Members of the public were given the opportunity to hear from the 10 candidates running for Pembina Hills School board at the all candidates forum held at the Multi-Purpose Room Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
Candidates were given three questions to answer; What skills do you bring to the table that make you a qualified applicant for school trustee? What do you believe is the function of a school division trustee, and how much power do they have or should they have? What do you see as the school division's biggest need over the next four years, and how do you plan to address that need?
Below are highlights from each candidate’s answer.
Charlene Cole
I have served on a variety of boards over the last 16 years, most of which have involved education.
My experience on parent council over those years let me see the problems and the issues that students, staff, parents, had to deal with. I think I listened and learned from most of them, and I think I'm very prepared and capable of helping deal with those issues.
I'm a very dedicated and disciplined person, and I am very passionate about our children's education. If elected I will put the students' needs first, and I will be dedicated and committed to making things better for them.
Robin Kapler
I would bring to the table a community mindset. Working with FCSS and working with different groups of people, different ages and volunteers, we work together to help build a sustainable community.
I bring leadership, and I have the communication skills to connect well with other people. I currently volunteer on the Barrhead library board, and for the past 10 years I have reported to board of directors.
I respect the work that is done by the boards, and I would love nothing more than to give my experience, and my passion for children and education to the table.
Peter Kuelken
I was chair of the parent council in the school for many years. On a provincial and federal level I served as a director on the Alberta Bison commission for four years.
I have no fear of debating or getting involved in discussions with government organizations. My education and my age has helped me understand that I have a lot of wisdom, which I've learned from my community.
I'm very passionate about education. I believe it's what keeps our community stable. I would like to bring to the table the leadership and the ability to take and help school boards elevate themselves beyond just the community, but provincially.
Dale Schaffrick
I was a high school coach and a community league coach, as well as a Sunday school teacher, so I've had the opportunity to hear children from different points of view.
I also worked as a school bus driver for more than 20 years, and had the opportunity to talk with young people about their concerns on the bus, as well as in the schools. As a bus driver I also had the opportunity to see concerns from the point of view of a staff member.
My experience as a trustee over the past six years has opened my eyes to many things that I did not have privy to in the past.
Jennifer Tuininga
I've been committed to education. My parents were both teachers. I have my preschool certification and have taught preschool for five years.
I bring to the table experienced leadership. I've been active in our school in Neerlandia.
I have attended board meetings and parent council meetings in both Neerlandia and Fort Assiniboine in preparation for the role of school trustee. I've served on committees and been involved in planning, budgeting and leadership both in the school and in church.
I have experience as a school volunteer, a Sunday school teacher, a girl club coordinator, preschool teacher, and girls junior high basketball coach.
Joyce Fott
In my employment program I have worked with Pembina Hills for over 20 years as an executive assistant to the superintendent of schools and the board of trustees. I feel I have leadership in trying to organize the seven trustees and the superintendent to get them on the right path.
I had volunteered as a secretary treasurer for Glenreagh Community for many years, and also served as a board member for the Barrhead Public Library for six years.
One of my main beliefs is we need to get the public more involved in public education. The people would like to get more knowledge about what's going on.
Kim Webster
I have been a trustee with Pembina Hills for six years. The whole first term was a learning curve. You need to keep up and continue to learn.
We need to hear from the people who impact our children and who have invested interest in our children. I can work with people. I think teamwork is critical.
Recently in the spring I was elected to the Alberta School Boards Association. We have a voice at the provincial level now. I do need to be a local trustee to stay on the provincial board, but I think that's another skill I bring to the table, that we can speak at the provincial level as well.
Maureen Fiebich
As a teacher with recent classroom experience, I have been on the front lines and have witnessed the stresses of the classroom firsthand.
As part of the various committees I have been a part of, collaboration and cooperation have been a key point and I have worked hard to cooperate with the people on the boards.
Judy Lefebvre
School board trustees can't bring personal biases and beliefs that they have about student successes to the table. All students must be given equal opportunity.
I've had years of experience at all levels of education, many of them in a leadership role. I've learned to set goals, develop strategies to achieve those goals, and also to monitor and measure the outcomes.
