VOTING PATTERNS
COPE members gather at John Oliver secondary this Sunday to nominate candidates for November's civic race and draft policy for its election platform. School board nomination candidates include all three incumbents-Jane Bouey, Allen Blakey and Allan Wong, along with two new faces-Gwen Giesbrecht and Ian Bushfield.
COPE is fielding four candidates as part of a deal with Vision Vancouver, which is putting forward five candidates who'll vie for seats on the nine-member board.
Bouey is co-manager of the People's Co-op Bookstore, while Blakey is a retired teacher who's held senior union positions. Wong was a teacher-oncall before taking a job with Telus. All three are longtime trustees and well known in Vancouver's education world.
Giesbrecht, meanwhile, has served on the District Parent Advisory Council, including two terms as chairperson. Lesser-known nomination candidate Ian Bushfield moved to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»a few years ago, holds a bachelor of science, and is president of the B.C. Humanists. Candidates can also be nominated from the floor, although they must have been COPE members for 45 days before the vote.
COPE executive director Alvin Singh told the Courier the party's membership sits at between 1,400 and 1,500.
"That's very high. That's probably the highest we've had in the last few years so there's obviously a lot of excitement around this nomination meeting," he said.
COPE's campaign office will be at the same location as last election on Broadway near Carolina. Campaign staff have been hired, including two campaign managers, who'll be moving into the office in the next few days. Singh said the party operates under a tight budget and its campaigns are typically "grassroots and volunteerbased."
COPE's policy conference runs from 9: 30 a.m. to noon, while the nomination meeting gets underway at 2 p.m. and is expected to last three hours. Singh said the party's campaign managers will also be introduced Sunday.
The existing Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»School Board includes four Vision Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»trustees-Patti Bacchus, Mike Lombardi, Ken Clement and Sharon Gregson, the three COPE trustees running for re-election and two NPAers- Ken Denike and Carol Gibson.
Bacchus, Clement and Lombardi are seeking another term, and Vision has named two more candidates: Cherie Payne and Rob Wynen.
The NPA's Denike-another long-serving trustee, is seeking another term and is running for office with Sophia Woo, Fraser Ballantyne, Stacy Robertson and Sandy Sharma.
Louise Boutin is running under the Green Party banner for school board.
The election is Nov. 19. Details about the municipal race are on the city website.
BACK TO SCHOOL
With students back at school for almost two weeks, I'd like to hear what readers, including students, want to see in print in coming months whether it's about the state of education, the teacher job action or election-related stories. Send in questions you'd like staff or trustees to address and what you think are critical issues facing the district this school year.
Less political ideas for articles about interesting people or activities going on in schools are also welcome. Unique pitches are most appreciated.
[email protected] Twitter: @Naoibh
