How Important is Education

I find it interesting that there is very little coverage about the School Trustee election in the media. Ron Seymour tried to create some controversy by saying that School Board's were irrelevant, and he even tried to incite people not to vote for any Trustees and thereby eliminate them altogether. One letter appeared in the paper in rebuttal: mine. That was it. Here is my letter:

This letter is in response to Ron Seymour's column "Who cares about the irrelevant school board?", Friday, October 14.

The work of the Board of School Trustees is much broader than bargaining with the BCTF. It is about the daily delivery of the educational program of our children. Below is a description of the role of the Board of School Trustees taken from the School District #23 website:


"School Boards have a duty to govern districts and their schools in accordance with specified powers in a fiscally responsible and cost effective manner. They have a responsibility to:

* ensure that schools provide students with opportunities for a quality education; to set education policies that reflect the aspirations of the community and that are consistent with overall provincial guidelines;

* provide leadership and encouragement to schools and the community; to cooperate with the community and social service agencies in the delivery of non-educational support services to students;

*focus on the following areas of district concern:

1. implementation of provincial and local education programs;
2. school finance and facilities;
3. student access and achievement;
4. teaching performance;
5. accountability to parents, taxpayers, the community and to the Province."

Ensuring that our children get the best education possible is not irrelevant. It is probably the most important thing our society is doing.