Mom, school volunteer to run for school board
Chantelle Desrosiers hopes to represent West Kelowna
Chantelle Desrosiers wants to be West Kelowna’s representative on the Central Okanagan school board.
A mother of two school-aged children, a nine-year volunteer in the schools and a graduate of the University of Alberta, this will be the first time she has run for public office.
Desrosiers has been a parent volunteer for nine years, most recently serving as president of the parents advisory committee at Constable Neil Bruce Middle School. She has faithfully attended board and committee meetings for the past six months.
Transparency, she said, will be an issue in the Oct. 20 municipal election.
“Parents and the community have to feel that their trustee and the board is listening to them,” she said in an interview. “You can not expect people to put faith in the board if the board is not willing to consider ideas and be transparent about what’s going on.”
She said there are several issues related directly to the Westside.
“For West Kelowna, there are going to be a lot of changes. There’s reconfiguration happening in September. French immersion and early French immersion are going to be another big thing, because it’s a pretty big change for the middle school,” she said.
Desrosiers is the first out of the gate and has launched an ambitious campaign, complete with a campaign website and Facebook page. She’s not working and said she will concentrate her full efforts on the role of trustee if elected this fall.
Born in Grand Prairie, Alta., she has a bachelor of arts in political science and a bachelor of commerce in finance from the U of A. Following university, she worked in the financial world and with employee benefits. She and her husband, Matt Whitt, have resided in West Kelowna for the past nine years and have two kids: Alexandra, 13, and Nevin, 10.
“As an elected board member, I would be committed to encouraging dialogue and taking input from all interested parties before coming to a decision,” she said in a press release. “I believe it is the responsibility of the trustees to provide leadership and guidance that assists students of diverse abilities, needs and backgrounds so they can all reach their full potential.”
Julia Fraser, the incumbent for the Westside, has not revealed her intentions yet.
Chris Gorman, who represents Kelowna, has said he will not seek re-election. None of the other existing trustees have announced their intentions.