The Citizen asked all 16 school board trustees to fill out a questionnaire on who they are and what they wish for the future of education.
Since 2008, I have worked as an operational and compliance gaming auditor with BCLC. As an auditor, I ensure the security of assets and I ensure that policies are being adhered to.
Prior to that, I owned and operated a financial planning branch office in Chilliwack, managing investments for families both urban and rural. I eventually sold the business and moved to Prince George.
I am currently working on completing the CGA program of studies. My education is in accounting and financial planning, and I have an economics degree from SFU. I have a 17-year-old daughter in Grade 12, attending College Heights Secondary School.
She excels in school, and has set impressive goals for her future.
My two biggest attributes for this position are: experience as a school board trustee (SD 33) and my strong financial background.
I am skilled at analyzing budgets and financial statements. My experience allows me to understand the inner workings of the position of trustee. I know a lot about what works and what does not. I am an advocate for collaborative discussion and I support and promote committees, which involve stakeholder input.
I believe the devil is in the details, and using my auditing background, I tend to ask a lot of questions. I believe that there are many sides to a story and the puzzle cannot be completed without all the pieces.
I would like to see more frequent board meetings. I am accustomed to open board meetings held every second week, at a minimum.
This enables issues to be resolved quicker (in public), which I believe is necessary to fulfill our trustee duty of being "directly accountable to the people [we] serve" (BCSTA). I would like to see enhanced rules of order within the board meeting, allowing deliberation and debate to be constructive and democratic.
I would like to see more deliberation and debate in the public board meetings, as opposed to discussions in private meetings of the board, with little discussion once the motion is on the table.
The stakeholders have a right to know why we vote the way we do and public deliberation provides that.
I don't believe the district is in a healthy financial position. Accounts need to be reviewed and efficiencies need to be assessed. To better spend existing funds would be to increase efficiencies. While spending existing funds more efficiently (determined through review and assessment), we need to push the ministry for increased funding. Stakeholder input is also required to see where the priorities are.
The most pressing issue is funding. From that, we have resulting issues of class composition, bussing and demographics. Class composition is a significant issue that needs addressing. It directly affects all of our students, not just those at risk.
Busing is over budget and still not serving those in need. Demographics would be further broken down to include the rural areas and enrollment demands (or lack of) throughout the district.
