can have more influence over how these tax dollars are spent than they can over provincial and federal funds. The local school board makes a difference to local schools, not just whether they stay open but about how they are managed and what programs get developed to improve success for students.

2. Why is BC behind other provinces when it comes to funding? What has our school board done to show the need for stable funding from the province besides write some letters?

BC Education is underfunded for many reasons. One of them is that education was not a big issue during the last election. Another is that our government has an agenda to reduce costs and allow more privatization of our school system. Our board has politely raised funding concerns whenever it has met with provincial representatives, and of course it has written many letters, but I think we need to be more aggressive.

3. Why are our playgrounds so sparse? What would it take to get more trees planted or more variety in the landscaping and playspaces?

When the school grounds were cleared of dead pine trees a few years ago, almost no trees were re-planted. My understanding is that senior management or maintenance department sees a cost savings in groundskeeping when it is just grass and not trees or gardens. It is always complicated to add more money to budgets when they have been recently reduced, but where there is a will there is a way. Trees and children go together, this should be a right and not a privilege.  It is also an inexpensive way to make old shabby schools look a little bit better.

4. Are all of our partner groups (teachers, principals, support staff, etc.) free to advocate for their schools, students, and public education or do they have restrictions placed on them? How has the school board engaged these partners? Will the new Strategic Plan address this?

Aside from good news stories or mandatory reports, we hear quite a bit from PGDTA, CUPE, and parents. We rarely hear from PGPVPA (administration). From my conversations it seems that many of them feel there is a gag order to in place and don't get involved. Our board has not done anything that I know of to correct this situation. I will try to make open, blunt, and honest feedback a part of the Strategic Plan, but one person can only do so much. Other trustees have to be willing to see the problem and also act on it. I would love to work with the board to make this happen.

5. Why are so many busses so empty? What are some creative ideas for rethinking how to meet student transportation needs?

We reserve bus seats for everyone that says they want to use it, but many do not. This is one reason why we spend about $500,000 more than we are funded for on transportation.  One idea is to have gathering stations where parents are expected to drop off their kids. From there, fewer buses could pick up more kids. These stations would have to be safe and perhaps supervised by a district employee that could call in with any problems. We could also charge based on usage, although this is not usually a popular idea. Another idea that has been floated is to offer a transportation subsidy for remote parents instead of offering bussing. We have tried this before and it resulted in savings.

6. When is a school too big? How are we planning for the future? Should any of our closed schools re-open?

Some of our schools are crowded. I am also concerned that some school properties could be sold off. If Prince George expands, we will need these school properties back to rebuild or renovate schools. Mackenzie has one elementary school (Morfee) and many parents have asked to re-open a second (Mackenzie Elementary). I would like to see a more detailed study one whether this is reasonable (money, demographics, learning conditions). They are also interested in French Immersion. So far, arguments on both sides have lacked solid evidence that convinces me of what should happen next.

7. Why are iPads a banned purchase by schools for use with staff and students? How are we actually supporting site-based management and innovation?

My understanding is that Pads were banned along with other tablet purchases (other than one pilot project) because of the potential cost. This was a decision by senior administration and not schools or the board. Perhaps they are worried that if one or two schools can use iPads in their classes then the whole district will want them, so to solve this problem they've banned them all. There is no actual policy about this, just practice. I have heard plenty from teachers and principals that they would like to make their own technology decisions and use their own technology budgets in a way that will benefit students and teachers the most. It is possible that tablet technology will come and go before our district sorts out what to do with this issue. This is too bad because many innovative teachers and principals have just given up using technology with students when it is not supported by the district. I'm quite sure we even lost a principal to another district because of this. It is wishful thinking that "bringing your own device" will solve this problem. We need to remove restrictions on technology that everyone in the educational world is already using.

8. How come new programs come and go without any data being collected about how they work and whether they are worth it? Do we have accountable spending?

I think is easier to come up with a creative idea than it is to see it through with a real plan that has parameters in place. Examples from the past include some of the 2010 school closures, the attempt to wipe out dual-track French Immersion, the rushed creation of a Northern Learning Centre choice program (which did not last two years), the choice of Student Information Systems, the AMS pilot (a new assessment system), the Essential 8 (tied to our achievement contract), and the upcoming Strategic Plan. Each one has its own issues but they all relate to data and accountability. Of course there are lots of programs that work great but the ones that  have serious problems show us the areas we should focus on to do a better job. Not trying to be a party-pooper, but trustees should spend less time being cheerleaders for the district and more time focusing on problems that won't go away. When we solve those problems then we have something to cheer about. Actually we should cheer more for basic work of staff and students, and show more of it on our websites.

9. What has been done to give rural schools the same learning opportunities as urban schools? How are we engaging their parents, students, staff, communities and the regional district?

