Taking Public Education to the Doorsteps

“No one has ever come to my door before running for school board.”

That’s the comment I’ve heard more often than any other after knocking on hundreds of doors since the beginning of July.

Since making the decision to run for Public School Board Trustee, it never occurred to me to not aggressively pursue the position. I’m doing this because I care passionately about the public school system in Edmonton. It’s important. Public Education is the cornerstone of a civil society and its schools are the heart of communities.

At the panel discussion I recently attended, we were reminded that there are four levels of government: federal, provincial, municipal, and school board. I’ve wanted to do this for 20 years because public school governance is important to me. It is a political position. Elected trustees represent the community that elected them, and that community has a democratic right to expect representation and to hold their trustee to account. It’s democracy at its best – at the grassroots level.

In this year’s municipal election I’ve gotten to know a number of other trustee candidates and am very happy to report that the majority of them share my passion for education and for democracy. The majority, like me, have been knocking on doors all summer and talking and listening to the communities they hope to represent. And it’s been noted by more than one person that in some wards there are more trustee candidate signs than signs for Councilor positions.

I hope this is the last year candidates will hear the above comment. I hope that door knocking and active campaigning become a normal part of campaigning for public and catholic school trustee candidates.

See you on the doorsteps!

- Tina.