Interview with Ward 12 and 14 Public School Trustee Candidate Malik Amery

This is a continuation of a series of interviews that I will post about local candidates that are running in the 2010 Calgary municipal election. I do not endorse any of the candidates necessarily, unless stated otherwise. The intent is to allow the candidates a forum in which they can share some of their views as I feel that the school trustee candidates often do not get the same amount of attention from the mainstream media as the alderman and mayoral candidates.



This interview is with Malik Amery who will be running for election as the Public School Trustee in Ward 12 &14 this term.
 
 

Why are you running for the position of school board trustee?


I am proud to say that I am a product of the CBE and depiction of its success. My mandate is simply to contribute back to a system which brought me up; resurrect it back to a system which all others are measured against and then safeguard it for future generations. I am running for School Board Trustee to work towards rectifying the numerous deficiencies plaguing the public school system. I believe that the principal stakeholders (i.e. students, parents, educators and community) have been misrepresented for several years. The current Trustees have become disconnected from the principal stakeholders and have failed to recognize who exactly they are representing.

Consequently, I have elected to run for Public School Trustee with the hopes of utilizing my educational background in Economics and Accounting and my professional experience in finance with a focus on operational budgeting and collective bargaining labour analysis, to ensure that limited resources currently available are allocated as fairly and efficiently as possible. I would also immediately work towards re-establishing the medium of exchange necessary to seek the consultation of principal stakeholders and incorporate foresight in how we plan to meet the educational needs of students.

I have spent the majority of my life attaining the skill set necessary to adequately and effectively serve a Public School Trustee. I come from a family who are devoted to the enhancement of public education and who are intimately involved in provincial politics (one is a MLA here in Calgary). Utilizing both the educational and professional experiences in conjunction with the instilled importance of education from my family, allows me understand the important issues of the public school system and their direct impact on the resources of the educators and the student experience.

The quality of public education can only be secured with the continuous engagement of its principal stakeholders; the students, parents, educators, community and government, working in conjunction with strong representation which will listen to their concerns, addresses their issues and deliver on their mandates. To achieve this directive, my priorities will be explicitly aimed at increasing transparency, sustainability and accountability in the decision making process for all parties involved. Working attentively with the community, parents and students; I will demonstrate the leadership, determination, integrity and commitment necessary to ensure long-term financial sustainability and enhancement of the public education system.

I understand that students within the public education system are an extremely diverse group with very individualistic educational needs. It is fundamentally important that educators are provided with the resources to address these needs and to foster our student’s educational growth.

It has become explicitly clear that the current Trustees no longer seek stakeholder consultation; rarely employed a long-term planning perspective and do NOT have the qualifications critically needed to govern the educational system. As such, I have elected to run for School Board Trustee.

Can you share some of your past volunteer, political and/or Board of Directors experience?

I am currently involved in the resurrection of the McKenzie Towne Farmers Market, as I believe this happening promotes family interaction, fosters communication and creates a positive community atmosphere. I have also had the privilege of volunteering on several occasions for Canadian Blood Services and The Mustard Seed. I have extensive educational knowledge in provincial politics. Concurrently, I also come from a family who are advocates of the enhancement and sustainability of public education and who are intimately involved in provincial politics.

What is your future vision of the education system in Calgary?

A public education system which would meet the individualistic learning needs of ALL students and seeks the engagement and participation of all principal stakeholders in the entire education process serves as the foundation of my vision for public education in Calgary. Adequate resources would be made available to ensure that educators have the educational resources, professional development programs and support mechanisms necessary to meet the needs of all types of learners. My vision entails an education system which endorses transparency, sustainability and accountability in the decision making process for all parties involved. It is a system which provides adequate infrastructure in developing communities and maintains infrastructure in mature communities. It is a system which ensures the standardization of educational programs with all students receiving the same quality and accessibility to education no matter where in the city they live. My future vision of Calgary’s education systems comprises the incorporation of more technology in the classroom, not only as an alternative or supplement to traditional teaching mechanism, but more importantly to encourage innovation in today’s students. The digital deficiency plaguing CBE classrooms must be addressed immediately to solidify not only the successful future of today’s learners but also to secure the social and economic prosperity of all Albertans. Finally and most importantly, it is an educational system which not only develops life long learners, but cultivates life long LEADERS.

What do you think the future of School Boards are in Alberta? What changes would you make to the school board trustee model?