Rural schools would benefit from more site-based management, more control over budget and direction. There has been a "conversation on rural education" going on 10 years, what we need is more action. For example, are we putting the creativity and resources into better distributed learning? Have we looked into better use of itinerant teachers or alternative schedules? I would like to know that rural communities (not just schools) are developing long-term site plans and that our school district is supporting them. I would like to know that when the regional district wants to meet with the board that it doesn't take months to make it happen.

10. What are we doing to speed up diagnosis of special needs students and the added funding that comes with it? Do we have enough support staff such as occupational therapists, psychologists, and speech pathologists to deal with the needs in our schools?

This was an important issue for me because we don't have enough support staff. I tried unsuccessfully to put aside surplus funds for more of these positions (psychologists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists). Although most of the partner groups agreed, and this was part of the "ECOW" (extended budget committee) recommendations, it did not happen. Again I found myself alone in this request. I think this should be a much bigger priority for our board and district because we are talking about our most vulnerable students.

11. The new teacher contract has an Education Fund to hire more specialist teachers, will this meet the needs of students? How will we find out if we need more counsellors, learning assistance teachers, teacher-librarians and so on?

Specialist teachers on their own won't meet all of our student's needs, but having more rather than less is definitely going to make a difference. I think the critical part is whether each school has access to basic supports. For example if the formula determines that an elementary school is too small for a teacher-librarian position, that school has lost opportunities compared with other schools.  I think that senior staff, principals, teacher reps, other partner group reps, and specialist teachers should sit down together to come up with our own targets and ratios separate from the provincial bargaining table. Maybe even two sets, what we can afford by using the Education Fund, and what we think we'd need to meet all the "specialist" needs of our students. I'd like to see this backed by evidence (data from our schools now) and not just past contract language or wishlists.

12. Does our school district website do enough to celebrate the good work that happens in our school district especially with the focus of the Canada Winter Games coming to Prince George?

No, our website does not yet do this. This was another point I tried to drive home over the last three years. There is no place to showcase board office staff, to celebrate cool student projects or teacher work or principal pride in their schools. Some of the school websites do this, some do not. The school website has new colours and design, but the content is still about the same. We should see some of the amazing things being done by our staff and students. All of Canada will be turning their attention to Prince George in a few months and one of the places they'll look is at our school district and our website (our schools will be used by the Games). We need better maps, stories, pictures, videos, and simpler navigation, following the three-click rule.

Rocky Mountain Goat News

The Rocky Mountain Goat Newspaper asked trustee candidates to respond to four questions. I thought I'd publish my responses here as well as to the paper.

Here are their questions:

1. What makes you a good candidate?
2. What are the big issues facing the school board and Robson Valley?
3. What is your vision for rural schools?
4. Anything else you want to add?

Here are my responses:

1. I have high expectations. For the last three years I have tried to raise the game for everyone involved in student success. I have worked for healthy caring schools and good relationships between all partner groups. I talk regularly with teachers, principals, other staff, and parents about what it going on in the district, especially where there is dysfunction. I have fought for transparent governance, asked tough questions of management and others, and refused to simply rubber stamp motions. Although I respect my fellow trustees, this usually puts me in the minority, often 1 out of 7.
2. Main issues: A) inclusive decision making - a Strategic Plan is coming up, I would like to see this be an open-ended consultation about the future, not a confirmation of what has already been decided. B) high expectation for leadership - the board needs to assert its right to set more directions in the district: budgets, programs, and hiring of management. Both the board and senior administration need to do more to follow-up on problems and opportunities. C) infrastructure improvements - many of our schools are in need of big repairs, environmental upgrades, and playground renewal. We should invest in geothermal heating, solar power panels, and planting more trees. Technology infrastructure needs attention, too, including the many restrictions that schools face on purchasing.
3. For rural schools, I would prioritize site-based management. Too many aspects of budgets and program direction are controlled centrally, with the result that rural school needs are sometimes put on the back burner and the "conversation on rural education" takes forever. My impression is that we use temporary measures to equalize opportunities for rural vs urban students. What we need is for rural communities to develop a more long-term site plans including better distributed learning and for the school district to support them.
4. Trustees are expected to be advocates. I am in favour of a more aggressive yet still respectful stance towards the government, more than just strongly worded letters. We should be building a restoration budget to be submitted along with our balanced budget to show the province what sustainable funding looks like. Our district and region is an awesome place to live and go to school. School boards need high expectations, strong voices, good listeners, blunt honesty, and caring leadership to ensure that we meet student needs in the future. That's what I offer.

Questions staff, parents, and students should ask trustees

We are coming up to a School Board election on November 15th.  Here are some questions that I've thought of and some that have been suggested to me. Feel free to contact me if you have some more.

