Mischa Oak: We need a teacher on the Vancouver school board to make our schools better

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      Even if you don’t have kids, voting for school trustee is your chance to help improve public education in Vancouver.

      I’ve been a Vancouver teacher since 2008. I’ve taught thousands of students in the city, in almost every school, and I’m running to be a school trustee because we need a classroom teacher with recent, broad-based experience on our school board to bring that kind of practical perspective to every decision.

      Since 2002, schools have been struggling with budget cuts. By now, you’ve heard about class size and composition issues that leave many kids who are struggling to learn English or with special needs without the support they need. What you may not have heard, is that many elementary school libraries are only open one day a week; that many students wait years for psycho-educational assessment in elementary school and then end up moving to high school, never getting the special needs support they deserve; and that many school music lessons are provided by listening to songs over the school PA system.

      We can do better. We must do better.

      The good news is that I, and my fellow Green school board candidate Janet Fraser, have doable, workable and practical ideas to bring to the table. First, we will work hard to bring financial sustainability back to our schools, to protect programs for our most vulnerable students and to move closer to providing all students with the skills they need for the future.

      Vancouver schools need our fair share of provincial funding. We Greens propose working with the B.C. School Trustees Association to seek stable building maintenance funding that isn’t tied to student enrolment. Also, we want to move our board to be more vocal in pressuring the provincial government to build our desperately needed downtown schools and speed up the seismic upgrading of our 49 high-risk schools. If the province has money for dams and subsidizing LNG, then it should have money to make our schools earthquake safe.

      Trustees can also work to make sure our public schools receive more of the existing carbon offset grants to become energy efficient, instead of losing $300,000 from our school budgets every year to pollution tax. Vancouver schools don’t get their fair share of the provincial tax dollars our city pays.

      We can also take local steps to increase revenue and community use of schools. We want to see an online facilities rental system and a plan to repurpose empty schoolrooms for community childcare. We want to see school parking lots used as pay parking lots during summer and non-school hours. Increasing revenue and making better use of what we have will improve efficiencies and revenues.

      It’s not all about money though. We have to make our schools healthier places. We will focus on removing toxins in our schools and making lunch and breakfast programs affordable and nutritious, all over the city. We’re also going to work on bringing a cultural shift to our schools, so that students feel welcome and proud at school. Children living in poverty, new Canadians and English language learners, students with special needs, First Nations students, and LGBTQ students and families need more effective program implementation at schools.

      If anything good has come from this summer’s teachers’ strike, it’s the increased interest in public education. We need our trustees to ignite this community passion. We need our school trustees to be innovative champions of public education in the community, increasing public awareness and advocating for our needs.

      If we want to have a strong Vancouver tomorrow, we need strong schools today. Please use one of your nine school trustee votes for me, Mischa Oak, and another for my colleague Janet Fraser.

      Vote for all seven Green Party candidates for city council, park board, and school board on November 15 and help make Vancouver better, together.

      Mischa Oak is a school board candidate with the Green Party of Vancouver. Born and raised in Vancouver, Oak is an on-call teacher with the Vancouver school board who has a strong background in community activism. Prior to embarking on a career in education, he obtained a degree in commerce from Queen’s University and worked in the business sector.

      Comments

      8 Comments

      Ashley Holt

      Oct 10, 2014 at 12:42pm

      I support Mischa 100% not only as a person who has known him personally since my childhood, but as a parent with a child in the public school system who is struggling. Exactly as he says, it has taken years for my son to even be considered from a psych-ed assessment, although he has not been meeting grade level expectations for the past 4 years. It would be nice to feel like I am not the only advocate for my child, and children like my son. I also have a 3 year old with autism so I would love to protect his future in our school system now, but putting the right people in place to get the job done.

      Matty Bean

      Oct 10, 2014 at 1:13pm

      We need Green voices on School Board, Parks Board and City Council! Great ideas, great plans and great community advocates with experience... you have my votes.

      BillG

      Oct 10, 2014 at 1:41pm

      I'm voting for the entire Green slate across the board. Great candidates and really thorough and well thought out platform. We need more Greens in govt

      Sonja

      Oct 10, 2014 at 3:33pm

      I really like the idea of a working teacher on our school board

      Sonja

      Oct 10, 2014 at 3:34pm

      you have my vote Mr. Oak

      Philip clement

      Oct 11, 2014 at 12:15am

      it's obvious the transparency of the Green's agenda is superior to the other two parties. Each party has something to offer, in the least a single candidate out of their entire slate who truly shines. The Greens have a perspective, an outlook that is both pragmatic and visionary, and authentically includes everybody. when the Greens talk it's not lip service it's the real deal. Commit to getting out and voting Green, be on the right side of history! Congratulations Mr. Oak for your stand and your work for the good of all.

      GZLFB

      Oct 11, 2014 at 1:51am

      Forget sucking up to LGBQWERTY..... One question, drugging problem kids, for against? What about Ritalin in Schools?

      Jean-Michel Oblette

      Oct 11, 2014 at 4:21pm

      As a Vancouver teacher, I believe having a current teacher for trustee is an urgent necessity. I believe Mischa is a caring, committed candidate that would do our school board and district a lot of good. We need some real insider perspective.