Susan Semonick On Schools - How Sad - Summer Election Thoughts - June 29, 2008

AHHH !!! Election Madness.

I cannot believe that Alison McVeigh would not stand and run in the City to remain accountable to her electorate for her decisions. Instead, she has chosen to run where she is not known. Her excuse that she got flack the last time for running in the City is just that, an excuse. If she believed it to be right to do the last time, then none of the facts have changed, so why the switch?

She put a motion forth at the last board meeting to change school boundaries in Walnut Grove that really didn’t need to be changed. All the students wishing to go to West Langley Elementary were already attending the school because of the available space due to low enrolment there. It will not affect the enrolment at either school. Was this an action taken to get votes, in the hope that people in the north area would vote for her because she did what a few asked of her at a consultation meeting? Will she be able to make the hard decisions for the north area if there are any? Would she run back to the City in three years if the Township voters are not happy with her, hoping they have forgotten how she voted on the HD Stafford Secondary issue, especially since it does require substantially fewer votes to get elected?

There were a large number of voters asking her to vote differently than she did during this past year, at the very least to alter the process to a more respectful one, and it appears to some that she ignored their request. According to her announcement, she has no intentions of changing her ways. She is proud of what she has done Trustee Hogeterp is proud of what has been done this year also and will stand steadfast to ensure nothing changes. Were their decisions the best for the students? Time will tell, but till then public officials are to represent the wishes of the electorate.

The question to ask is - have the four involved in the major changes to the district done what the majority of the community wished? Or, have they voted with limited direction and personal opinion? If you are of the latter opinion, then don’t vote for them. It is time for change and there are an increasing number of people showing interest in replacing the current board. Whether they follow through is yet to be seen.

If McVeigh had stood her ground and faced the music, many more would respect her. I wonder if her advisors should take a hard second look at whether running from the music is a good move or not.

This type of thing only makes my suggestion of amalgamation of the electoral ballot even more important for the people to attain voter parity. The public officials who do not wish to remain accountable for their decisions would not have an easy out. You would have public officials accountable for their decisions on the district as a whole, (as it should be) instead of being able to slither into an alternate political office seat.

Voters - sign up at http://members.shaw.ca.amalgamateschoolboard/. This is where you can officially sign up to support this initiative to attain accountability and voter parity for the election of Board of Education trustee seats in School District #35. Let’s be the leaders in ending this lack of voter parity in government.

Respectfully
Susan Semonick

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