1. Why bother voting in local elections? What difference does it make?
2. Why is BC behind other provinces when it comes to funding? What has our school board done to show the need for stable funding from the province besides write some letters?
3. Why are our playgrounds so sparse? What would it take to get more trees planted or more variety in the landscaping and playspaces?
4. Are all of our partner groups (teachers, principals, support staff, etc.) free to advocate for their schools, students, and public education or do they have restrictions placed on them? How has the school board engaged these partners? Will the new Strategic Plan address this?
5. Why are so many busses so empty? What are some creative ideas for rethinking how to meet student transportation needs?
6. When is a school too big? How are we planning for the future? Should any of our closed schools re-open?
7. Why are iPads a banned purchase by schools for use with staff and students? How are we actually supporting site-based management and innovation?
8. How come new programs come and go without any data being collected about how they work and whether they are worth it? Do we have accountable spending?
9. What has been done to give rural schools the same learning opportunities as urban schools? How are we engaging their parents, students, staff, communities and the regional district?
10. What are we doing to speed up diagnosis of special needs students and the added funding that comes with it? Do we have enough support staff such as occupational therapists, psychologists, and speech pathologists to deal with the needs in our schools?
11. The new teacher contract has an Education Fund to hire more specialist teachers, will this meet the needs of students? How will we find out if we need more counsellors, learning assistance teachers, teacher-librarians and so on?
12. Does our school district website do enough to celebrate the good work that happens in our school district especially with the focus of the Canada Winter Games coming to Prince George?

Re-election Press Release

I have great expectations for our school district. I want more transparency and accountability from senior management. I want more follow-through and boldness from trustees. I want more celebration and voice for the work of teachers. I want more awareness of what our support staff do to improve schools and learning. I want more engagement of parents and students as stakeholders in public education. I want the provincial government to acknowledge that we have unmet needs in our students due to underfunding, understaffing, and aging infrastructure that needs investment. I do not believe that these expectations are out of reach for the Board of Education. I do believe these are goals that we can achieve if we work together.

My record:

• Asked for a Restoration Budget to be submitted along with our balanced budget in order to show the provincial government and the public what a fully-funded education system looks like.
• Supported a stand-alone LGBTQ anti-bullying policy from the start of my term. While initially alone, thankfully other trustees came around to this position when it came up last year.
• Challenged each and every budget and district report when it did not meet high standards for inclusion of partner group input, unanswered questions about money or direction, slippery statistics, or clearness of expression.
• Successfully won the release of information from our district that should be public such as enrollment and demographic data, class composition reports, and school transfer information.
• Pushed for more of our committee meetings to lift partner group gag orders and for stakeholders to be part of budget consultations.
• Advocated for less restrictions on technology and innovation, and for paying attention to the impact that new technology has on the time and work of staff, like new student information systems.

What I am not:
A politician, polished public speaker, or someone who only speaks up when the wind is blowing in that direction. I do not vote with the majority just because I am expected to, I treat each motion on its own and vote to represent all stakeholders, not just management recommendation.

What I am: 
Someone who will ask tough questions, follow through on issues, and advocate for well-funded, caring, and effective schools for our staff and students.  I will listen to what all parties say and ensure their voices do not get lost in procedures and closed-door meetings.

What to expect from me next:

I do not ride the fence on issues (I'm sorry to say this has been a bog issue for our current board), and I am not shy about controversy although I am a shy person.  I am hoping that our new board deals with sustainable funding, support for rural education, reducing cost of bussing, condition of school grounds, improvements for special needs students, and more site-based management.

More about me: 

I'm a mother of two kids in SD57 elementary schools, married to teacher, and an employee at Northern Health. I do pottery in my spare time. I was born in Nova Scotia, raised in Saskatchewan and other places (military family), and have lived in Prince George since 1998. I have served one term as a trustee in SD57 from 2011-2014. 

Feel free to contact me by text/phone (7783499119) or email (trusteecooke@gmail.com) if you want more information, would like to share your thoughts about public education, or have concerns that need to be brought forward. 

I would like my next post to be about questions that staff, parents, and students would like answered. Please contact me if you have some good questions.

Running again

It wasn't until late last night that I decided whether or not I should run again for school board trustee in School District 57. I had to work through some serious pros and cons, talk to some friends, and figure out what I valued about being a trustee. The case for saying yes became clearer over the course of the evening. I have big expectations for our school system and believe I can make a difference in my own way.

I am not your typical trustee. I do not want to be a politician, and I don't enjoy being in the spotlight. I struggle with public speaking and even writing in a clear fashion, although this has improved a lot over the last three years. I have a problem with truth, meaning that I stick to it and will not lie or bend the facts when it is convenient. I will always say what is on my mind and do not have the ability to bullshit people. This means I can be very blunt in what I say in both closed and public meetings. I often believe in underdogs and pay attention to what people on the edge of conversations are doing or saying. 

