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Victoria School District #61 Board Of Education Elections


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#21 Mystic-Pizza

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Posted 20 October 2018 - 05:07 AM

Voting day is here!

 

A Final shout out folks to please do your best to vote for NEW school board trustees when you go down to your polling station today.....even if you have no idea who they are. 

 

It is so important, because these are the folks that decide your children's and grandchildren's public education.



#22 RFS

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Posted 20 October 2018 - 07:14 AM

I went with Zul Rajabali as he was the only one who said he would be open to listening to parents regarding teaching grade 5’s about gender fluidity and other fresh hells

#23 Mystic-Pizza

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Posted 20 October 2018 - 09:15 PM

I wish C-Fax would give the result of the School Board Trustee elections.



#24 Bernard

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Posted 20 October 2018 - 10:50 PM

I wish C-Fax would give the result of the School Board Trustee elections.

Do not hold you breath.....   



#25 Midnightly

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Posted 21 October 2018 - 12:09 AM

according to Vic news

 

11:55 p.m.

Ann Whiteaker, Diane McNally, Elaine Leonard, Nicole Duncan, Jordan Watters, Rob Paynter, Tom Ferris, Ryan Painter and Angie Hentze were elected to the School Board.

 

https://www.vicnews....oaXxvvg8JFhV8fA


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#26 Mystic-Pizza

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Posted 21 October 2018 - 05:38 AM

 

according to Vic news

 

11:55 p.m.

Ann Whiteaker, Diane McNally, Elaine Leonard, Nicole Duncan, Jordan Watters, Rob Paynter, Tom Ferris, Ryan Painter and Angie Hentze were elected to the School Board.

 

https://www.vicnews....oaXxvvg8JFhV8fA

 

Bummer, that means only ONE good pro-union candidate was elected. The Rest = No Good  Oh Well



#27 Bernard

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Posted 21 October 2018 - 08:04 AM

School boards have control over much so who is on or not is largely irrelevant. The Greater Victoria school district has long been the domain of various left of Centre factions that disagree with each other.

The only interesting thing was the election of Ryan Painter because he wants to make mental health à serious issue, à thing that current school district refuses to address on any level
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#28 Rob Randall

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Posted 21 May 2021 - 09:28 PM

This is a complicated one with a lot of moving parts. CHEK and Black have attempted to summarize a portion of it:

 

A member of the Greater Victoria School District’s (SD61) Indigenous Ad Hoc Committee has resigned from his role in an open letter to the district, citing “a pattern of systemic racism” and “deeply entrenched paternalistic attitudes.”

Carey Newman says recent actions by the district during its budget talks – namely, limiting Indigenous representation during a meeting, and using discriminatory language within its survey and presentation slides – were the final straws, but that the problems started earlier.

 

 

https://www.vicnews....lls-for-change/

 

One incident Newman remembers happened March 1, where Education Policy Committee Chair Ryan Painter cited a bylaw to remove Esquimalt and Songhees Nation representatives.

“Our bylaws are pretty specific around representation at the table,” said Painter in a publically available zoom meeting. “We stick by those pretty strongly and those are typically a member from each nation may be represented at the table.”

The last straw for Newman came in a meeting over SD61’s budget.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...-change-798401/

 

Indigenous reps have some legitimate beefs--it looked like they were being made the scapegoat in a music vs. Indigenous education budget bunfight. 

 

Here's the video of the March 1 meeting in question. Ffwd to 11:05. 

 

https://youtu.be/2buyaGbsu2A?t=665

 

This is a sticky situation because normally a school board meeting is open for public viewing. But in this era of Zoom the line between board and audience is blurred and when several people pop up unannounced Chair Painter cites Robert's Rules and tries to claim it's an invitation-only meeting. The meeting starts to fall apart and Painter can't get control and it's abandoned before they can even approve an agenda. 



#29 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 01:59 AM

i'm not sure about the meeting.  seems that the zoom format did not give a clear delineation of who was at the meetings behind desks as it were and who was at the meeting as an audience member.

 

but on the other matter we set up special provisions for indigenous learning then when someone questions the effectiveness or the take-up rate or indeed success for indigenous persons in certain programs it's called into question and considered racist.  we can't have strong programming for indigenous learning if we can not examine their effectiveness or participation or student success.  those questions need to be asked.  they can't be off limits or perceived to be off limits for the fear of someone being labelled racist.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 May 2021 - 02:01 AM.


