Nicole Duncan

The role of a trustee is to provide oversight of district finances and operations, set policy and give strategic direction in consultation with rights holder, stakeholders and the community. Trustees are elected to represent the public as one member of an elected corporate board. This means advocating for a strong and vibrant public education system and supporting all students’ academic achievement and personal growth and wellbeing. I have served the community as a Trustee since 2018, working diligently with a focus on student supports, student safety and privacy rights, climate accountability, financial oversight and transparency, administrative fairness and respectful Board governance. Prior to my term as a Trustee, I worked for many years as a vocal parent advocate in our District demonstrating my commitment to public education as an active volunteer and through my service on the Executive of a Parent Advisory Council. I’m motivated by the importance of meeting the needs of our diverse learning community. To achieve this will require careful financial management and a well-informed, solutions-oriented Board of Education.

As a starting point, we must create a culturally safe and respectful place at District and Board decision making tables for Indigenous students, their families and their representatives. To welcome Indigenous students, families and Indigenous representatives to District and Board decision making tables means respecting each parties perspective, needs and rights as we all work toward fulfilling each of the commitments set out in the respective education agreement. Implementing the commitments set out in the education agreements means removing barriers for Indigenous students to access supports, addressing individual student needs and concerns promptly and with fairness and integrity. It also means that we must ensure adequate funding is in place. I expect regular reporting about progress being made, including the strategies being used to support the implementation of each agreement. I will support a collaborative approach to addressing any gaps or adjustments needed as we continue to monitor the implementation of each education agreement.

In my view we must also provide Indigenous families with ready access to information about how their children are doing at school. I think we must respect and support the time Indigenous students take to participate in cultural and family events throughout the school year. We must embed Indigenous histories and ways of knowing into learning and ensure all staff and all students have ready access to culturally appropriate learning resources to support classroom learning and
exploration. This is key to supporting all students. Supporting the implementation of an Indigenous graduation course and taking meaningful steps system wide to focus on supporting reconciliation through learning about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action for education is an important part of building understanding and removing barriers for Indigenous students. Taking meaningful steps to build trust
through an ongoing and respectful dialogue with Indigenous students and their families requires the Board and all levels of the learning community to listen to the needs of Indigenous students and families and to focus on creating a safe and welcoming school environment.

Providing information about the rights and responsibilities of our entire learning community including the Board of Education vis-a-vis the rights enshrined in the BC Human Rights Code is the starting point. I also support regularly reviewing our District’s policies and practice to ensure it aligns with the rights and responsibilities enshrined in the BC Human Rights Code and commit to addressing any gaps in a meaningful way. Fairly and respectfully addressing complaints about discrimination received at the school or Board level through the appropriate process is also essential to ensuring the District meets its obligations to students and families. Educating our entire learning community is key to preventing discrimination. In practice this involves educating students in the classroom, staff and Trustees through training and professional development. Taking action to address the gaps and embracing ways to build greater understanding between the members of our diverse learning is so very important to creating a safe and inclusive learning environment.

I support the provincial health and SOGI curriculums and the learning resources used in the classroom to support health and sexual education. I believe it is an essential part of supporting student health and wellness and aligns with the class based rights set out in the BC Human Rights Code. Education is a key component to building more inclusive schools and a safe environment for all students and families.

To me engaging with rights holders, stakeholders and the community meansproviding timely access to information about the issue(s), being clear about the decision making process and at what stage in the engagement folks can take part. In my view, for engagement to be meaningful it should be accessible to those being engaged at each stage in the decision making process, must provide clear reporting out on what we heard and how that feedback is reflected in the decision(s) made by the Board. For me engagement should involve reassessing our assumptions, or re-aligning our directions as a result of the input received from rights holders, stakeholders and the community during the engagement. I see this as a natural and very positive benefit of engaging with rights holders, stakeholders and the community. I think the best public policy whether that be related to the budget, student programming or staffing results from meaningful engagement. As a Trustee, I will continue to share my knowledge and experience, and to speak out about gaps. My aim is to continue to listen to different perspectives and to work collaboratively to identify solutions to address issues that arise. To this end, as a Trustee, I will continue to bring solution oriented motions to the Board for consideration.

