After more than four decades of teaching, the timing is finally right for Doug Woodward to run for school trustee.
The longtime New Westminster resident spent 45 years teaching and coaching at New Westminster Secondary School before retiring this year, and while politics have always interested him, he didn’t want to run in New Westminster while he was teaching.
“That’s why I put it on the backburner,” he told the Record.
Now that he’s retired, Woodward is looking for a way to give back to his community and the school district.
“We’ve got to get back to the kids, we’ve got to get back to the teachers and we’ve got to get back to the people who maintain the school, the carpenters, the painters, the custodians. We’ve had a lot of changes in the past 12 years,” he said.
Woodward said New Westminster is a great community full of outstanding children and teachers who could use more clear direction from school district administration.
“We’ve been flipping a little bit, and we haven’t been real stable,” he said, adding there has been a lot of turnover in the superintendent’s office in the past decade.
Woodward would also like an opportunity to help the district transition into the new secondary school and believes his years of teaching experience would be an asset, especially during a transition as monumental as this.
“I’d like to be part of this as well, getting the school done right – done on time – and have a good transition, because we need a good transition,” he said.
During this transition period, Woodward would also like to see the district bring back the security guards who used to patrol the high school. He said he worries about the number of people who come in and out of the school on a daily basis – especially during construction. Having a security guard at the high school who knew all the students and staff would help keep everyone safe, he said.
Woodward is running as an independent
“Whatever happens, it’s going to be on me,” he said.
“I work hard.”
