James Janzen, an incumbent trustee, was born and raised in New Westminster, where he attended Lord Kelvin Elementary and New Westminster Secondary School. He is married to Marianne and they have a daughter, Katie, who also graduated from Lord Kelvin and NWSS.
First elected in 1990, Janzen has been a trustee for 18 years, having lost once in the 21 years since.
Janzen works for the Burnaby Public Library, in the home library service, where he works mainly with seniors and visually disabled people.
"I firmly believe that parents and children must have choices in public education," said Janzen. "That is why I have always supported our many programs of choice and alternate programs.
"I believe that our schools should be part of the community and support our community school initiatives.
"Hot lunch and breakfast club programs in some of our schools give so many of our children a good start and need to be expanded.
"I believe that the duty of the school board is make sure that every child has a chance to succeed," said Janzen.
Janzen is one of four school board candidates being endorsed by the New Westminster and District Labour Council.