Public education has suffered years of chronic underfunding. In SD61 this has resulted in too few supports in classrooms (especially a shortage of education assistants and other specialist supports and teachers), a significant issue with deferred maintenance and the sale of school land which should be safeguarded to meet the needs of students and families attending public school now and in the future. To ensure equitable and inclusive supports in the classroom and adequate capital funding allocations to meet our climate obligations, and address deferred maintenance will require careful financial management and a solutions-oriented Board of Education.

I will work diligently to model respectful and professional Board governance. I think that to improve we must expect the Board to be open and transparent about gaps in student achievement and wellbeing, provide timely access to relevant information before decisions are made, engage rights holders, stakeholders and the community in a meaningful way and to advocate for the resources and supports required by collaborating with the learning community and colleagues to find solutions that put truly put all students at the centre of our decisions. I will hold the Board to account should it fail to meet its mandate and to follow the School Act or its bylaws and policies.

The province requires all Boards of Education to submit a balanced budget prior to each financial year and before the start of the school year. At this stage Boards of Education are not sure how high their enrollment will be during the next school year. As most provincial funding for education is based on the number of students enrolled in each district it is important for Boards to build their initial budget based on an accurate estimate of projected student enrollment. I think Trustees can start by looking more closely at the assumptions their Board makes about projected revenue (from student enrollment and other sources) and projected expenses and consider how these assumptions may or may not result in a deficit position. I will support the continuation of the Budget Advisory Committee as it includes rights holders and stakeholders at the table and is tasked with making recommendations to the Board about its annual budget. I will continue to support recommendations that align resources to best support student achievement and wellbeing. For me this means looking at ways to reallocate resources as close to the classroom as possible. It is also very important that Trustees support regular public budgetary reporting and work to quickly identify and address any poor fiscal management. I will not support the sale of school land to address budget deficits because this land should be safeguarded to meet the needs of students and families attending public school now and in the future.

Trustees can best advocate for more funding at the provincial level by working with all rights holders and stakeholders at the local level to identify joint advocacy efforts, advocating through the BCSTA and their local association such as VISTA and by submitting a needs budget along with their regular budget submission to the Minister of Education and Child Care. Trustees can also advocate for more funding by using our platforms as elected officials to raise awareness about current funding shortfalls and the resulting impacts on students.

I think arts education is a fundamental part of a student’s education. We know it supports both academic achievement and student wellbeing. Arts education also fosters a sense of belonging and fun for a school community. Arts should always be part of the curriculum. For some students the opportunity to participate in arts education is what they most enjoy about their school experience. It may well be the beginning of a student’s journey toward a career in the Arts. As a Trustee, I voted against cuts to arts programming. As a Trustee, I brought forward several motions recommending a solution to proposed cuts to elementary music during the Board’s last budget process. Moving forward, I expect the Board to honour its commitment to work with stakeholders to identify an equitable and sustainable source of funding to support music programming. Ultimately, we should look to identify adequate and stable public funding to support arts programming.

 There has been a high level of conflict involving the Board. It is clear that our learning community and the public should and do expect a less divisive approach to conducting Board business. For me this means creating a safe space for open and respectful dialogue and to hear different perspectives even when we are having difficult conversations.  For me this means welcoming all rights holders, stakeholders and the community at the Board table, taking the time to listen and to understand different perspectives with a view to finding meaningful solutions. I believe leadership at the Board table requires trustees and the chair presiding over Board meetings to refrain from making personal attacks or negative insinuations and instead to focus on the issues. Building a safe and respectful Board culture requires us all to ensure that each member of the Board has timely access to the same information and that all trustees understand the chair should avoid using the position to unduly influence the outcome of a debate. No trustee should seek to block their colleague from speaking, undermine or limit their colleagues’ access to information or use their position to unilaterally exercise the power of the Board. I support a Board culture that fosters knowledge building whether that be developing a clear understanding of a Board’s responsibilities, or doing our collective due diligence to consider relevant information before making decisions. A large dose of kindness, patience and doing our best to embrace critical thinking and keeping an open mind will support a culture of continuous improvement at the Board table. Ultimately, I support bringing the parties together to address conflict at the earliest opportunity in a safe and respectful way aimed at de-escalating the conflict and building understanding.