Seven candidates. One position. On Wednesday, voters in Saskatoon’s Ward 9 will head to the polls to determine the public school division’s newest trustee.
The seven contenders are vying to replace Kevin Waugh on the public school division’s board of trustees, following Waugh’s election as federal Conservative MP for the Saskatoon-Grasswood riding last fall. Each of the seven candidates in the ward — which encompasses neighbourhoods including Wildwood, Lakeview, Rosewood, Lakeridge and Lakewood — spoke with The Saskatoon StarPhoenix in advance of Wednesday’s vote …
Ken Gryschuk, 58, manager at Cosmopolitan Industries Inc.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“I believe that the biggest issue facing education is for us to get the quality of education for everyone and there are a lot of resources we are applying to the problem and there are various people that are slipping through the crack, so we have to do a better job of that.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“I want math to be brought up to be a key strategic focus of the division. Just like literacy-for-life and collegiate renewal are. In the 21st century, it is a travesty that we have people that aren’t able to do math at a level that they come out and understand the world.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“Get involved. The curriculum seems to be set, especially in primary and elementary, to be almost parent-unfriendly and the best advocate a child has for their education is an involved parent.”
Oma Malik, 40, interior decoration student, stay-at-home mom.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“The biggest issue would be the class sizes right now. Because we have so many newcomers coming in with all this diversity, which is an amazing thing for the city — economically and for the growth of the city — but the class sizes have become very large and we don’t have enough teachers assistants to help out teachers, so teachers have a lot of burden right now on them. So personally, because my kids go to school I think that’s kind of a big issue right now.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“I can’t say one thing, I feel strongly that there’s a lot going on in our city and a lot more needs to be done in our city, so that I don’t know how to answer that. We can add a few things, having the English language or continuous language, that would help because the immigrants are coming in. Some of the kids, unfortunately, English is not their first language and they’re falling a little bit behind in the class and again, because we don’t have enough teachers aids in the classrooms, that makes a huge difference. Kids that need a little more attention than normal kids, they’re left behind a little bit, so my main concern would be having a bit more teachers aids and helping out the teachers.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“We as parents need to volunteer as much as possible in the schools and be with the kids for their support, at least. If you volunteer more and if you are more involved in the school’s SCC (School Community Council) systems, I think the kids are very proud of their parents being in the school. Plus we know what’s going on in the schools and we have better communication with the teachers, the principals and the children. I think it would be kind of the best thing that all parents volunteer once a month or so in their students classes.”
Manya Traeger-Faria, 48, travel agent.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“I want to say there’s kind of two of them. I separate the elementary school from the high school a lot in the meetings and things like that I’ve been to. In the elementary school, I believe it is reading and math and making sure that our children are reading and doing math to the standards that we need them to do further in their education in the high schools. What I’m very passionate about is making sure that more kids finish high school and finish academically-able to pursue whatever they want to do after.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“I would like to continue with the resource rooms and the increasing of resource room teachers and the smaller class sizes.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“I’m an active parent. I’m extremely involved in the education of my kids and I’m very vocal about anything that I feel is not working in the system.”
Bill Williams, 68, part-time businessman.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“The biggest one for me is security. School security, child security, teacher and administration security. Security in general in the workplace and in teaching areas, I think that’s a major issue.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“If you read the public documents regarding our markers for reading and mathematics, I think we have a ways to go. We need improvement in there and that would be in terms of the education of students and the correlation of education and the teaching of that education. I would say reading, writing and arithmetic — the basics, back to the basics and understanding that new ideas come along once in a while for teaching mathematics, reading or writing, but I think the evaluation of those methodologies need to be more long-term in terms of either peer-review and or actual historical evaluations of what they’re proposing to put forward in terms of new methodologies of teaching.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“Be very grateful, be thankful and look forward to better things in the future. We have a very good thing going in terms of education in Saskatoon and the public school system, but there’s always room for improvement and I think I would like to be part of that.”
Maureen Bourke, 52, retired lawyer.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“Everyone is aware, especially someone like me who has lived in Alberta, we’re very aware of the fact that the price of oil has now dropped to $30 a barrel, Potash is also taking a hit as far as how it’s selling on the world market and we’re going to be looking at some significant budget constraints likely coming out of the next budget and that will present some challenges as far as providing proper education to our kids, keeping in mind of course that the per-child funding hasn’t really kept-up to date and those will be additional challenges. We’re looking at these financial challenges that are coming down for the province.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“Quite honestly, when we moved here in 2007 and settled here in Saskatoon, one thing that really impressed me was actually the quality of the schools and the dedication of our teachers. Before Alberta, we lived in B.C. and at that time, when we lived there in 2002, the teachers were teaching the minimum standards and one thing that I found when we moved here, that I have yet to find a teacher that taught to minimum standards. If anything, they went above and beyond volunteering their time outside of classroom time and there wasn’t sort of culture of doing the bare minimum. If anything there was a culture of doing more. So as far as change is concerned, I don’t see that needing change. What I would like to do is preserve that culture of going above and beyond.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“I think my message would be is that we actually have a very good education system. We have wonderful, dedicated teachers. You do have to be involved in your child’s school and in your child’s education, particularly if you have a child who doesn’t fit the normal mould. You have to be proactive and you have to be an advocate for that child, but also understanding that the schools here are on your side and they want to see your child succeed as much as you want to see your child succeed, but ultimately, you have to be in there pitching for your kid.”
Fatima Coovadia, 39, dentist.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“It’s the growing student body that we have due to the influx of people heading our way and how are we going to incorporate this increased demand within the resource constraints that we have.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“I’d like to see the board of trustees take a more holistic approach to any program planning that they do and to really broaden the focus and look at the greater physical and emotional issues that may affect our students, as well as the community supports and family supports they have to ensure that we have a healthy learning environment for our kids.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“Try and get involved as best and as much as they can within their child’s education to just be inspired to learn alongside their kids as well.”
Charmaine Bellamy, 42, public health nurse.
What’s the biggest issue facing Saskatoon education?
“The biggest issue, I would suggest, is the very quickly-growing population without enough budget to cover the costs that are involved with that. A lot of that is the new Canadian population as well, which need extra support to be successful, so English as a second language. So working with the current budget, but expanding the student population.”
What is one change that you would like to see if elected?
“My gut response is that if elected, I would like to support the current system. I’m very pleased with the system as it is … There are opportunities for improvement. My own family, I’ve advocated strongly for my own children within the system but each time a need has come up and I’ve advocated strongly, I have found that the system responds in a very helpful and supportive way. So I want to be a good voice and a good advocate for our schools and families as needs arise that they see.”
What would your message to Saskatoon parents with students be?
“My experience within the public school division is the staff at all levels are generally very committed to strong and successful outcomes for the students. Family involvement is a critical piece to that. Some families are more comfortable advocating and participating in their kid’s education within, currently a strong system. I would love to work with families to get them the most benefit out of their child’s education.”
mmodjeski@postmedia.com
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