Can the level of engagement seen during the trustee race continue? That’s something trustee-elect Kelly Slade-Kerr is hoping for.
Surrounded by family and friends on election night, Slade-Kerr was nearly speechless as she watched the results come in from city hall.
“This was the parents’ election,” she told The Record.
Slade-Kerr, a first-time candidate, led the race with more than 8,100 votes following the preliminary count, garnering more votes than the new mayor.
The recent education dispute was the spark that lit the match for parent engagement in New West.
"I said the silver lining in this education dispute is going to be parent engagement in the election, and it's come true," she said Saturday night.
Now that she’s been elected, Slade-Kerr wants to see the momentum continue.
“I’m not going to let the community go back into their houses and their living rooms, we’re in this together,” she said.
Prior to the arrival of superintendent John Gaiptman, the district’s lack of transparency regarding its budget woes had many parents feeling frustrated.
Since then, Gaitpman has pulled back the curtain on the district’s management. These changes, coupled with the teachers’ strike, seem to have had an effect on this year’s civic election, Jonina Campbell said.
In 2011, Campbell (who was running for trustee for the first time) received the most support in the trustee race with 5,825 votes. Slade-Kerr surpassed that number by more than 2,300 votes on Saturday night.
Campbell agreed with Slade-Kerr saying she’s noticed parents have become more engaged in public education over the past six months.
“I think with the strike, the high school, parents are starting to pay attention in terms what’s happening both locally and provincially in public education, and I think that’s really a great thing,” she said. “What I really hope to see is that same level of engagement over the four years, not just during election time.”
To keep this going, trustees and staff need to work hard to make sure they’re communicating effectively with parents and the community alike, Campbell said.
Incumbent candidate Casey Cook, who was also re-elected on Saturday, disagreed that parent engagement is a new concept.
“I introduced a motion that had a parents’ bill of rights, and that was three years ago. So for people to be talking parent engagement, that certainly is not new for MaryAnn (Mortensen) and I,” he said. “We’ve been talking in those terms for as long as we’ve been on the board.”
Re-elected for her second term, Mortensen was pleased with the number of families who took part in the discussion during this election.
“Door knocking produced a lot of parents with really young kids who mentioned that in some parts of New West they feel really disengaged from the rest of the city, but they’re interested in the politics,” she said.
The remaining three trustee seats went to incumbents Michael Ewen, who has served on the school board for about 35 years, James Janzen, who has served for more than 20 years, and newly elected trustee Mark Gifford.
One of the most exciting moments of the night was the neck-in-neck competition for the seventh trustee spot.
Candidate Jeremy Perry was in a heated battle with incumbents Ewen and Janzen for the final spot. At one point, Perry trailed Janzen by less than 200 votes.
The final count for the preliminary results had Perry in eighth place with 4,278 votes, less than 940 votes behind Janzen in seventh place.
"I predicted a few weeks ago that I'd come in seventh or eighth, so I wasn't surprised that I predicted correctly," Perry told The Record.
"Those are fantastic results, they're amazing," he added. "It's not often you see a first-time candidate come in that strong, so I'm very pleased with those results."
