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Heather Grieve

Candidate for School Trustee 73 - TEA1

I understand that classroom support is a major priority for parents and staff. At the same time, declining enrolment and increasing costs are creating financial constraints for the District, so these decisions are not simple.

When there are financial constraints, we have to look carefully at where resources are going and the impact those decisions have on students and staff. Teachers, educational assistants, counsellors, learning-support staff, librarians and other frontline employees all play important roles in supporting students, and I think the increasing complexity in our classrooms needs to be part of how we look at those decisions.

As a trustee, my role is not to determine staffing in individual schools. It is to ask questions, understand the pressures being experienced in schools, look at the data and consider the impact of different budget priorities. I also think it is important to listen to staff and families who are experiencing these pressures directly.

There will always be competing priorities when resources are limited. We need to understand what is required, what is working, where there are gaps and where resources can have the greatest impact on students and the people supporting them.

I also think we need to look at the provincial funding that is available and continue to advocate where the resources being provided do not reflect the realities districts are experiencing. At the Board level, those considerations need to be part of responsible budget decisions and setting priorities.

I think the question is how we make responsible decisions with the resources we have while recognizing that supporting students also means supporting the staff who are working with them every day.