I have an open mind, I like to hear all sides of an issue before I make a decision, and I feel I'm an effective communicator. I've led many groups who have made many significant decisions in the field of education, many of them right here in Pembina Hills, some of them at the provincial level.
Jerry Pon
I've taught for 35 years. I've been a counsellor, a teacher, a principal, and a social principal. I attended meetings at PHRD, principals meetings, and I attended focus group meetings for Alberta Education so I know what's happening in terms of education.
When I was working at the Alberta Distance Learning Centre, I traveled the province and I talked to parents, talked to school boards, talked to principals about what's going on, and what can we do to help them.
I have a great understanding of what is happening in education, and I'm very passionate about our education system.
Joyce Fott
The function of a school board trustee is to set policy for the division. In the school division, board of trustees has one employee and that is the superintendent of schools. They are there to help guide the superintendent in making decisions, and as a school trustee I would be there to answer questions and concerns for my constituents, and if I don't have the answer I would go to the board to try and get an answer for them and get back to them.
Kim Webster
Trustees as a board set policy to set direction to provide education for students. This has to be done in the parameters of government legislation, but we need to honour the values of the community in that.
How much power? Direct power, not a lot. A trustee can't just march into a school and hire or fire teachers, or tell the principal how they should be running their school. But as a team, and indirectly, quite a lot of power because we set the tone for the whole district and provide the overall direction in establishing purpose, beliefs and priorities. Then we need to find ways for these beliefs and priorities to become a reality.
Maureen Fiebich
How much should a board have? As much power as the public allows them to have. As the public has become more apathetic, the boards have lost some of that.
We need an informed public, so the lines of communication have to open up. We need people involved at all levels. We have to try to get more people thinking about and talking about the issues so the boards don't have to make decisions in isolation.
Judy Lefebvre
School board trustees are part of the PHRD logo “Together we learn.” They are part of a team, they do not work in isolation.
In conjunction with other members of the team, they act in the government's role. They make the policy that defines who we are as Pembina Hills. They ensure that there is an alignment of school goals, outcomes, resources and strategies with those that the province has set out.
A trustee ensures that there is effective learning and teaching within careful, respectful, safe and healthy environments for all children. A trustee supports effective education in all schools, not only the ones in his or her electoral district.
Jerry Pon
We advocate for students, be the voice of the parents, and communicate with parents and students on behalf of the jurisdiction. Help develop policies that will guide the operation of the schools to meet the goals of the jurisdiction.
We need to review the school budget and adopt priorities where money should be spent. We also need to lobby to the government for funding for education.
Jennifer Tuininga
The most important function of a trustee is to represent the electors that reside in your area. A trustee doesn't represent just one school or one neighbour in the community, they're supposed to represent the whole area they are a part of.
They provide communication at the board table of the concerns of the area they represent, but they also provide communication back to the community and the schools. They oversee budgeting and policy, and make decisions on a local level on how to provide the best education possible for students of Pembina Hills.
Dale Schaffrick
I believe a trustee is just a community member who is willing to serve and bring forward concerns of their community.
They have very little power as an individual, but collectively with the other trustees in the division, have the ability to bring about the change that makes the education system in their area the best it can be.
Peter Kuelken
We have stakeholders, and our stakeholders are our parents and our kids. What we need to do as school boards, is we need to represent those people as best as we can.
The power comes from the people. It's up to us as a school board to take your goals and your objectives and direct them to our superintendent.
As a school board trustee I don't think we have a lot of power as an individual, but we have a lot of power if parents and kids get together and want something done. We take that to our CEO, which is the superintendent, and we see to it that we direct them to get those things done.
Robin Kapler
The board is responsible for the development of goals and implementation of school policies, plus the accountability to the community, the schools and the provincial budget.
As a school trustee, it’s our role not to be a power house and walk in and take over. We are to support, and guide and follow the proper protocol that Pembina Hills does have. We follow policy and the government legislation requirements.
