Finally a little bit of action on the School board side of the elections. There is a group called the Victoria Public Education Coalition that is running a slate of three candidate for the Greater Victoria School Board.
I do know one of the people running for VPEC, Catherine Alpha. I have known Catherine through being a member of the same faith group. Over the years I have been impressed by her energy and dedication to any issue she takes on. I will be voting for Catherine in the election.
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As the founder of LANDS! (Let's Agree Not to Dispose of Schools!) I work to stop the sale of public school lands across BC. This issue impacts my choices for school trustees (who vote to close and sell schools) and Municipal Councillors (who vote to put protective zoning on school lands). For Trustee I support:
Catherine Alpha, Starla Anderson, Tamara Malczewska, Bev Horsman, Mike Hayes, John Young and Peg Orcherton.
These folks are solidly behind the future of universal public education and would never never vote to sell a school property.
You will note that 3 of my picks are from the Victoria Public Education Coalition - an organization that some trustees have been working to defame. (For the record, VPEC supports both music & sports programs and parent volunteerism, but would like to gradually eliminate school fees and the need for parents to incessantly fundraise. Teachers have volunteered enthusiastically for the public education coalition, but they do not control it.)
I would not vote for McEvoy, Walsh, Pitre, Leonard or Ferris because their record of consistently voting to close and sell schools. As a district administrator Mr. Pitre was part of ridiculously exaggerated declining enrollment data projections which were presented to justify lands sales.
(For the record, the brief 6% decline in enrollment since 2001 is over -- indeed, the echo-echo boomers are turning 30 and having babies. However the province now says that trustees may sell public schools to private schools for below market value -- without the Minister's permission.) Our vote for trustee is important!
Public school lands belong to our great great grandchildren -- far past our ability to foretell. They are one of our finest legacies. They are not ours to sell.
Jessica Van der Veen
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