Over the last three years, this means I have asked tough questions at every single meeting I have been at, even to the point of being cut off or "handled." I have pushed for accountability and transparency in our district, especially from senior management, and pushed for the input of partner groups to be taken seriously. We have a secretive district and many issues brought up by staff, so I felt that this was job number one for a trustee.  I started out trying to represent teachers, parents, principals, support staff, PEA (like psychologists), and students first, and did not start out simply accepting that senior management has all the answers. 

This also means I have usually been on the losing end of votes. In 2011, I was 1 out 7 in wanting a stand alone LGBTQ policy for our district. Eventually the other trustees agreed this was necessary. I have twice been 1 out of 7 in looking for a restoration budget. This is a needs-based budget that would be submitted along with the balanced budget in order to show the provincial government what full funding would look like in our school district. The request did not even make it to the board table. I have been 1 out of 7 in challenging the District Achievement Contract and related reports because they did not meet high standards and contained invalid interpretation of statistics. I have been in the minority in voting against three annual budgets because they did not do enough to incorporate partner group input and one of them spent money we were told would not be spent. I was the only one at first to ask for class composition data to be included in the superintendent's report, eventually this passed. I pushed for a closer look at student information systems when it seemed our district was ready to just jump in on the Ministry of Education's suggested choice. I pushed for less restrictions on technology and innovation in our district in response to year of complaints that these areas were being ignored. There were also editing suggestions for letters to the government, many of which were too strong to make it into the final version, and multiple motions related to transparent release of information, some of which passed.

This list could go on for a while, it is part of the hard work that I did and will continue to do if elected. My work is not very flashy and may not seem that exciting to the average voter in an election, but it is important work. Without this kind of work being done by one or more trustees, a board can quickly becomes a rubber stamp and we lose accountability and transparency.

The last three years wasn't all an uphill battle. Our board has done some good work and there has been great discussions and laughter along the way. Generally the debate has been respectful, although many issues have come and gone without actually dealing with them. The good discussion doesn't always translate into good votes on issues. I am encouraged by the feeling that partner groups have had an increased voice, but we have a long way to go.

I really hope our board can learn from the last three years, and that some new trustees can bring energy to make some needed changes. My goal for the next term is seek high expectations for the board, for senior management, and for partner groups in School District 57.

I guess that can be my campaign slogan: Great Expectations

Final vote count

35 of 41 polls reporting !!!

With the results mostly in, it looks like I made it onto the board. The polls as of late last night show me at seven of seven, a real squeaker. I am honoured to be chosen for trustee. There were sixteen candidates running for seven seats, two of which had dropped out, so I really hope the seven that didn't make it are willing to stay active as advocates for public education and share their ideas with the new board. All of the dialogue leading up to the election focused on a more open school board office and more responsive board of trustees. This is what I ran for and this is what I will come back to as a focus. The issues I thought were important included teacher support, student support, communication, planning, rural education, technology, and real sustainability. Other issues will come up in the next three years and I hope to continue the commitment from all of the candidates for a more inclusive and transparent process for change. I'd especially like to thank the CORES rural school support group for encouraging excellent dialogue among the candidates, and for all of the teachers, parents, and family who asked good questions, offered support, and provided a student-centered perspective for my campaign. In the coming weeks, I look forward to learning the ropes and start working for some practical, creative actions in the next three years that will benefit our students and school communities.

jitters

Well, that was fun. We had the PGDTA/DPAC sponsored all-candidates forum tonight. Good questions and some interesting responses. Nice not to have any hecklers. It seemed that each person, in their own way, was focused on students. I'm really going to have to get used to the public speaking part of being trustee if I'm elected - I tend to think of what I want to say about things after while, after some time to sort it out. It was nice to meet the other candidates, and get a sense of what they would bring to the board. I kind of wish I could redo the rural schools question as I wanted to talk about the Dunster experience and the need to reopen Mackenzie Elementary. Oh well, part of the learning curve I guess.

Here we go!

Filling in the nomination forms tonight for school board trustee in School District 57 Prince George. It's quite the stack of papers to read through! The prospect of a campaign and the public office makes me a bit nervous but also excited to take on the challenge. I'm looking forward to listening, advocating for students and schools, and keeping the school district accountable for high standards in education... programs, services, decisions, relationships. I think I'll bring a unique perspective to the board -- I've attended school in three countries and six provinces..... some of these were amazing and some were a disaster, but I've emerged with a very strong sense of how students perceive the schools, teachers, and systems in which they find themselves.