Hanover Teachers’ Association sends out candidate questionnaire, wants people to vote

The Hanover Teachers’ Association sent out a questionnaire to trustee candidates a couple of weeks ago to gauge their views on issues that are important to teachers.

“Our goal in doing this is to try and best educate our own teaching members, who are voting members,…we wanted to give them the opportunity to take a look at how trustees or candidates would be responding, if they were going to be a trustee, to things that were more focused on education, instead of some of the rhetoric that’s out there on social media,” said association president Kevin Martens.

In regards to social media, Martens was asked about current trustee Brad Unger’s questionnaire to candidates asking them about their personal beliefs and values with their responses then posted on Facebook for voters to read. The questions revolved around issues of gender identity and sex, which flags should be raised in the classroom, race, the role of teachers, and how students should be treated.

“I think it’s unfortunate that there would be questionnaires like that that would circulate. It doesn’t speak directly to what their role under (the) Public Schools Act would be in governing a school and the role that they would play in being, really, educational partners,” said Martens.

“It sounds a lot more political in its scope, and that’s why for us to put out a questionnaire that focuses directly on education, we thought it was important for people to look at that.”

The association did a similar questionnaire during the last election four years ago. For this questionnaire, it gave each candidate about two weeks to answer 12 questions. All the candidates for trustee answered the questionnaire except for incumbent Jeff Friesen, who is running for Ward 1, and candidate Josh Loewen, who is running for Ward 3.

“I don’t know if it’s that some of the questions they felt that in answering them that this wouldn’t help their campaign. I don’t know. I think these first few questions that we had about just personal investment in the Hanover School Division and, just, are your children going through the Hanover schools from kindergarten through Grade 12, I think probably would have been something that would have been tough for them to answer,” speculated Martens.

Questions 2 to 4 were used to gauge the candidate’s personal investment in becoming a public school trustee, according to the association. “Every parent has the right, if they have the ability, to decide if their child attends public school, are home-schooled, or attend a private school. Our concern is when those that choose forms of education that aren’t the public school, want to be involved in governing public schools,” read the rationale in the questionnaire sent to media.

Trustee Cheryl Froese (Ward 4) has stated that she has a child in private Christian school. Candidate Mark Peters home schools two children and one attends a Hanover school.

Questions 5 and 6 were asking candidates to give teachers their views on what equality looks like and when students are coming from many different starting points, how can they support initiatives that strive for, not only equality, but also inclusion.

Other questions focused on skills and knowledge, Indigenous teachings, candidate’s understanding of the Public Schools Act, promoting mental health and wellness, and how they would address current challenges in education.

Martens said he was pleasantly surprised that a lot of the new candidates were very clear on the difference between governance and operations.

“We need those trustees to really kind of have that 30,000-foot view in helping us navigate things that are new things that come along. So maybe it would be like what’s the best way for schools to leverage AI? What does responsible technology use look like? Policies around how do all of us conduct ourselves at work to ensure that we have a safe workplace for everybody? So, these are the things that we’re looking for trustees to help us with in those really big umbrella picture governance roles,” he said.

Martens was asked what teachers’ thoughts are in regards to some of the recently passed motions and policies of the current board. He said those actions speak to trust and a lack of trust. He noted Policy AK-Responsible use of school resources as an example of the trustees not trusting teachers to deliver the Manitoba curriculum responsibly.

“When they put forward a policy that says they’re going to expect the principal to police educational materials that (teachers are) finding to help (their) classroom and that if there’s a problem that they deem, that they as a trustee, would say, ‘Well, no, that doesn’t fall under my personal beliefs.’ It becomes a space where there’s a question of, am I trusting you as a teacher to understand your audience, to understand your students, and to use the appropriate materials for them. So, I think that’s the part from these recent policies and motions that have been concerning to us is just kind of an atmosphere of not trusting,” said Martens.

Despite the atmosphere of mistrust that the current board has sowed in the classroom, Martens believes parents still trust their children’s teachers.

“I would say that the trustees putting together some of these recent policies and motions, that that’s the outlier, that that’s coming from them. And it’s something where if you go and survey the parents of the students that are in a teacher’s class, they’re going to say they absolutely trust the teacher of their children,” he said. “And that we’re looking for trustees that recognize that and are looking to say, ‘OK, how can we support everybody in their role?’”

Martens pointed to the Sept. 24 opinion piece in The Carillon by former Winnipeg trustee Laura Reimer, who has written books on governance and school boards, who explained the role of a trustee and the board. Martens is encouraging all voters to read the column and compare those guidelines with the candidates’ answers to the questionnaire.

“That would be a good basis for people to go, ‘OK, I’m educating myself on who these people are without lots of times really knowing them that well. And being able to then cast a vote that is with some knowledge of who these people are and who I think will do a good job in representing our community,’” he said.

What the association would like to see with the new board is a good relationship where everyone can speak openly and where there is trust in working towards the common goal of helping students be successful.

Martens noted the survey’s fifth question regarding treating students equally shows how that is not possible as some students need more support than others. “Those are the kinds of things that we’re interested in knowing that they will help us with,” he said.

The association is excited about this year’s election as it watches democracy play out. It is encouraging people to get out and vote. Martens noted in the last election, three of the nine trustees were acclaimed, whereas now there are multiple candidates running in all four wards.

“We’re really happy with that. But we just hope…first(ly), that they come out and vote, and secondly, that they understand some of the issues that are at hand and just what the role of that person is meant to be under legislation.”

To see the candidates’ answers visit hanoverteachers.com.