“I think it shows that the public has an appetite to have more influence and more say in what’s going on in our public schools,” said organizer Nick Day.
Hopefuls running to be a Regina Public Schools board trustee faced a grilling on Friday night, at the first-ever candidates’ forum held by local teachers ahead of this fall’s municipal election.
The Regina Public Teachers’ Association (RTPA) hosted and moderated the event, which was organized after seeing how fired-up the public has been on education-related issues over the past year, executive member Nick Day said.
It was a full-house at the Artesian on Friday night, and the crowd did not hold back their opinions on candidates’ answers over the course of the evening.
“I think it shows that the public has an appetite to have more influence and more say in what’s going on in our public schools (and) I hope it’s the start of more democratic engagement,” said Day after the event was over.
“I see it as a strong signal of a willingness to collaborate (with teachers),” Day said.
Five of the night’s participants were returning trustees: Adam Hicks (Sub. 3), Sarah Cummings Truzkowski (Sub. 5), Ted Jaleta (Sub. 1), Lacey Weekes (Sub. 7) and Tracey McMurchy (Sub. 2).
New faces seeking election who took the stage were Jason Agar (Sub. 2), Kale MacLellan (Sub. 2), Doug Armbruster (Sub. 6), Tolu Folarin (Sub. 4) and Brandon Shea-Mutala (Sub. 6).
“We know what RCAAN is trying to do. RCAAN isn’t fooling anyone with language like ‘back to basics,’” McMurchy said in her introduction.
Nine outright condemned the policy. Agar, a teacher with Regina Catholic, said it was a “distraction meant to divide” and Hicks called it “a big political stunt” in order to “secure rural votes,” to cheers from the room.
“It is a disgrace that the government has forced us to talk about this as an election issue,” Hicks said.
“When the most powerful men in the province are targeting the most vulnerable children, it is wrong,” Cummings Truszkowski said.
Armbruster, the only RCAAN-endorsed candidate at the forum (though he says he is not affiliated with the group), said he supports “people over politics” and how boards kept kids safe after the bill’s passing, speaking as a past trustee with Horizon School Division.
“Whether I agree with Bill 137 or how it came into existence is irrelevant. What is more important is how, as a member of a board of education, we moved through it,” he said, drawing heckles from some members of the audience.
“To me, SSBA is not an advocacy group. They are the political wing for the current government,” Jaleta said.
“They undermined the collective bargaining power that teachers hold, (and) that is not something that I think was acceptable,” MacLellan said.
The forum closed after two hours, though candidates did linger to speak with attendees late into the night.
Day said it was encouraging to see the passion in the room. He said RPTS plans to make this a regular event and to engage with the public more, to foster interest to get involved in school board elections.
He pointed out that in Saskatchewan, an average of 60 per cent of school board trustees are elected by acclamation — meaning no one ran against them — and voter turnout is typically around just 20 per cent.
“We are going to build on that interest and motivation to keep making (elections) more democratic, more responsive to teachers’ needs, and more responsible to students,” he said.
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