Another slate has entered the race for seats on the Delta school board.
Delta Voices, which consists of incumbent trustee Rhiannon Bennett and newcomers Andrea Hilder and Mita Naidu, made a formal announcement Monday morning.
Hilder is an education assistant while Naidu is director of development and communications at WISH drop-in-centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
“We have been working on this for a couple of months now,” said Bennett. “Andrea and I used to work together back in the day and mutual contacts connected me with Mita. What really excited me in having Andrea and Mita join me is because their voices and perspectives are key things that are currently missing on the board.
“The Delta board of education has been very successful in making strides to improve learning experiences for our students but I think adding the voice of an education assistant and a South Asian woman are key voices that are missing on the board.”
Some of the slate’s goals include improving playgrounds and tracks, connecting families, students and educators, and putting equity into practice.
“We are just taking some small steps to get out there, but people are excited to have more women and those perspectives on the board,” Bennett said. “I’m proud of the things we have been working on in this term, but I really feel I’m just getting started. The learning curve of being a first-term trustee, having to learn all the process and the internal workings of the district – things you really don’t know until you are at the table, so it’s taken me some time to see where I can affect some change. The support of Andrea and Mita can help make those changes.”
See more on their platform at: https://www.deltavoices.ca.
Other school trustee candidates already declared include current board chair Laura Dixon, incumbent trustee Nick Kanakos and newcomer Joe Muego, who are all running on the Independents Working for You slate.
Incumbent trustee Bruce Reid is running again on the Kids Matter ticket with newcomers Randy Anderson-Fennell and Victor Espinoza.
Incumbent Val Windsor has confirmed she’ll be running again as an independent, while long-time trustee Dale Saip hasn’t announced his intentions. He ran in the last election on a REAL Delta ticket that included fellow trustee Fabian Milat, who announced he won’t be seeking re-election.
The deadline for candidates to file their nomination paperwork at city hall is Sept. 14.
The election is Oct. 20.
