Interview With Ward 11 and 13 Public School Trustee Candidate Catherine Huggerud

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 Catherine Heggerud, who will be running for election as the Public School Trustee in Ward 11 & 13 this term.

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

I am running for public school trustee for two primary reasons:

I believe that public education is a fundamental right for all citizens of a democracy. Education strengthens the citizen; and an engaged citizen strengthens the democracy. All the years I spent at TELUS, I believed it was my responsibility to make the organization the best it could be. With my children in the public school system, I believe my education and experience can contribute to the CBE by building on its strong past and continually improve it. Like all parents, I want the best for my children.

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


I was active in student government from junior high on. I served one term on an undergraduate student’s club, AIECSEC as Vice President, Special Projects. AIESEC (Association of Students in Economics and Commerce) is the world’s largest run student organization in the world with over 50,000 members and chapters in more than 107 countries. My term as Vice President saw the most successful Careers’ Day at the University of Alberta campus at that time. We connected a significant number of students with potential employers. While a graduate student at the University of Alberta, I served one term as Vice President, Communications of the Graduate Students’ Association. I am an active classroom volunteer with the CBE and find this to be an excellent way of appreciating what happens at the front line of teaching. The most recent significant volunteer project was the cumulation of a thirty year project from my elementary school. In 1980, we buried a time capsule in the school yard to be opened by the class of 2010. I was actively involved in 1980 as the lead of both the fundraising committee and a cultural artifact committee. Recently, this involvement focused on three components, raising funds for the class of 2010, locating a revolutionary teacher who gave up teaching in the early 1980s, and locating 18 classmates now spread around the world.


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

My vision for public education in Calgary rests on four key premises. These are:

• Flexible – the education system needs to be flexible to meet the constantly changing demands of the various stakeholders. The CBE has done an outstanding job ensuring flexible programming for students. We need to ensure our systems and processes are flexible as well to support parents, teachers and students as they navigate public education.



• Fun – the education system needs to engage students to ensure students believe that learning is fun in order to promote life-long learning. When I was a grade three student in the mid-1970s, we still memorized multiplication tables. Now my grade three son comes home every day and informs me of how much math “rocks”. We need to ensure students have this passion for life- long learning.



• Forward looking – the education system need to ensure it is looking down the road and not in the rear-view mirror. Historically the education system was designed for the manufacturing economy. We need to ensure our education system is designed for the information age and the creative economy.



• Fiscally responsible – the education system must remain fiscally responsible. We know funding grants are limited as are opportunities for revenue generation. We need to work with granting agencies to ensure we have a system that meets our needs now and in the future. Once we have funding dollars, we need to ensure we are using those funds prudently.



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


I think the future of school boards in Alberta is up for debate under the new Education Act. I suspect there is a movement to create one "superboard" for schools as we have done for healthcare. I believe the incoming trustees are going to need to have a clear position and a strong voice to navigate through the process. I am personally not convinced that a “superboard” model is best for public education in Alberta but I also do not believe the current system is perfect either. For example, across the province the ratio of trustees to schools varies widely. We need to clearly define the role school boards are to play. If trustees are to be elected politicians with constituency responsibilities, we must

ensure they have the resources to engage the community effectively. For example, if an expectation of the community is that the trustee will attend every parent-council meeting for every school (as is the case in St. Albert), it would be impossible to do in the wards I am running in. Wards 11 & 13 have over thirty schools, so with one parent-council meeting per night, I would need to be at a school every night of the week including the weekends. Therefore, we need to work out a community engagement model that meets the needs of the community.



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

I believe one of the greatest challenges facing public education is the soon to be shortage of

teaching professionals. We are faced with increased programming options beyond the traditional core subjects and we are faced with the retirement of many boomer teachers. In order to address these issues, I would like to work with Alberta Advanced Education to ensure

we have professional programs available to certify new teachers. It is unrealistic to expect a mid-career professional automotive mechanic to take five years out of his or her career to become a teacher, yet we desperately require these skill sets in our high schools. Therefore, my

radical idea is to change the way we certify teaching professionals at mid-career points. This should allow us to open up the teaching profession to those professionals whose skill sets we require and allow us to address the baby-boom retirement challenge when it occurs.

Interview With Ward 11 and 13 Public School Board Trustee Julie Kearns

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 Julie Kearns, who will be running for election as the Public School Trustee in Ward 11 & 13 this term.

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


I care about education. I care about democracy and the crucial role of local communities to govern their affairs. I am known as a visionary leader, and I have experience as an educator; community volunteer; parent & grandparent; knowledge of best practices in educational governance; expertise in measuring outcomes; sensitivity to the political dimensions of education; and belief in our capacity to change and adapt to the future.