I do believe that independent School Boards MUST (and will) continue to exist in order to ensure the individualistic needs of the communities are identified, understood and rectified. Independent School Board sustainability is paramount to ensuring the incorporation of the ideologies, recommendations and suggestions of the principal stakeholders (i.e. students, parents, educators and community). School Boards and the School Board Trustee model MUST incorporate foresight and instil new mechanisms of how we approach education. School Board Trustees must be instilled with the legislative authority necessary to foster the autonomy of the independent school boards, ultimately enhancing their ability to respond to local concerns and address local needs. School boards must be given natural person powers; to ensure decision making authority is equivalent to those enjoyed my municipalities.

To be effective, any revisions to the School Board Trustee model MUST mitigate the barriers plaguing their ability to properly represent their communities. The re-establishment of who the Trustees represent (i.e. the principal stakeholders) is critical. Concurrently, it is fundamentally important that any changes to the current Trustee model allow for autonomy pertaining to the following areas of concern:

• Infrastructure; primarily explicit identification of how a collaborative effort could be established to provide school boards with the resources necessary to ensure adequate spaces for students.

• An unambiguous mandate which identifies the responsibilities of the school boards

• Employment provisions pertaining to the school board’s ability to hire, manage and discipline staff.

• Reinstatement of the schools boards authority to access some portion of the provincial tax base, systematically allowing them to raise funds from their communities to support local priorities and bridge funding shortfalls.

• Removal of the provision dictating school boards seek authorization from the Minister of Education when appointing Superintendents and negotiating their contracts.

If a new School Board Trustee model is to be constructed, it is critical that it provides Trustees with the resources and legislative influences needed to foster and safeguard the collaboratively determined vision, values and principles of the independent School Boards which they represent.

If you could implement one radical idea to improve the school system, what would it be?

A radical (yet realistic) mechanism that I would explore to improve the school system pertains to the consolidation of non-instructional “backstage” organizational departments, (i.e. Human Resources, Payroll, Insurance, Finance, Legal and Accounting) within ALL school districts to capitalize on synergizes and gain economies of scale. What must be made explicitly and unequivocal clear is that the savings achieved via the consolidation would be re-invested into attainment of additional classroom resources; the development of new infrastructure and the maintenance of existing infrastructure. It is a basic business practise which has been successfully employed within other government departments and throughout the private sector. Non-instructional service consolidation MUST occur with open communication and with the consultation from all principal stakeholders; ensuring the shared services achieve a balance between flexibility and accountability.

Plagued by a cyclical economic climate and a myriad of other issues, the provincial governments funding for school boards has become nearsighted and erratic. To fulfill budgetary commitments, the public school board has opted to remove educators and resources from the classroom or “front stage”, rather than to seek organizational efficiencies from within the “backstage” non-instructional service departments via consolidation, certainly a vehicle worth exploring.

Interview With Ward 12 & 14 Public School Trustee Candidate Carol Bazinet

This is a continuation of a series of interviews that I will post about local candidates that are running in the 2010 Calgary municipal election. I do not endorse any of the candidates necessarily, unless stated otherwise. The intent is to allow the candidates a forum in which they can share some of their views as I feel that the school trustee candidates often do not get the same amount of attention from the mainstream media as the alderman and mayoral candidates.



This interview is with Carol Bazinet, who will be running fro re-election as the Public School Trustee in Ward 12/14 this term.

Why are you running for the position of school board trustee?

CB: The important role that trustees play in public education is based on their representation of the public. Since all of the public can not be “at the table” for debate, trustees must do their best to represent as many views as possible. I really enjoy talking to members of the public about their education system and what their hopes and dreams are for their children. That is why I would want to be a trustee.

Can you share some of your past volunteer, political and/or Board of Directors experience?



CB: Serving as trustee for Calgary Board of Education since 2003, President of Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils for 3 years, Board of Directors for Alberta School Boards Association 3 years, member of Board for Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan (continuing) 2 years, Vice-Chair Calgary Board of Education, 3 years, member and currently Chair of CBE Audit committee – 7 years.



What is your future vision of the education system in Calgary?


CB: Vision for education system is that 100% of students complete high school. By the time students complete high school they have some understanding of their direction for the future.



What do you think the future of School Boards are in Alberta. What changes would you make to the school board trustee model?

