New Westminster’s civic politicians may have different political leanings but they’re all part of Team Schools.
New Westminster city council and school board held a joint meeting on June 3 to discuss several issues. One of those centred around the school board’s advocacy action plan.
Maya Russell, chair of the school board, said the plan, initiated by Trustee Danielle Connelly, is something the board has been working on for several months. She said it’s intended to provide the board with some “clear priorities” for its advocacy to other levels of government, including some “areas of commonality” with the City of New Westminster.
Trustee Cheryl Sluis said the board is responsible for advocating for public education and the needs of the district, and this responsibility is written into policy.
“Our advocacy action plan is a guide for us as we work to ensure student needs are met in both the short- and long-term,” she said. “The plan serves as a framework to help ensure that we continue fulfilling our mandate to advocate for the needs of all students.”
Sluis, vice-chair of the school board, said the board’s advocacy activities will be coordinated so they’re in sync with the advocacy action plan. The advocacy action plan includes six areas of focus:
- Raising awareness of the need to increase basic per student funding from the province to adequate levels, to be able to meet the full range of student needs.
- Expediting approval of capital funding to fulfill New Westminster’s long-range facilities plan and manage “exploding enrolment and the district's capacity crisis.”
- Securing the capital funding needed to begin equipping schools for the demands of extreme weather and climate resilience, starting with cooling infrastructure.
- Increasing funding from the province to meet the needs of diverse- and English-language learners.
- Increasing access to adequate mental health, wellness and safety supports for students, including staff training, support from provincial ministries and the health region.
- Expanding access to childcare for district families and increasing district readiness for shared responsibility of childcare responsibilities.
Sluis said there's a few areas of connection between the city and school board on these focus areas, including the need for capital funding to address “the urgency of the capacity crisis” that’s being experienced in New Westminster. Efforts will include ensuring the ministry of education’s capital grant provides a mechanism to fund purchase of airspace parcels in new developments and ensuring that schools, school sites and childcare sites are a priority in the city's official community plan and ongoing planning work.
Everyone’s on Team Schools
At Monday’s meeting, council members were receptive to supporting the school board with some of its advocacy efforts.
Coun. Tasha Henderson said it’s great for council to hear and have a better understanding of the school district’s priorities.
“Schools come up time and time again at the council table when we're talking about increased density, different projects. … I think it goes without saying, but we're all on Team Schools,” she said. “So please let us know how we can support you in that advocacy work, and what it is that you need from the city to support you to do all of that important work.”
Mayor Patrick Johnstone said advocacy about issues related to issues like growth/land, childcare and climate resilience are among the areas where there’s overlap between the city and school board and where the city could help advocate to the province.
Johnstone said the city has its own advocacy schedule, which includes meetings with provincial ministers and ministerial staff at the annual Union of BC Municipalities convention. He said the “real power” of the UBCM convention is the ability for city officials to meet face-to-face with provincial ministers and senior staff.
“If we have common things we want to advocate on, I don't know why we wouldn't invite you to come along with us when we meet with those ministers and have that advocacy,” he said. “We don't get a meeting with every minister we want; we apply for a bunch of them, and we get some of them. So that's a place that we can actually work together and make sure that we raise our voices together.”
Connelly encouraged city officials to look at a new report from a working group of the BC School Trustees Association, which found that almost $9 billion will be required over the next five years to address life-cycle and deferred maintenance repairs in B.C. public schools.
“That's just for maintenance. That's not even new schools, and expanding schools,” she said. “So that's some really good information that can inform some of those discussions as well.”
Speed dating for politicians
Coun. Daniel Fontaine said he’d like to get an update on the “Team New West” caucus motion previously approved by council, which calls for joint meetings attended by members of city council and school board, New Westminster’s MLAs and MP. Staff were unable to provide an update at Monday’s meeting.
Comparing meetings with ministers at UBCM to “speed dating,” Fontaine said he’d like city council and school board to send a delegation to Victoria to meet with provincial officials.
Johnstone suggested the joint New Westminster Schools and City of New Westminster working group could discuss the opportunity of sending a delegation to Victoria.
“It does take some time and energy to set those meetings up, but maybe that's something we should send to the working group and then we can have a conversation about whether there's an opportunity for that,” he said. “We both have to find budgets in our respective budgets to do that work, but I don't think it's a bad idea.”
Earlier this year, some council members joined school trustees at a meeting with the education minister.
“I will say we really appreciated the participation from the city at an important meeting with the minister of education,” Russell said. “That was quite effective, and your support there was really appreciated.”
