Don't forget to vote on October 27th! You can also vote in advance from October 15-18. You can find your voting station and a full list of candidates on the City of Kitchener website.
For those of you who are curious about what a School Board Trustee does, you can find a brief description here and more detailed information here. I know many people think that School Board Trustees set the curriculum, as I have received several questions about that but in fact that is set by the Ministry of Education which is part of the Provincial Government.
The Record recently covered a debate for School Board Trustees in which I participated. We discussed many issues such as Trustee travel expenses, special education and the standardized test scores for Waterloo Region District School Board. I was asked my view on our students' performance on the standardized tests which is what they quoted in the paper. I would like to expand what made it into the paper to say that I don't view our test scores as negatively as many do. The test scores show that students in Kitchener public schools perform the worst in grade three and by the time they reach grade nine they have reached the Provincial standard. I believe that is an accomplishment, one that students and teachers should be proud of. I realize saying "Yeah! We're average!" doesn't sound like a rallying cry, but taking students who are struggling and having them meet the standard is no easy feat.
Kitchener Public Schools score lower than Waterloo schools and the schools in the Catholic Board overall, but we also have very different demographics. Kitchener public schools have more lower income families and lower education rates among the parents than Waterloo and more ESL learners than the Catholic Board, all of which will impact test scores for students. The improved test scores as students move through the system is evidence that the system is working. Is there room for improvement? Can we do even better? Of course, but I don't think there is a need for hand wringing and finger pointing over our test scores.
I'm looking forward to taking part in the Food Bank of Waterloo's The Great Food Sort Challenge - Municipal Candidates Edition on October 16th. You can take part in the event too between October 21 and 23. Check out their website for more details and for a list of their most needed items.
The Kitchener Post recently profiled the candidates, including me so you can read more about me here.
For those of you who are curious about what a School Board Trustee does, you can find a brief description here and more detailed information here. I know many people think that School Board Trustees set the curriculum, as I have received several questions about that but in fact that is set by the Ministry of Education which is part of the Provincial Government.
The Record recently covered a debate for School Board Trustees in which I participated. We discussed many issues such as Trustee travel expenses, special education and the standardized test scores for Waterloo Region District School Board. I was asked my view on our students' performance on the standardized tests which is what they quoted in the paper. I would like to expand what made it into the paper to say that I don't view our test scores as negatively as many do. The test scores show that students in Kitchener public schools perform the worst in grade three and by the time they reach grade nine they have reached the Provincial standard. I believe that is an accomplishment, one that students and teachers should be proud of. I realize saying "Yeah! We're average!" doesn't sound like a rallying cry, but taking students who are struggling and having them meet the standard is no easy feat.
Kitchener Public Schools score lower than Waterloo schools and the schools in the Catholic Board overall, but we also have very different demographics. Kitchener public schools have more lower income families and lower education rates among the parents than Waterloo and more ESL learners than the Catholic Board, all of which will impact test scores for students. The improved test scores as students move through the system is evidence that the system is working. Is there room for improvement? Can we do even better? Of course, but I don't think there is a need for hand wringing and finger pointing over our test scores.
I'm looking forward to taking part in the Food Bank of Waterloo's The Great Food Sort Challenge - Municipal Candidates Edition on October 16th. You can take part in the event too between October 21 and 23. Check out their website for more details and for a list of their most needed items.
The Kitchener Post recently profiled the candidates, including me so you can read more about me here.