The candidates running for school board got to have their say at a debate Thursday evening at North Delta Secondary, but they were pretty much on the same page on the major issues including funding.
The event, organized by CUPE Local 1091 and the Delta Teachers’ Association, had candidates Randy Anderson-Fennell, Erica Beard, Rhiannon Bennett, Daniel Boisvert, Laura Dixon, Victor Espinoza, Andrea Hilder, Nick Kanakos, Joe Muego, Mita Naidu, Sujay Nazareth, Melody Pan, Bruce Reid and Val Windsor participate. Candidates Jessie Dosanjh, David Luey and Dale Saip did not attend the session that only had only around 50 or so in the audience.
The first question posed was a lengthy one asking the candidates what they would do about the funding situation, staffing levels and wages. Reid said education has to be seen as an investment and not a cost, while Pan promised to use her skillset to advocate on the issue, and Nazareth suggested a business case needs to be presented to government showing how the funding simply isn’t enough.
Saying advocacy is key, a view others shared, Naidu said nobody can disagree on the need to support teachers and staff, adding relationships will be important.
Agreeing education is an investment and not a cost, Muego also talked about the need to continually advocate. Kanakos noted the school system has been suffering “a slow erosion of resources” but that Delta provides more resources than any other district in the Lower Mainland. Hilder noted her own school’s recent experience of a specialist teacher forced to cover a kindergarten class due to the lack of substitutes.
Espinoza noted schools shouldn’t be considered factories, while Dixon talked about the potential change in the funding formula that could leave some school districts having more at the expense of others. Windsor agreed no district should find itself with less with the new formula. Boisvert noted the district could leverage the city to help including having the city take responsibility for track and fields, while Bennett, saying she is horrified at what’s been happening with public education, said it’s important districts see the draft funding formula immediately, adding “I don’t think selling tracks to pay for teachers is good.” Beard said it’s important to start looking at the budget creatively now in case no new money is coming, and Anderson-Fennell stressed it’s important for everyone to be at the table.
Another question had a preamble that CUPE support staff were feeling ignored, asking what the candidates would do to acknowledge those staff. All agreed support staff were integral with Nazareth describing them as “unsung heroes”. Beard said it’s important to listen to them, asking why they were feeling ignored, while Boisvert added they “shouldn’t feel invisible and undervalued”. Some of the other remarks included Espinoza saying “everyone is stretched thin and something’s got to give”, while Hilder noted it’s important to ask “how can I help?” and “what do you need?”
Some of the questions from the floor included what exactly has been underfunded in the classroom. Dixon spoke of support and training for staff being just one example, while Reid noted support and assessment of students, especially those in the early elementary grades, is impacted, as well as teachers being able to spend more time with individual students. Nazareth also said the lack of education assistants means teachers are spending more time with some students at the expense of others.
Windsor noted the lack of supports flies in the face of having inclusive learning. Noting the education system has been chronically underfunded for decades, Bennett said teachers are being forced to subsidize classroom materials out of their own pockets, something echoed by Muego who added PACs have been trying to fill those shortfalls as well.
Asked about supporting those who are LGBTQ, all agreed discrimination has no place in the school system.
A second all candidates debate will be held Thursday, Oct. 11 at Genesis Theatre at Delta Secondary in Ladner. That debate will also be held 7:30 to 10 p.m.
