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ELECTION: School trustee Township candidate Marnie Wilson

A Voter’s Guide to key election questions.
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Marnie Wilson

Marnie Wilson

Running for school trustee in the Township of Langley

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Educaiton assistant, 44

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Have you held office in past? If so, please specify: No.

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Candidate provided bio:

Having parented two children through the Langley school system, been an employee of the Langley School District as an education assistant and having held the position of president of CUPE 1260 the union representing support staff in the school district, I have learned the importance of consultation, collaboration and transparency. I am committed to listening to what the needs are and looking for progressive solutions that don’t just fix an immediate problem but promote future opportunities. I am passionate about education and am excited to make improvements in the following areas: safety in schools, classroom supports, and partner group relationships. I believe that together we can make a difference in the Langley School District and in turn improve the lives of everyone in our school community.

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Website: marniewilson.ca

Facebook: Marnie Wilson for School Trustee

Phone: 778-999-5069

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Who is your favourite superhero, and why? My favorite super hero is Wonder Woman because her magic lasso makes people tell the truth and I hate dishonesty!

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There are 12 candidates running for seven positions on Langley School Board. The following are questions asked of each trustee hopeful. They were directed to provide a minimum of a Yes, No, or Don’t Know answer, and given an option to expand on one answer in print (to a maximum of 100 words per question). They could expand on all questions online, if they wished to do so. The following are their replies.

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Questions and Answers:

1. What neighbourhood of Langley do you live in?

Answer: Aldergrove.

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2. How many years have you lived in Langley?

Answer: 18.

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3. How many Langley School Board meetings have you attended in the past year?

Answer: All of them (I believe there were 10).

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4: Do you support the use of the SOGI resources in Langley schools?

Answer: Yes.

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5. Should school districts once again have authority over municipal school taxation?

Answer: Yes.

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6. Are school administrators overpaid?

Answer: Yes, when you look comparatively at the yearly salary/earnings of the other employees in the schools, some whose yearly income is equal to a person earning minimum wage, due to low hours and layoff periods, thus making it hard to attract good educated people to work in the education system. A large percentage of school district employees must work more than one job to make a decent living.

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7. Should the province have the power to dismiss school boards?

Answer: No.

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8. Should Langley offer incentives to attract more teachers?

Answer: No, unless they offer that same incentive to all existing staff.

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9. Do schools rely too much of parent fundraising efforts?

Answer: Yes, this creates a “Have” and “Have Not” system where more affluent school communities are afforded more opportunities because they can raise more money.

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10. Should the district do more to lobby for new schools in the faster growing areas?

Answer: Yes.

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11. Do you think the province is underfunding public education?

Answer: Yes.

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12. Should the school district solicit corporate money by way of sponsorship to fund education?

Answer: No we should not be reliant on, or beholden to corporations for our children’s education.

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13. Should the school district cut down on using technology, like iPads and computers – to save money?

Answer: No.

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14. Should the district have a strategy to reduce portables?

Answer: Yes.

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15. Should we re-instate the previous busing boundaries for students?

Answer: Don’t Know, we would need to seek parent input and have a consultation process to decide this.

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16. Should students requiring extra attention – such as ESL or those with behavioural or learning disabilities – betaught separately from other students?

Answer: Yes, these students should be entitled to additional supports which often include the use of a separate setting to work more intensely on specific learning or behaviour goals, inclusion must be meaningful and allow for students to be included where and when it promotes the best learning opportunities. With the removal of many of these special programs in the Langley School districts elementary schools we have seen a rise in classroom violence and student anxiety.

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17. Do you support increasing the amount of international students to help fund education?

Answer: No, because if we become dependant on those funds and there is a decrease in international student enrolment we will not have adequate funding for our school system.

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18. Should a trustee live in the community they want to serve in?

Answer: Yes.

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19. Should there be a limit to the number of consecutive terms a trustee can serve?

Answer: Yes.

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20. Should the district redevelop vacant school sites to bring in revenue?

Answer: Yes, but only if strict policies are put in place regarding what the revenue can be used for, such as infrastructure; new builds, renovations/upgrades, additions.