Did the fractured school board miss an opportunity to mend fences on Tuesday night when it neglected to elect a Voice New Westminster candidate as vice-chair?
Voice trustee Casey Cook thinks so. The second-term trustee lost out on the vice-chair seat to longtime trustee and former board chair Michael Ewen, while first-term trustee Jonina Campbell was acclaimed chair of the board.
"The Voice trustees are very aware that we're not in a majority position. We did not contest the chair. That goes with having a majority; we understand that," Cook said. "We, since last year, made the same point that we want to collaborate, but it needs to be done in a true collaborative way that doesn't just have the appearances of collaboration. One way to do that would be to have the chair with the majority and the vice-chair with the minority."
Since Voice candidates were first elected in 2008, not a single member of the local civic political group has been elected chair or vice-chair of the school board. Since that time, Voice trustees have continuously been in the minority by one trustee, with labour-endorsed trustees holding a narrow majority with four candidates on the seven-member board.
Electing Cook vice-chair would been a chance to move forward in good faith and tackle the district's "substantial" issues, including budget woes, he said.
The district owes almost $5 million to the province for previous budget shortfalls. The district has already cut approximately eight per cent of its workforce this year to deal with budget woes, and Cook said it would have to find further efficiencies next year.
"This year, we have made very, very difficult decisions quite frankly, in my opinion, some of which have not been helpful to advancing education. We're going to have to make more decisions like that," he said.
One of the criticisms that labour trustees suggest is that Voice trustees don't attend special trustee meetings held above and beyond the board's regular meetings.
Cook responds to the critique, saying that's "grasping at straws for people to justify what they are doing. It's a specious argument."
Newly elected chair Campbell doesn't see it as a missed chance to bring the board together, because trustees tend to agree on most issues, she said.
"I think for the most part we do (agree) ... A lot of the times things proceed very smoothly, and on a lot of the big-ticket items we agree," Campbell said. "I think overall we are very collaborative."
For Campbell, a part-time teacher and mother of three, the focus is on the challenging year ahead.
"We have a community right now that is very concerned about our financial situation, and we need to as a board really come together, and I'm trying to do that. I'm prepared to do that," she said.
The school board's politics are not as big a concern for parents, Campbell said.
"I really don't think that's the priority. Our priority is our fiscal management, the capital projects and the education of students in New West," she said.
In her new role, Campbell wants to focus on developing the district's strategic plan (a plan that includes laying out its goals), dealing with the budget and improving communications in the district.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the board of education also voted uninanimously in favour to maintain the trustee stipend at its current level. The chair is paid $24,413, the vice-chair $23,013, and trustees receive $21,513 annually.
