Piers MacDonald

The role exists to uphold the democratic principles of our society.  There's a day-to-day of meetings, votes etc but the role exists to give voters a direct say in the school system.  

I'm a former student in SD61 decades ago. My eldest is currently at student and my youngest will be soon.  

I think I can help.

I'll be honest: while I recognize the importance of the topic I'm not familiar with challenges facing Indigenous students when it comes to access or otherwise. When I'm not good at something I find competence in others and learn from them. That's what I'll have to do.

The question answers itself. Human Rights are the law. We follow it and include everyone.  

Sorry, I need some clarification on this question. Is this physical access, enrollment, inclusiveness?  

Yes. There's loads of research showing that teaching kids improves outcomes such as risky behaviour, STDs, teen pregnancy etc.

I'm most interesting in considering the broadest range of stakeholders possible. I think the easiest folks to hear from are the ones that come to you, such as you fine folks, I'm not worried about the squeaky wheels, they'll engage me. What I want to do is make sure we’re considering the least involved folks. I think there's lots of them who don't attend board meetings, sit on PACs or e-mail me about my stance on mask wearing in schools, they've just got a dozen things on their plate but they do care about the school system. We need low friction ways for them to voice their opinion. If elected, expect me to ask a lot about polling or survey data.

From my perspective most of the challenges are internal to the board.  The school district itself performs well amoungst its peers. Some fresh blood should be enough to address the challenges on the board. I play well with others.

Budgeting in time when money out is inflating faster than money in is hard. I won't make any promises as no doubt hard choices will.  

I don't have enough of a historical view to suggest a point by point. 

Our per capita funding is amoungst the lowest per capita in the country.  The other provinces are fine and good but I think BC students deserve the best. We're a pretty special place, let's raise some special kids. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to accept anything less than being in the top 3 per student funding.

It's been going on longer than two years. When I was in school decades ago I remember the parking lots full of "Take note: schools need music” bumper stickers.

Arts are important. I say this as someone who's passion in life is software that every student's learning is enriched by exposure to arts.  That said there's a level of pragmatism involved. It's a broad category with lots of variation so it's often a target. I don't think it’s healthy to view it as "for arts or against the arts". I think it’s better framed as funding as much as we can with what we've got.  

Both. Some level should be part of the core curriculum as well there should be offerings to allow passionate students looking for "extra”.  

Should it, no.  

In proportion to the rest of the budget.

I find there's two paths through this sort of conflict:

* a narrow, focused "stick to the issue at hand" approach. Aim for compromise otherwise accept that opinions can differ, put it to a vote and move on.

* an open, discussion-based highly empathetic approach where everyone is heard and their perspective shared, then you search for shared values and build from the ground up.

In functional groups you go with the first approach when possible. It’s efficient and fast. It will leave some dissatisfaction but people with healthy relationships can get past losing some battles. For dysfunctional groups you try the second path. It's slower, more emotionally taxing and harder but sometimes necessary.