Charlene Cole
The biggest role as a trustee is to ensure the community has a say in what the children learn by listening to everyone’s concerns and wishes, and making sure they are heard. We do develop plans that deal with the students needs and develop policies, but the biggest thing is we need to listen to the people that voted us in.
Peter Kuelken
There is no security in education funding. Currently there is $60 or $70 million dollar repair needs for the school infrastructure, which there is no funding for. There are some huge challenges as far as the school board is concerned as to how they are going to address that.
The way we need to address it, is how much are you as parents and community members going to accept of the government taking money out of education? I think we as a school board need to advocate that we need to have that funding, or need to change our management strategies.
Robin Kapler
It was obvious to me that our economy will continue to grow. Schools need to be prepared to respond to the students' needs. Children are becoming more technologically savvy, and we need to have teachers in our schools prepared to keep up. Unfortunately that would mean funding and budgeting. We need money to educate our teachers to keep up, plus the equipment used like updated computers.
I think we need to teach and encourage our students to be responsible citizens. We can do so by getting them to participate in the community, and they can get credits by doing this.
Charlene Cole
Our biggest challenge is to encourage the government to establish a stable and consistent model. If the school board is ever going to make long-range plans, we need to have a predictable funding.
One of our biggest goals will always be to make sure that we have more kids graduating.
Dale Schaffrick
As trustee for the last six years I believe that we have been fortunate in being able to increase our high school completion from six years ago at about 70 per cent, to around 80 per cent now. That doesn't come easily. There were a lot of program changes, mentorship, high school completion coaches.
I think we have increased community involvement considerably. I'm very interested in getting a mentorship program going between the community and the students.
Jennifer Tuininga
I think one of our needs to build a strong school system is the unwavering support of our parents and community. Everybody has a role to play in that, whether you're serving on a parent council meeting, you're coaching, creating bulletin boards, supervision, I think we need to be present in our schools, both as parents, a community and trustees.
Whether you can spend an hour of your time, or volunteer in a larger role, we are all needed. It's going to be an integral role in our children's success and their enjoyment at school.
Joyce Fott
One of our main objectives we have to keep working at is trying to make sure we continue have a stable enrollment. If we don't have an enrollment, we have no kids, we have no money.
I would suggest that we work with our local municipalities and our MLA to encourage young families to move to our jurisdiction. Presently Pembina Hills is a member of GROWTH Alberta. Hopefully with their help our enrollment will continue to go up, not down.
Kim Webster
I think over the next four years we're going to have to ensure that our students, our children, are still able to thrive and be given a high quality education in the 21st century, despite our funding shortfalls. Even if the money doesn't come, we've got to be really creative.
We don't want our children to miss out on opportunities because they live in rural Alberta. We have some incredible things happening in our schools that are engaging kids, meeting them right where they're at, and we have to be creative in not losing this. We completely redesigned the Alberta Distance Learning Centre with 21st century learning. All of our schools can access that.
Maureen Fiebich
I think over the last little while we have lost ground and funding has been an issue, and it will continue to be. We have very different issues in rural Alberta versus urban areas, like our infrastructure issues, changes in ADLC, and transportation budgeting is also a problem.
I think because of lack of public involvement, there has been a slow decline in the amount of money available. Public school funding has lost ground, and we need to turn that around. There is money there.
Costs are rising in everything, so it is imperative that money goes back into education.
Judy Lefebvre
Given the fiscal plan that we have right now in Alberta, and the cutbacks we witnessed with the last budget, I see financial management as the biggest challenge that school boards are going to face in the next four years.
Although we have declining enrollment, we don't want to see a decline in programming. So it's going to take some creative thinking in order to manage to keep those programs, and to enhance them to keep up with the 21st century, in light of the fact that the money isn't as plentiful as it was before.
Jerry Pon
The biggest issue I see is funding. We need to make sure we have enough funding there for teachers, for supplies for our students. We need to make sure we have infrastructure that's working. We can't have leaking buildings where kids are attending school.
We have to continue lobbying the government. As a board we can be more proactive saying look, we need more funding for our kids. We need to lobby our MLA so she knows education is a high priority for us.
We need to spend money wisely, but we need to continue lobbying to ensure there are funds for education.
