And then there were two.
Two-term school trustee Jonina Campbell has announced she is not going to run for re-election in the upcoming civic election.
Campbell joins colleagues Michael Ewen, Casey Cook, James Janzen and Kelly Slade-Kerr, who have also all announced they will not be running after this term ends in October.
That leaves Mark Gifford and Mary Lalji as the only two incumbents running again.
Campbell was first elected in 2011. Her goal then was to get the school district back on track and help move forward the long-awaited high school project. With that now well underway, Campbell said she is ready for something new.
“My role as a deputy leader for the Greens just creates a new way for me to champion the same causes,” she told the Record, adding her causes include education, climate change reduction and proportional representation.
During her tenure on the board, Campbell has been a part of some major steps forward for the district. Highlights include the district’s commitment to its SOGI policy and securing funding for a number of capital projects, including the New Westminster Secondary School replacement project.
“One of my greatest days on the school board was standing there with the then minister of education as board chair and announcing the funding for the high school – that was a very rewarding experience given how hard we worked to get to that point,” she said.
Campbell’s departure doesn’t mean the school district’s seen the last of her. Last year, she put forward a motion to have the district look at providing a school nourishment program so that no students go hungry.
“One of the things that struck me was when I was running for a second term, a high school student hosted the trustees and she said to me, ‘I was hungry the whole time I went through NWSS.’ And I thought, ‘That’s not OK. One child hungry is not OK.’ The only way to make sure that kids don’t go hungry is to make sure we have universal access to a lunch program,” she said.
The school district implemented the first phase of the nourishment program this year, and there’s still lots to do before all students have proper access to healthy food, but Campbell said she’s confident staff and incoming trustees will be ready for the challenge.
The decision to step aside made sense for a lot of reasons, according to Campbell. She said she’s happy to see quality candidates step forward and believes it’s time for a new batch of trustees to take over.
“It’s a difficult decision. You invest seven years of your life for something that you care deeply about, and it’s been a privilege to be on the board. I think we’ve accomplished a lot, and I think the board has a lot to feel really good about. I think there’s great things ahead for the school district,” she said.
