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Letter to Editor
ShareTrustees create anxiety, fear
Published: September 30, 2008 3:00 PMUpdated: September 30, 2008 3:57 PM
Dear editor,
At the school board meeting of Sept. 23, I was shocked, saddened and disappointed that the current board chair allowed a member of the audience to make a statement with regards to individuals who have declared their candidacy for school trustee.
What astonished me even more was that when another member of the public made a statement concerning the closure process at Cape Lazo (he is on the Cape Lazo School closure committee), he was interrupted by the board chair and told that it was a question-and-answer period not a statement period.
As a parent, grandparent and concerned citizen, I have attended many board and public meetings over the past three years and have become increasingly concerned over the actions of this current board of trustees. I have also written several letters to the editor in the past few years stating my views and concerns.
As a result of those concerns, I declared my intention to run for trustee in Courtenay. I am wondering why all the attendees had to listen to a person from the audience at a school board meeting publicly make a statement that I was not transparent in my press release is not only concerning but frustrating.
To have the current board chair allow that statement to be made and not say anything only leads me to wonder if last Tuesday’s five-hour marathon of a board meeting was a pre-election show by trustees who publicly congratulated themselves for the decisions they have chosen to make.
It is true that difficult decisions have to be made in light of declining enrolment and the changing of funding that the Ministry of Education has implemented.
But to be perfectly honest, most people understand the need for change and the need for difficult decisions to be made.
It is the way they are introduced, explained, and the manner in which those issues are presented that will set the tone for whether there is understanding and acceptance or frustration and anger.
In the case of this current school board, they have created an environment of frustration, anxiety and chaos by their method of implementation and the manner in which they explain the need for change.
I would like to state for the record that I have never been a member of the Comox Valley Citizens for Better Education (CVBE), as implied by that member of the public. It’s unfortunate that the board chair can pick and choose whose statements are permitted to be said during a question-and-answer period.
It would be nice to have some continuity and know that is was either all statements or none at all.
It is time for a change.
Janice Caton,
Courtenay
