Elona Arnett
1. What is your age and occupation? Do you have children in School District 57? If so, what are their ages and what school(s) do they attend?
Age: 55
Occupation: Accountant
Children : None
2. What qualifications do you possess that would help you in your duties as a trustee?
Have worked with all 3 levels of government, many years of managing public funds.
3. Do you see room for improvement in how school board meetings are conducted? If so, how would you improve them?
There's always room for improvement, particularly with the advances in technology today. There are web based solutions for managing meetings that provide a higher level of accountability and transparency than paper managed information.
4. In what ways could the school district and the provincial government better spend existing funds for education?
The cost of providing quality education has risen every year while provincial funding levels have declined. This is not sustainable and calls for a review of the funding formula in conjunction with the rollout of the government's new BC Education Plan. How and what students are taught is going to be changing, with more of an emphasis on current technology and what skills are going to be needed for the remainder of the century. This may cause an initial funding increase as we adapt to these new innovations.
5.. What is the most pressing issue the new school board will have to address?
Funding - it all boils down to money, or lack of it.
