School board knocked over outreach efforts
Challenger for Peachland trustee position tells forum Central Okanagan board needs to re-engage community
Parents and the public aren’t sufficiently informed on educational issues by Central Okanagan Public Schools, a trustee candidate says.
“I don’t believe the current school board has done a good job of reaching out to the community,” Marjorie Brims said Monday at a candidates forum in Peachland.
One way to “re-engage” the community with the important work of public education, Brims said, would be for the school board to ensure there are parents on all the various subcommittees.
But Brims’ criticism was rejected by the woman she is aiming to defeat, incumbent Peachland school trustee and longtime board chairperson Moyra Baxter.
“We actually have parents on every single board standing committee already,” Baxter said tersely in her remarks before a crowd of about 200 at the Peachland Community Centre.
Baxter, a retired nurse, has been Peachland’s school trustee since 1998. Brims is a retired manager in occupational health and safety with Interior Health who’s making her first run for the school board.
Baxter stresses her experience, familiarity with complex issues, like grade reconfiguration, and leadership position on the board.
Brims jokingly said that people expressed surprise at her “audacity” to challenge a long-term incumbent like Baxter. While deferring to Baxter’s experience, Brims nevertheless promised to bring a fresh, consultative perspective to the school board: “Many people have said to me, ‘It’s time for a change.’”
Baxter countered: “Change for change’s sake often doesn’t accomplish much.”
There was little to differentiate the two on policy issues during the half-hour segment that preceded a longer debate involving those running for Peachland town council. Both Baxter and Brims said they supported the SOGI 123 program, which is a resource to help school districts and teachers build inclusive environments for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and endorsed fiscally responsible budgets.