Green trustee Janet Fraser holds swing vote on Vancouver school board

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Janet Fraser ran for school trustee in the municipal election with a goal in mind. According to the successful Green candidate, she wants students to have the best education available.

      What the U.K.-trained scientist and Marpole-based mother of three didn’t expect was to be holding the balance of power on the school board.

      With Vision Vancouver and the Non-Partisan Association getting four seats each out of the nine up for grabs, Fraser will wield the deciding vote.

      “I don’t think it’s a question of aligning with one group or another,” Fraser told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I think it’s a question of looking at the issues as they come before the board.”

      The district anticipates a budget shortfall of more than $27 million in school year 2015–16. Difficult choices will be made to comply with the provincial requirement that school boards balance their budgets.

      Because of the district’s financial situation, Fraser wants a review of the board’s policy on advertisements and donations, which was adopted in 1978 and last updated in 2005.

      “What I’d like to do is revisit that policy, with input from all stakeholders,” she said.

      Last spring, the Vision-controlled school board rejected a deal that would have seen Chevron give the district up to $475,000 from the oil company’s gasoline sales. The issue cropped up again during the November election campaign, with losing NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe saying Vancouver should have accepted the money.

      The current policy states that the school board will “avoid” entering into partnerships with companies that “negatively represent or portray public education”. The prohibition covers businesses related to tobacco, alcohol, or weapons, and “products or services that are incompatible with a child’s well-being or have a negative effect on the learning experience”. It also includes those that have been involved in a criminal offence, professional misconduct, or exploitative labour practices.

      Fraser was asked what she thinks about donations from the resource sector, which includes oil-and-gas interests.

      “I’m reluctant to come out absolutely against anything at the moment,” Fraser responded. “I’d like to get a sense of what the feeling of all the stakeholders is. Being a member of the Green party, that does cause me concern. But I wouldn’t like to come up for a blanket ban right at the beginning before there has been any consultation.”

      Incumbent NPA school trustee Fraser Ballantyne noted that although Vision and the NPA agree on the need for sustainable funding from the province, the wedge issue is about “alternative funding arrangements”.

      “We’re not going to sit around and wait for that money [from the province] and continue to bark at the government across the water,” Ballantyne told the Straight in a phone interview about his party’s position. “We’re going to go out and we would like to be able to add more value to our schools through grants and through partnerships and various other ways we can generate funds.”

      Current Vision school board chair Patti Bacchus said that she has offered to meet with Fraser. Bacchus also noted that Vision doesn’t mind being in the minority on the incoming board.

      “If the Green party has a different agenda and decides to align with the NPA or not align with anyone, then there’s a lot of value for us to not be in the chair role,” Bacchus told the Straight by phone. “I have a very strong mandate from my supporters and voters to focus on advocacy. That is my priority, and I don’t want to ever put myself in a position of compromising that.”

      The new board will hold its first meeting on December 8 to choose a new chair. “I’m starting to think about that,” Fraser said, “and there are a lot of factors to go into that decision.”

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Max

      Nov 19, 2014 at 3:12pm

      A pragmatic Green Party trustee that can support corporate donations - as long as the donation is from a legitimate and legal business or individual - is exactly what the Vancouver School Board needs. The Vision Party have their heads stuck in the sand on this issue, as well as a very poor relationship with the provincial government that will do nothing to serve their advocacy goals for greater funding. A more conciliatory approach from the board is needed.

      miranda da costa diaz

      Nov 20, 2014 at 9:00am

      The first and most glaring reality revealed in this interview is that, no matter how well-meaning and dedicated to "waiting and seeing as issues come up" - as is Dr. Fraser - the issues facing Vancouver's school trustees in particular are difficult and numerous. Some sort of coherent party program, a few basic principles and a new, green idea or two wouldn't go amiss in that regard. What, exactly, do the Greens think about education and what policies have they worked out? What about the fraught issue of so-called "choice schools"? As far as I can tell, Dr. Fraser does not indicate that she has any big ideas at all. At least, not yet. As for the Fuel Your School Chevron bucks, she ought to know that the VSB's detailed and well-researched policy on corporate donations and advertising was, indeed, constructed with and is monitored by ongoing contributions from "stakeholders." Instead of opting for the easy route of another look at it, she might prove herself truly worthy by making an unequivocal commitment to the basic principle that public schools must be well and publicly funded social institutions, not a charity cases or captives of corporate interests. It ought to be disturbing to anyone who knows the Chevron modus that it requires a public "Thank You." You know, little kids holding hand made signs, yelling "Thanks" in unison and bowing to their generous benefactors. How demeaning and feudal is that? In any case, I'm not surprised at the NPA's take on this particular issue. Their trustees have proved, for years, that they would rather do anything than stand up to Victoria and lobby for enough sustainable, reliable funding so the VSB can run our schools as they should be run. What the schools in this province need is a long term dollars and cents assurance from the current government that it will fund schools properly. Not a stand back and ruminate approach. And while we're at it, how about this, Greens and NPA; make a strong case for a step by step (I'm being "pragmatic" here) clawback of the millions of tax dollars we spend helping out BC's private schools I'll be waiting with raised eyebrows, but not baited breath. And maybe, in the meantime, I can go to the next St. George's Rummage Sale, buy a cheap ticket and win a new BMW.

      Alison

      Nov 20, 2014 at 1:59pm

      Miranda

      Private schools provide a service for the public school system, without which the public system would collapse. By reducing the level of comparative government education expenditure on kids that attend private schools, the government has greater resources to invest in the public system.

      Let's not also forget that parents that send their kids to private schools are paying private tuition as well as tax dollars to support their own kids. Those same parents are also subsidizing kids in the public system. Your views are politically marginal and on the fringe of the mainstream.

      Clifford Roy

      Nov 24, 2014 at 6:41am

      Glad to see Janet Fraser in as a Vancouver trustee. Now I can only hope she keeps her promise to me to "look into" the misuse of Sec.177 on me earlier this year & amend this law that has no viable appeals process for parents who get unfairly alienated from their own children.