Tax money, technology, skills & abilities

These are some more recent questions I have received from voters.

What do you place as a high priority for tax payer’s money in the school system?

I have done a lot of research, attended the last School Board meeting, visited all of the schools that I will be representing when elected as Trustee, and asked a lot of questions to many people. At this point, my highest priority is to ensure that the tax payer’s money is not being wasted and is allowing our school division to operate the best that it can.

I can tell you right now, the day after the election, I will fully engage myself to understand everything there is to know about the Regina Public School Division. I am not a person that will make empty promises. I know how important it is to know and understand the bigger picture before making decisions. When I am on the board, I will be there to work with the other six intelligent, hard-working trustees that share the same desire that I do; to have the best school division possible for all of our students.

What do you think about all the use of technology being used to administer school curriculum?

This is a topic that I am very torn between. Of course technology is the way of the future and I fully support the use of technology. It worries me however that technology is used too often. I want my children to read a book – not an e-book or a book on a tablet. I try hard to limit my children’s screen-time on a daily basis and get them reading, solving puzzles, building, creating, doing math, etc. not using technology.

I understand that technology is being used more and more in the classrooms. I know there are a lot of apps created to help children learn math, reading, spelling, etc, and I believe that is a great tool but I also want to see these learned skills transferred and applied to everyday activities.

Another major concern I have is that we are technology-based, but we aren’t teaching the students the essentials, like typing skills! When I was in school, I remember having a computer lab that we went to a few times a week and we learned how to type properly, accurately and did so while trying to increase our speed. This is an essential skill that all students should know if we are going to be turning more and more to the use of technology to complete assignments and projects as well as an absolute requirement in the real-world when these students are applying for jobs.

What skills and abilities do you have to get the job done as a trustee for the Regina School Board? Why should I vote for you?

I believe you should educate yourself on all of the candidates before making a decision on who you vote for. Of course I would greatly appreciate a vote for me on October 26th, but I don’t just want you to give it to me. I want to earn it.

I have shown in the past that I can get things done, and get them done quickly! In 2009 and 2011, I lead two teams of hundreds of volunteers and sponsors to help rebuild two houses for two families who needed wheelchair accessibility in their homes. Regina Extreme Home Makeover (Rebuilding Dreams) was a non-profit organization I created that stemmed from an idea I wrote on a napkin one day. Less than two months later, it became a reality. Both houses were taken down to the basic exterior (and we did an addition on one) and completely rebuilt in 6 weeks! In order to complete such a task, we found generous sponsors for everything that went into rebuilding those houses. To top that, we found amazing volunteers that assisted to get the work done and done on time. The community involvement and spirit that was experienced throughout both of these builds was so incredible. Not only did we have the hands-on volunteers doing the hard work, we had the most amazing, generous volunteers that supported the other volunteers by making meals to feed them every day! There was no shortage of people giving back to our community.

Since then, I have moved on in my career and have worked extremely hard to enhance my professional training. I have recently obtained my Certified Professional Accounting (CPA, CMA) designation and Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. I have engulfed myself in as many leadership training sessions that I could have over the past few years and have enhanced my ability to lead people as a group to achieve common goals in a positive manner. I have worked extremely hard to improve my communication abilities by joining Toast Masters and fast-tracked it through the first couple levels. In doing so, I experienced the benefit of what Toast Masters offers and was solely responsible for starting 4 new Toast Masters groups in Saskatchewan.

When I see an opportunity for improvement, I act on it. If you elect me, I can promise you it won’t be a wasted vote. You will be voting for a person who is active, engaged, and interested in making a difference in the school division. As I have said, we all benefit from an educated society.

#taxes #skillsandabilities #technology #schoolcurriculum