Next time watch the video

The Central Okanagan School District has a large operating budget and $10,000 really isn’t a lot of money for trustees to attend a national convention.

That’s not the issue. The issue is perception.

With drastic cuts to education over the past 16 years, the taxpayer doesn’t need to be zinged with a $10,000 bill to send Moyra Baxter, Deb Buter and Julia Fraser to Halifax for a national school board trustee convention.

This money belongs in the classroom.

Baxter defends conventions such as these, stating it makes them better trustees by being around others from across the country.

She also states there’s money allocated in the budget for conventions. But, if that money went unused, it wouldn’t be sucked into a black hole, it would be used elsewhere.

In the day and age of the internet, rather than meet in Nova Scotia, a series of webcasts could be produced which all trustees across the country could watch — all at a fraction of the cost.

If the national convention was in Vancouver, Whistler or Prince George, that would be fine. Calgary or Edmonton might even be acceptable.

The event was in Halifax, one of the most exciting and historic cities in Canada — not to mention one of the most expensive destinations to reach from the West coast.

For $10,000 we’d much prefer that the board find a student leadership conference and send three exceptional students who could gain lifelong benefits.

The schools should be about our students — not our trustees.

With an election on Oct. 20, there’s no guarantee that the trio of Baxter, Butler and Fraser will be re-elected. Baxter is facing three other challengers in Peachland, Butler and Fraser one each in their respective ridings of Lake Country and West Kelowna.

In the private sector, conventions are now going the way of the dodo bird. Week-long conferences are now a weekend. Many are being cancelled because they don’t see value.

Kudos to the three trustees for giving up part of their summer to attend this event. It’s just not a good enough bang for the buck in our opinion.

Obviously. the other boards agree. Okanagan Skaha; Okanagan Similkameen; and the Vernon School District chose not to send anyone.

Nova Scotia is a province that doesn’t have school board trustees.