Here’s to shaking things up
New school trustees bring fresh thinking and priorities to education of our children
Cathy Cooke and Linda Qin want to improve learning in schools with low test scores. Cooke also believes schools should lead in lifting up the one in four children living in poverty in Windsor. Sarah Cipkar wants to stop closing schools in core neighbourhoods. Alicia Higgison wants to stop dividing families when school boundaries change. They are rookie public school trustees who were top votegetters Monday, beating veteran incumbents by working harder. Three have graduate degrees; they value education. Three have or will have children in schools; they know what’s going on. And each brings a different but fundamental perspective — that’s fundamentally lacking on the complacent board.
Here’s to shaking things up. Linda Qin’s daughter wasn’t learning enough math, so Qin enrolled her in extra classes after school. “A lot of parents complain their kids didn’t learn math,” she said.
Elementary students’ math scores are low here and across the province because they simply don’t know enough, said Qin, a 47-year-old PhD candidate in manufacturing management who will represent Wards 1,2 and 9. Some can’t solve basic problems. “It’s very important for them when they grow up and have to use math knowledge and think logically,” she said.
Math teachers should teach math, even in elementary schools, she says. She understands that’s a fraught issue, ironically, but it doesn’t dissuade her. We have to “find a way,” she said.
Kids who live in poverty struggle disproportionately, said Cooke, a 56-year-old social worker at the Regional Children’s Centre who will represent Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8.
“What is the plan?” she asked. “We should stand up and be one of the leaders,” she said, saying the board should play a key role in ProsperUs, a new community initiative to support children.
Education is especially critical for these kids, she said. “They need to be successful so they can get out of their circumstances and be successful throughout life.”
She knows many teachers hate the standardized provincial tests. But Cooke, whose brother, Dave Cooke, is a former education minister and former chair of the Education Quality and Accountability Office, which administers the tests, said,
“It gives us a lot of very good information. If we look at it in a positive way, it’s what we can do to help our kids. It’s all about improvement, all about success.” The board considered closing Queen Victoria Public School, around the corner from Cipkar’s house, along with Hugh Beaton and Prince Edward several years ago. They’re all in core neighbourhoods.
“It would be devastating for core neighbourhoods,” said Cipkar, the 27-year-old community development coordinator for the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative who will represent wards 3, 4 and 10.
A school is the heart of a neighbourhood, she says. The board should invest in schools in the city’s core neighbourhoods and work with the city and community groups to make them vibrant. In short, it should make decisions that are good for the city. “Schools are not just islands unto themselves,” she said. When the board changed school boundaries several years ago, it divided Higgison’s family. Two of her children went to Tecumseh Vista Academy and one to Forest Glade Public School. For two years, during parent-teachers interviews and school events, they tried to be in two places at the same time. Finally, they moved to Tecum- seh so all three daughters could go to the same school. No family should have to do that. “The health of a community and the health of a school really go together,” said Higgison, a 36-year-old administrative assistant and social media coordinator at the University of Windsor. “The strength of a community is bolstered by your ability to put down roots there and invest in that community, and that has a lot to do with your confidence about the school. I think they need to work better together.” Most promising is that these candidates worked for their wins. Higgison, who will represent Tecumseh and Lakeshore, canvassed in all 11 wards in those towns, across 651 square kilometres. Voters are entitled to make informed decisions, but they need information.
“Part of that,” said Higgison, “is the visibility of the candidate.” Clearly, canny voters were dissatisfied with many current trustees. They recognized — despite the short shrift trustee elections get — a chance for change. They bowled ahead with a transition that began with the election of trustee Jessica Sartori in 2014.
School boards don’t write the main curriculum, negotiate the main contracts or set taxes. But this board has one job no one else has: to hold accountable public schools that score lower than the provincial average and send fewer kids to college and university. For the future of this city, those statistics have to change.
The fifth new trustee, Aimee Omstead, the 42-year-old volunteer director of Little Hands Kids for a Cause, who will represent Leamington and Pelee Island, is married to a teacher at Leamington District Secondary School. She says that gives her a “unique perspective.” It’s also a potential conflict of interest. She says she’ll excuse herself from voting if necessary. Yet she’s already suggested that teachers should be paid more.
“I believe that the salaries that teachers are paid do not accurately represent the hours they actually work,” she wrote on Facebook, responding to a question about teachers’ pay. “Their wages need to reflect the work they put in, as well, reflect the rising cost of living.”
Clearly, canny voters were dissatisfied with many current trustees. They recognized ... a chance for change.