CB: I believe school boards will continue to exist but we must recognize some of the recent changes to our education funding and delivery model in order to make the current role of boards more relevant. Per pupil funding implies a different model for school boards in that in order to be successful they must provide services that parents/students want in order to maintain student numbers. We need to ask serious questions about who school boards represent when many constituents in Calgary send their children to schools run by school authorities other than CBE or Calgary Separate and yet those are the only two boards they can vote for on election day.

If you could implement one radical idea to improve the school system, what would it be?


CB: One radical idea would be to base our system on outputs not on inputs. So if a student knows the information in a course, can they write an exam and get credit? Do all students need exactly the same number of hours of instruction before they write a test or produce a document? If a student wants to work independently (or students working in a group) and they can produce great representation of their knowledge and skills, do we have to ask them to conform to certain rules? How can we change our system to better measure what students know, what they want to explore, what their thinking abilities are, how they are preparing themselves for the future? Our goal is to have lifelong learners.

Carol's website is at http://www.carolbazinet.ca/ 

Interview With Ward 12 & 14 Public School Board Trustee Wendi Moore

This is a continuation of a series of interviews that I will post about local candidates that are running in the 2010 Calgary municipal election. I do not endorse any of the candidates necessarily, unless stated otherwise. The intent is to allow the candidates a forum in which they can share some of their views as I  feel that the school trustee candidates often do not get the same amount of attention from the mainstream media as the alderman and mayoral candidates.



This interview is with Wendi Moore, who will be running for Public School Trustee in Ward 12/14 this term.

Why are you running for the position of school board trustee?

WM:   The reason I am running for Public School Trustee in Ward 12 and 14 is to get back to involving the “public” in public education. We have too many instances of the current Board looking out for their interests and not for the interests of the public (parents/students) at large. We have instances of designated schools not properly aligned with new communities where, for instance, many students will take a bus past a school on their way to their designated school. We have children in the K-4 age group that are boarding buses in Ward 12 at 7:20 a.m. to reach school for 8:00 a.m. and then leaving school at 2:45 p.m. only to arrive home to an after school dayhome or go to an after school program if the parents are not lucky enough to be able to leave their work early enough to be home for their children. We are moving from a community based school system to a system that is not thinking of the students and parents when they assign communities to what they feel should be their designated schools. I am passionate about the fight for new schools to be built in the SE communities in Ward 12 and built as K-9 schools and not the current K-4 and 5-9 situation we currently have.


Can you share some of your past volunteer, political and/or Board of Directors experience?

WM: I am currently the President of the New Brighton Community Association and have been involved on many volunteer Boards, including the Seton Society, SECRS (South East Recreational Society), FCC (Federation of Calgary Communities), Trico Centre for Wellness (formerly Family Leisure Centre) and the Partners in Planning program with the FCC. I am also involved with the Calgary Police Services and the Calgary Block Watch program working to make New Brighton one of the safest communities.


What is your future vision of the education system in Calgary

WM: Well, that is a tough one. My vision may not be everyone’s vision, but, with the help of other Trustees and the stakeholder’s such as parents/children, we can work toward a vision that is inclusive of what an education system should be like. This is part of putting the “public” back into public education. We need to put a plan in place similar to PlanIT Calgary to ensure we follow a guided path based on what our current level of standards are for education and strive to make that better and surpass those levels through a proper plan of action.


What do you think the future of School Boards are in Alberta. What changes would you make to the school board trustee model?

WM: It is important to keep hold of the current model of what exists in Alberta now, but expand upon this model. We need to further break down the trustee model by having one ward per Trustee. There is nothing but growth in place for the City of Calgary, which means more communities and more schools to look after. One Trustee for two Wards only creates frustration and burn-out for Trustees as well as the problem of not engaging the community properly or being able to give the same amount of time each school deserves with respect to interaction.

If you could implement one radical idea to improve the school system, what would it be?


WM: If I could implement one radical idea it would be to hold community meetings on a monthly basis to gain feedback from parents as to what they feel are being done right or wrong within the schools their children attend. This would include having community based committees to provide a “scoring system” on how well the community, the students and the schools themselves feel their elected Trustee is doing. There is, as far as I know, no performance evaluation system in place to guide both the Trustee and the community at large on how they are doing with their respect to what they are hired for.

Thank you Shane for the opportunity to answer your questions and please visit my site at www.wendi4trustee.com to gain more insight into my background and platform.