#30 Rob Randall

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 06:22 AM

An American survey said about 15 percent of kids living in poverty participated in a band; participation rose to 19 percent for higher-income kids. That article also says that while US minority students have a decent participation rate, the orchestra/marching band music doesn't necessarily resonate with them; some schools with sizable Latino populations have had great success introducing a Mariachi program which actually sounds like a lot of fun. 

 

So we see Americans looking for ways to ensure low-income and minority kids are encouraged to explore music education. We should be doing the same but we must avoid the mistake SD 61 did which was to allow the perception that a tight budget meant a choice between music or Indigenous education.


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#31 Rob Randall

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 06:54 AM

Pedagogy aside, if you're a business person or anyone in a leadership capacity, watch that video for a five minute lesson in crisis management. Painter quickly falls into a trap causes by vague guidelines on public participation over Zoom. 

 

Painter indeed tries to follow the letter of the law by quoting Robert's Rules but when it's pointed out he quoted the wrong paragraph the foundation of his authority wavers and the group starts turning on him.

 

Painter could have salvaged the situation, perhaps by quickly introducing a motion allowing the presence but not the participation of the Indigenous guests. Indigenous relations are heavy on ritual, respect and protocol and if you barge forward insensitively you will pay. 

 

Zoom meetings are difficult for this reason and people aren't handling it well. Public meetings are now held electronically with a secret password. If that password is leaked the meeting could be hijacked by anyone. But how do you ensure public participation and transparency?



#32 Mike K.

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 07:24 AM

You use whatever system Victoria council uses, I guess.

Zoom is so passé now because of its shortcomings and vulnerabilities. It’s the last choice among professionals holding important meetings now based my experiences, despite the common term for a video call now being a “zoom,” like “skype” was ten years ago.

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#33 Redd42

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 08:24 AM


Zoom is so passé now because of its shortcomings and vulnerabilities.

 

 

So what is the current choice?



#34 Mike K.

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 08:28 AM

Microsoft Team and the tools municipalities use. Yes it will cost some money to do right, but you avoid the sort of situations Painter found himself in.

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#35 Rob Randall

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 08:33 AM

It wasn't the fault of the software in any way. Unless you are saying other platforms would have a more graceful way of integrating non-participating public viewers with the elected board. Because on Zoom everyone's all jumbled together and I don't know if Google Meet or any other platform does that better. 

 

I see that a month after that disastrous meeting the trustees allowed public participation by pre-registration. The public had also been allowed to submit questions by email. 


Edited by Rob Randall, 22 May 2021 - 08:59 AM.


#36 phx

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Posted 22 May 2021 - 03:21 PM

 Indigenous relations are heavy on ritual, respect and protocol 

 

 

 

Yeah, the extra people at the meeting were no mistake.



#37 lanforod

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Posted 23 May 2021 - 06:14 PM

You just use Zoom Webinar, rather than Zoom Meeting, and have meeting moderators. Simple, solved. MS Teams would be worse for this.



#38 Mike K.

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Posted 24 May 2021 - 06:16 AM

It might not be so simple if a school board hasn’t figured that out.

What I think is clear is the video conferencing thing is starting to wear on people and important meetings should really have a producer overseeing the feeds and maintaining quality control. Easier said than done, but the SD61 meeting makes the case for this.

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#39 Rob Randall

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Posted 24 May 2021 - 06:41 AM

There seemed to have been a way for the public to provide input by email--I think the meetings were livestreamed. 

 

But McNally set a trap that Painter couldn't avoid. She shared the password allowing several other Indigenous people concerned about the budget cut scapegoating a seat at the virtual table alongside the elected trustees. Painter was instantly found himself backed into a corner and had to choose between chucking the bylaws out the window or suffering the brutal optics of being the white guy that evicts Indigenous representatives from a vital meeting concerning their community. 

 

Technology can facilitate this type of incident but it can also happen in "real life" board meetings.

 

You just use Zoom Webinar, rather than Zoom Meeting, and have meeting moderators.

 

 

That wouldn't have changed anything. McNally still would have provided password access and Painter, as Board Chair and meeting moderator would have had to decide whether to boot them or violate the bylaw and allow participation.



#40 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 24 May 2021 - 06:45 AM

a proper moderator/producer would not have let all those people into the meeting to begin with - even if they had the "password".  that's what they did wrong.

 

the meeting chair is in there and saying "who are all these extra people (already in the meeting)?"


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 May 2021 - 06:46 AM.


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