Response to Questions from DPAC (format provided by
Questions from DPAC
to Candidates for Langley School Trustee
If you wish to reply with electronic answers please do so, but make sure your answers are obvious.
(Delete the Yes if your answer is No. for example.)
OR
Please print this document, CIRCLE your answers. There are several open response questions that may be answered in point form. (Please print.)
SCAN and EMAIL your completed questionnaire by Sunday, October 30, 2011, at 5 PM to: [email protected]
Please contact Jeff at 604.532.4002 should you have any difficulties.
Collated responses will be made available on www.langleydpac.ca on November 4 and to the media for publication. Copies will be provided to the public at the meeting on November 17th. DPAC may edit free responses for clarity, brevity, or ease of publication.
A.
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF 1.
Name: Rod Ross 2.
Why are you running for trustee?
I am running to make a difference in our community. This is to say…to influence a system to be world class and to meet the real learning needs of our community.
3.
What are your particularly areas of interest in education and why?
Interested in “Applied” learning. So much of learning is “learning for the test” --- my interest is how can we learn for life. Real learning instead of learning that is forgotten as soon as they have completed the exam.
4.
What ages are your own children and what schools do/did they attend?
Austin 18 LEC and Mackenzie 16 LEC
5.
How many Langley School Board meetings did you attend last school year (2010/11)?
ALL 6.
Do you reside in the electoral area in which you have declared candidacy?
Yes B.
PARENT INVOLVEMENT 1.
How do you see the Trustees and the Board of Education supporting and encouraging the work of Parent Advisory Councils and the District Parent Advisory Council? 2.
Describe your experiences on PACs, SPCs, or other school related groups. 3.
How will you ensure that each of our schools is proactively encouraging and facilitating parent involvement?
C.
STUDENT AND STAFF RELATED 1.
Restorative Action is proving to be an effective alternative approach when dealing with harmful conflict situations in school districts throughout North America. What is your vision for Restorative Action in Langley schools? Restorative Action IS working in our schools. My vision is to continue the training in our schools.
2.
Should education be an essential service?
Yes 3.
Please give us your views on the current British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF) and British Columbian Public Schools Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) negotiations. My view is that our current confrontational process for negotiations is broken. We need to move to new models…such as interest based negotiations…
4.
What part of the District Achievement Contract (DAC) do you find the most useful and why? Transitions and Aboriginal Achievement are my two that I take more interest in.
5.
What are your views on the role the District plays in combating cyber-bullying? 6
What is your view on involving students in decision making processes? The Education Forum we just concluded was well supported with involving students…I wholly support and welcome student input.
D.
DISTRICT ISSUES 1.
What are your views on the Middle School Concept? Supportive. One size does not fit all and in the education world we need to look at what works best. Middle schools are just another option that parents can choose for their child. What works best for my child is different for everyone and we need to provide those options.
2.
What do you feel is necessary to ease the transition during a reconfiguration or closure of school/schools? Schools and admin together with the Board work very hard to ease transitions in everything we do. May not be perfect but we “attend to the needs” of all people to the best of abilities.
3.
What is your position on “Schools of Choice”? i.e. Do we need expansions, relocations, more or fewer programs, etc.?
Schools of choice are embraced by the Ministry of Education and we have a tremendous history of them in Langley. I support choice and am confident we have the right mix at this time.
4a.
List the various areas within the District and their top areas of concern?
A priority of mine is the International Student Program. This program is tremendous in many ways and I am grateful that we have it. My concern is that it is a critical leg that holds up our ‘financial table’. As the market forces and geo-political events occur we struggle with managing our revenues. We need to wean ourselves off this and return it to the budget as “value-added dollars” instead of “must have” dollars.
4b.
What do you propose to do in order to address those concerns?
Once we have completed our repayment of our debt…we can look at this…until then, there is little we can do. Obviously, we must encourage our international department staff and monitor this critical budget line item.
5.
In the next 3 years, what are the top 2 issues you want the Board of Education to tackle?
Communication
21st Century Learning
6.
What future do you see for rural schools in this district, especially those with declining enrollment?
This will always be something we need to monitor. The entire district is only good as its weakest link and we need to constantly review our balance of schools.
E.
FUNDING 1.
What value do you believe the Langley School District Foundation contributes to the District? Fabulous Value. Having volunteers and the broader community involved in supporting our schools is wonderful.
2.
Do you think that children in both rural and urban communities have “equity of access” to educational opportunities in this District? Please elaborate. Equity is always a fine balance. Smaller schools cannot afford all the educational programs that a larger school can afford. You need 20 plus students to run courses (English Literature 12) and when you don’t get enough students signing-up…the course is not offered. Therefore, bigger schools will always be able to offer more just because they have a larger cohort. Therefore, we will struggle in achieving equity of access to educational opportunities in our schools.
3.
What are your top priorities in terms of allocating the education funds our district receives?
91% of revenues go to salaries and benefits.
4.
What are your top priorities in terms of allocating the education funds our district receives?
5.
Do you feel that it is in the best interest of the District and its students to pay off the district debt sooner than required by the Ministry of Education? Yes, the sooner we get rid of this debt burden we will be better off. It is in everyone’s best interest to pay off debt as anyone with a household debt can tell you!
6.
Where do you stand on corporate sponsorship in public education? We have embraced a healthy amount of corporate sponsorship via our Foundation.
F.
ACCOUNTABILITY 1.
Describe how and to whom a trustee is accountable to. We are accountable to the Ministry of Education and to the Langley community.
2.
How will you earn the respect of parents?
We earn respect by serving and respecting others…this is how I live my life.
G.
How well do you feel that district is doing in these areas?
1 - Excellent 2 - Good 3 - Fair 4 - Poor 5 - None
6 - Don’t Know
1.
Special Needs Students (other than Gifted)
2
2.
Gifted Students
2
3
International Student Program
1
3.
English as a Second Language Students
2
4.
Aboriginal Students
2
5.
At Risk Students
2
6.
Career Education and Training
2
7.
French as a Second Language Students
2
9.
Behaviour Program Students
2
10.
Student Safety (Anti-Harassment)
1
11.
Choice Programs
1
12.
Parent Involvement
2
15.
Professional Development for Trustees
2
16.
Decentralized Decision Making Model
2
17.
Fiscal Management
2
18.
Information Technology Infrastructure in Schools
3
19.
Facilities Management
2
20.
Revenue Generation 2 21.
Transition to 21st Century Learning 3 22.
Communication between all partner groups 3 23.
Connection trustees have with the public 3 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS IMPORTANT MATTER.
