No Pay No Perks No Power But Lots of Passion

Posted: March 16, 2013 in Uncategorized
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“So what is my purpose anyway?” Not my personal purpose but the purpose of my role as school trustee.  As I read Graham Thomson’s piece in today’s Edmonton Journal I had to pause and reflect. This excerpt of his article certainly made me think about the work that I put so much effort into; “….If you want to feel sorry for anyone here, let it be for the Alberta School Board Association that once again was shut out  of the final negotiations.  School boards are already facing revenue shortfalls and increased costs for staff.  Now, they’re having a teacher’s deal imposed on them.  If nothing else you have to admire the long-suffering school board trustees across the province who continue to run for office to perform a sometimes thankless task that has no real power, pay or perks.  And Friday proved they are viewed pretty much as rubber stamps by the government.”

So of course I immediately began to think seriously about my role and the considerable amount of work I put into it. How accurate is Mr.Thomson’s analysis?  No pay or perks is easy.  Absolutely true!  No real power?  Well let me do my own analysis….

I referred first to the brochure provided by the Alberta School Board Association for an audience of potential trustee candidates for the 2013 elections. The red section below is an excerpt from that document.

What do school trustees do? School trustees are politicians elected by and accountable to the community. The provincial government delegates to school boards the responsibility for conducting the affairs of the school jurisdiction. The school board:

  • plans for the jurisdiction, setting priorities for the system in light of community wishes, available resources and sound educational practice.
  • sets goals for the jurisdiction, ensuring education stays in step with today’s world
  • evaluates the jurisdiction’s chief executive officer-the superintendent of schools
  • adopts an annual budget for the school system
  • develops policy to guide the administration and employees toward jurisdiction goals
  • communicates with the community on behalf of the jurisdiction
  • educates others to ensure education is a top public priority and to make the community aware of the jurisdictions achievements
  • gathers information to make sound decisions
  • hears appeals
  • lobbies all levels of government on behalf of education

Well you know what ? Most of that is not specific to our role in the collective bargaining process.   Boards have a significant level of importance outside that.  Our power?  Well that depends on how you measure that.  Since it has been many years since Boards had the power to tax perhaps our limited role with regard to negotiations is no surprise.  Do I like it?  No!  But does it mean that our work is less important?  No again!  Since school boards rely on the provincial government for funding, their flexibility in adding to or adapting local programming is limited by the dollars available.  It is the responsibility of board members to help their constituents understand the parameters within which the budget is developed which is going to be a fair task in the days to come.

It is through the process of collaborating and engaging in joint decision making as members of the board that we work with the values, priorities, and expectations of the community to translate them into policy.  That is the role I see as primary.  If this layer of government did not exist we would leave a pretty soft layer of accountability from senior administration to provincial government.

So what’s next?  I will await the information from our professional organization; the A.S.B.A and take that back to my negotiating committee and the will of the Board will determine our next steps.  As always we will do what’s best for the students within our abilities.  At the end of the day I will continue to value my role as school board trustee with no perks nor pay and an unmeasured amount of power but a lot of passion and know that I do make a difference to my constituents.   How do I know that?  They tell me every day….

‘Awe’some……

Posted: February 10, 2013 in Uncategorized
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Moon picture favSeveral months ago I wrote these words in another blog post……… “I am generally not one to put a lot of value to celebrity and generally do not find my heroes in pop culture.  But today as I heard of the death of Neil Armstrong; the first man on the moon, I suddenly felt profoundly sad.  But why?   Certainly he had been a pilot; something always close to my heart and several years ago my Dad had shared a table with him at an aviation event.  But that was not the connection I was feeling.  It was much more than that.  It was the knowledge that I am now a full generation away from the little girl that sat riveted in front of that TV set on July 20th, 1969 when Neil Armstrong  and then Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon.  I had spent weeks waiting for the event.  I had scrapbooks full of every article or newspaper clipping I could find.  My family did not leave the room on that Monday afternoon as we waited for the landing of the module on the surface of the moon, and stayed later still as we waited the 6 hours until Neil Armstrong placed his boot on the dusty lunar surface and proclaimed “That is one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.”  These men were my heroes. My father kept saying that this would be remembered as an amazing moment in our lives.  It was a different world.  We were in an era that still had ‘awe’.  We could not computer generate a trip to another planet with a resolution that looked like we were really there.  But what we did have was a grainy black and white picture that told us that as a society we had gone somewhere we had previously only imagined in our dreams.  My father was right.  I do remember July 20th, 1969  as an amazing moment in my life; partly because of it being a great moment in history but more so because I can still sense the incredible feeling of having shared that moment with my family.  So the profound sadness I feel is not about the loss of a man I do not know.  It is the sadness that yet another special moment in my life is now such a distant memory.”

Well today I need to stand corrected on a point I made in this blog.  I said that  at the time of the first moon landing we were in an era that still had ‘awe’   alluding to the fact that  we were no longer inspired by the amazing world around us.  Well we do have ‘awe’!!  It was gone for a number of years but we have it again.  And this time the courier of this awe  is a man that I know set in front of a TV on that same day in 1969 that I did and he became an astronaut.  That man is Cmdr Chris Hadfield who is currently on the International Space Station and is about to take over as commander of the ISS.  Hadfield has managed to once again instil in our society a sense of ‘awe’.  Through social media he has managed to captivate a worldwide audience of people anticipating his next tweet or Facebook message.  He has impressed us with his musical talents and genuine connection to our youth.  He is passionate about education, about our world and truly seems to see that ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’   He has taken his role as an astronaut as a platform to connect with our youth and to remind us through his amazing photo gallery of the amazing world we live in.  This man doesn’t need a press agent or a manager.  He is a STAR!  Thank you Chris Hadfield for bringing back the ‘awe’ factor.  You have inspired a generation!