To the editor:
Re: "Letters of the week," Oct. 28.
Trustee Carol Gibson's letter is curious for several reasons. For one thing, while it is true that she did not personally reply to the questionnaire submitted to trustee candidates by Vancouver's elementary teachers and adult educators in 2005 and 2008 when she ran, NPA trustee-candidates did reply collectively in 2005 and thanked VESTA for the opportunity to do so. Their written response was re-printed in full in VESTA's newsletter prior to the 2005 elections, and made available on VESTA's website. There was no disclaimer provided that the reply was on behalf of all the NPA candidates except for Carol Gibson, and it would be revisionist history to make such a claim now.
It's true, however, that the only two NPA trustee candidates running in 2008 replied to that year's questionnaire: candidate Heather Holden and Sophia Woo, who is also running in this current election, provided some thoughtful answers about the need to do more to address mental health issues in schools and about the misuse of Foundation Skills Assessment data. These responses were made available publicly for teachers, parents, and the broader public to be able to consider.
It is unfortunate that elections for school trustee get lost in the shuffle of civic elections, when voter turnout is so low to begin with. Trustees play a very important role in our communities, are elected to represent the diverse views of their constituents and the diverse students in their schools-not just acquiesce to a provincial government.
It is entirely appropriate for teachers, parents, and the public to ask candidates where they stand on the issues pertaining to public education, and entirely appropriate to expect that candidates will respond with more than silence.
Glen Hansman
Past president, VESTA, and Second Vice President, B.C.Teachers' Federation
