Jordan Watters

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Jordan Watters has served as a school trustee since 2014. Jordan stepped into this role because she is passionate about safe, caring, and inclusive public schools where all students feel seen and supported.Jordan is a strong advocate for fully funded public education and robust supports for families including affordable housing, childcare and active transportation networks.

Jordan brings over fourteen years experience in policy development, research, and stakeholder engagement to the table. Her commitment to social justice has driven her professional interests towards research problems involving programs and services for traditionally under-served people and communities including First Nations, LGBTQ2S, immigrants and people with disabilities. Jordan recently joined the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions where she works in the Overdose Emergency Response Centre on harm reduction policy. Jordan is also a Director of Sierra Club BC, which reflects her commitment to climate action.

Jordan holds a Master of Arts in Sociology from Queen’s University. She has researched, lectured, and published in the fields of Gender, Education, Disability Studies and Law.

Jordan is the mother of three children who attend public schools. She acknowledges with gratitude and respect the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples upon whose territories she lives, learns and works. 

Questionnaire Responses - click questions to open

School Trustees are members of a Board of Education which is responsible for governing the education system. As part of a Board, Trustees work together with District staff in service of common goals around student success. Trustees set policy and budgets, which reflect their strategic direction and priorities.

My motivation is the children in our communities. As the mother of three children attending SD61 schools, I am deeply invested in ensuring that our schools are welcoming spaces where all students feel seen and supported. When students do not feel safe to be themselves, their learning is deeply impacted. I am passionate about a school district where each student is empowered to reach their full potential, and where teachers and staff have the tools they need to make that happen. I want all members of our learning community to feel valued and respected and I will continue to stand up for healthy learning and work environments. 

The education agreements the District has co-created with Esquimalt Nation, Songhees Nation, Metis Nation and Urban peoples house outline our shared responsibility to holistically support the success of Indigenous children and families in our school District. Each of these agreements reflect the hopes, expectations, and commitments of the parties and a plan for weaving these threads together in support of students. Ensuring culturally responsive learning environments is a core focus of the Board’s current strategic plan and there are clear measures in place for the next Board to measure the District’s progress towards the goals. Achieving these goals requires that the Board work collaboratively with the Four Houses and with District Staff to create meaningful opportunities for discussion and engagement.

I am passionate about inclusive schools, as evidenced by my record. I initiated a needs assessment of our accessibility infrastructure (ramps, lifts, automatic doors, elevators, washrooms, etc.) leading to implementation of an Accessibility Strategy for District facilities. This has led to significant improvements in the accessibility and inclusiveness of our facilities. We need to make sure schools are ready to welcome all students *before* they get arrive. Reactively creating accessibility isn’t good enough.

I was also the lead author and organizer behind the Board’s Gender Identity and Gender Expression Policy and Regulation, which was the result of significant engagement with LGBTQ2S students, families, staff and community members. This policy has been recognized as one of the most progressive in the country due to its comprehensive approach to gender inclusion.

I was also the author of the Board’s Equity Policy and the accompanying mechanism to identify equity-seeking schools using socio-economic data from BC Stats. This policy ensures that resources are allocated first to the areas of greatest need. The goal of this policy is to eliminate have and have-not schools. While work remains to be done, much progress has been made.

I also led the repeal of discriminatory school dress codes and replaced them with a District Dress Code that upholds human rights. My vision for our school District is one where no body is a distraction, and all students are welcome to express themselves without fear of shame. Removing sexist dress codes positioned SD61 as a leader across the country and I regularly field questions from parents and teachers across the country who want to know how we achieved this in SD61. The truth is that I tenaciously carried this issue through 17 public meetings before the new policy was adopted. It was all worth it when I hear students express how seen and supported they feel in their schools.

I have also advocated at the provincial level through the BC School Trustees Association for the inclusion of consent in k-12 curriculum, as well as the creation of a Gender-Based Violence Prevention Strategy for Youth.

I hope to earn another mandate where I can continue the work of making our school system safe and affirming spaces where human rights are always upheld.

