Ask the school board candidates
WEST KELOWNA: CHANTELLE DESROSIERS: I support SOGI 123 as a positive learning tool for all students. Its goal is to promote inclusion, acceptance, tolerance, and the treatment of all people with dignity and respect. Instilling children with feelings of belonging and self worth helps them to build healthy relationships and engage in learning. Education is not only about learning facts, it is also about gaining skills. Humanity is comprised of immense diversity, and our students need to be able to go out into the world with the skills necessary to interact positively with individuals that hold a variety of values and personal identities.
CHRIS VERNON JARVIS: I support SOGI being included in our code of conduct in our progress to ensuring that all children are safe at school. SOGI 123 is a resource provided by the provincial government for use by teachers, as many resources are for other subjects. According to their contract, teachers have autonomy in their class room so how the resource is used is up to them,. What I find most distressing is the strident and sometimes ill-informed voices on both sides who are unwilling to listen and to consider rationally so it is difficult to have a discussion about SOGI123 and how we should use it. I believe an open mind is an important quality in a trustee.
PEACHLAND MOYRA BAXTER: Yes, I support SOGI 123. When all students, regardless of their race, creed, abilities, social background, sexual orientation or gender identity, are welcomed into our schools, then there is an opportunity to freely discuss and learn more about the diversity in the larger world outside school. For older students, the Human Rights Code provides a background for discussions. Maya Angelou: “It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” Our schools should do this, too. There is no place in our schools, or in society, for discrimination.
MARJORIE BRIMS: Yes. I believe that children simply need to learn about, and respect those who live in our families and communities. Families with two Moms, or two Dads, aunties who were uncles, or kids questioning their identity — and many other expressions of humanness — exist now in our communities and consequently our classrooms. Every child deserves to see their family represented without prejudice in the resources and conversations in our schools. I trust our schools — not celebrity blogs — to model inclusiveness for all and to provide respectful age-appropriate experiences. Adults need to catch up — our kids are already there.