My commitment, as the Public School Board Trustee for Wards 11 & 13 is to advance the vision of Inspiring Education, and I commit to:

• lead strategically

• modernize the role of trustees

• provide effective stewardship of resources

• respect teachers’ professional role as a key to a successful system

• seek new ways to engage the community in educational governance


Can you share some of your past volunteer, political and/or Board of Directors experience?
  I recently retired from the University of Calgary as “Senior Instructor Emeritus” where I was Director of the Student Resource Centre, Academic Development Coordinator for the Faculty of Continuing Education, Director of Continuing Professional Education for the Faculty of Social Work, and senior instructor teaching courses in Program Evaluation, Human Performance Technology, Organizational Behaviour, Leadership, E-learning, and Adult Education.

Living in the Oakridge community for my adult life, I am an active community volunteer and I have volunteered with the: Calgary Girls’ School, Calgary Glenmore Liberal Association, University of Calgary Faculty Association, Centre for Non-Profit Management, Chinook Educational Consortium, YWCA, Calgary Community Adult Learning Association, Calgary Birth Control Association, Delta West Advisory Committee, John Ware Junior High School Technology Committee, Central Memorial High School Committee for Healthy Living, Nellie McClung Parent Advisory Committee, University of Calgary Senate and CUSO. I worked on parent advisory councils during my children’s education journeys and have several years experience as a school board trustee through my involvement with the Calgary Girls’ School which is a charter school. As a Director, I participated in strategic planning, policy development, financial management, community relations and accountability processes.

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

I share the vision of education to 2030 as expressed by Albertans and captured in the document “Inspiring Education: a dialogue with Albertan’s 2010.” http://www.inspiringeducation.alberta.ca

Education must move from an industrial model of education toward a 21st century learning model that includes: helping students learn to take control of their own learning; shifting our focus from schools to education; centering on the learner; moving from content to building competencies; and using technology to support the creation of and sharing of knowledge.

However, the call for educational transformation has dominated educational literature for the last 25 years, and the record of substantive change has been poor. Education is by its nature “political” and educational institutions are bureaucratic - resistant to change. The quality of a school system rests on the quality of teachers and instructional innovation. Teachers are typically isolated in their classrooms, and research reveals that school-wide improvements in student learning accrue in schools whose work cultures are collaborative. I believe the key to realizing the vision of “inspiring educations” is to stimulate and support innovation throughout the system by encouraging collaborative action research.

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


School board roles are defined by the Education Act but in recent years government actions along with public apathy have eroded the relevance of school boards. Indeed, on page 10 of the Inspiring Education document hints at doing away with elected school boards and says “governors could be elected, appointed, or recruited from the community.”

The current School Act is under review, and it has been deeply criticized as being highly prescriptive and prescriptive. I (and presumably most citizens) was unaware of the review, and I believe the new Act must establish an enabling framework that will provide:

• natural person powers to school boards

• local-decision-making

• financial flexibility to boards

• responsibility and accountability for results to local boards

At the local level, I would seek opportunities to modernize the roles of Trustee in the following ways:

• shift the governance model from a rules based or policy governance model to a “principles based” approach.

• shift accountability for learning excellence away from accountability to bureaucracy.• seek new ways to engage the community in educational governance.



If you could implement one radical idea to improve the school system, what would it be?
Closing schools due to low enrollment is a poor option, and instead I would advocate for changing the use of schools to become School-Community Hubs or Full Service Schools. Community Hubs exist within a number of municipalities in Canada, US, Australia and Europe

When a neighbourhood school closes, a hub is lost, and the community suffers, especially a disadvantaged one. More and more families cannot fully meet their children’s multiple needs critical to their academic success. Schools alone cannot overcome all of the barriers to learning. A School-Community Hub is both a place and a partnership approach that mobilizes an array of resources, services, supports and opportunities, leading to improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities. More efficient use of tax dollars is realized through the co-location of services into one publicly funded facility. As an example within 5 kilometers of the Oakridge/Palliser communities, there are offices for Alberta Child & Family Services, Family Resource Centre, Primary Care Network and numerous day care centres, fitness centres, senior citizen residences, and a Library. School-Community Hubs require school-level and municipal level of governance and decision-making, along with inter-governmental and intra-governmental co-operation. The recent revisions to the Municipal Government Act may facilitate this vision. For more information go to:

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/ourselves/docs/OSOS_Summer10_Preview.pdf


Julie Kearns, MEd,

Seeking election as Public School Trustee in Wards 11 & 13

www.juliekearns.ca