A key role of a Trustee is to engage with the community, education partners and rights holders in order to take in a broad array of perspectives before coming to any inclusions or making any decisions. I will continue to be accessible through phone, email and by attending community events and engagement sessions. I commit to always keeping an open mind and only making decisions once I feel I have heard all perspectives. I will seek out alternative perspective and listen for quiet voices.

While the school system faces many challenges including challenges to inclusive policy, deficit budgets, ageing infrastructure and potential changes to the provincial funding model – I believe that the biggest challenge facing all of us is climate change. The breakdown of the stable climate and sea level under which human life has developed constitutes an emergency for all humanity, and our students are aware of this and they demand action. This is why I brought forward the motion that led the Board to declare a climate emergency and develop a Climate Action Plan and to ensure the new Cedar Hill is as close to net zero as possible. It is also why I advocated provincially around BC Hydro metering caps and funding for net zero capital projects.

Under my leadership, our district will be guided by a Climate Action Plan with ambitious targets for transformational change and innovation within our communities. The plan will create a pathway to minimize carbon emissions, reduce waste, conserve water, as well as improve climate literacy within our schools through nature-based learning.

In addition to getting outside as part of the school day, I also want safe and active routes to school to be the norm. Streets around our schools should be safe for children and families to travel on foot, scooter and bikes. I will advocate for each school to have a protected place for students and staff to lock their bikes. I will continue to advocate provincially and municipally for improved safety on our streets.

Advocacy for a fully funded public education system should be a central goal of any school trustee, and I have a strong record of this advocacy. I have advocated provincially through BC School Trustees Association, through writing letters as a Board, through social media campaigns and through quiet conversations with those in power.

I think the only way to address a deficit budget effectively is by collaborating with the experts in our system – district leaders, teachers, specialists and support staff – and engaging meaningfully with our students, families and communities. Deficit budgets are not easy and I want to keep cuts as far away from student learning as possible and to invest in the areas where need is greatest. I will advocate for more EAs and EA training, more counsellors, more custodial time, more VP time, well-resourced libraries and for weaving Indigenous ways of knowing and being throughout our learning community. I will also advocate for adequate funding to continue greening our facilities as I see that as a necessary investment in our students’ futures.

The arts are a critical part of a 21st century education and I want all of our students to be able to access robust arts programming. The evidence is clear that music education has positive impacts across all core areas of learning. My hope for SD61 is that we can continue to fund arts education significantly above the provincial average and maintain the unique and celebrated programming we have. I hope we can find a way to do this in a sustainable way so that parents and students can count on the same level of programming year after year. The current model that sees music funding continually under threat causes too much disruption and distress for families and students. As a leader in music education, I think SD61 is well situated to advocate to the province to embed music as a core part of education so that it is no longer relegated to prep blocks. In order to advocate effectively, we need to be able to speak with one voice as a Board, staff and community. I have high hopes we can achieve that with the new Board and I will work towards that goal.

The dysfunction of the current Board has deeply affected me and I will prepared to work collaboratively with anyone the community chooses to elect to the position of Trustee. I will continue to invest time and effort into my personal and professional development so that I bring my best self forward to every meeting and every event. I will treat staff and trustee colleagues with respect and kindness and I will abide by the Trustee code of conduct. I believe that as governors, Trustees need to be leaders in the school system modelling the behaviours we expect from principals, teachers, and students.

I have a proven track record of standing up for safe and caring working and learning environments for everyone who exists within the SD61 system.  This extends to ALL employees and ALL students.  As trustees, our community expects us to be able to come together to make complicated decisions on issues critical to the education of the students in the community we serve.  Trustees must come to the table ready to work together in a collaborative and professional manner.  We cannot mistreat staff or each other if we are going to get the important work done that is necessary to serve our community. We need to be hard on issues, not people.

I am focused on ensuring continued improvement on student outcomes and look forward to working professionally and collaboratively with the people our community choose.  I trust all the other candidates share this feeling, the student deserve it.

Disclaimer

As an organization representing all parents in the district, we do not endorse any candidates. This website was put together by VCPAC to showcase information provided by each candidate. All questionnaire answers are posted as received, without any editing. We encourage voters to contact the candidates with any questions they may have.