School trustees association encouraging more diversity on boards
The BC School Trustees Association will be rolling out a video campaign to encourage individuals from underrepresented groups to run in the next local election.
Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools Trustee Tania Brzovic reported at the board of education’s April 27 meeting that the BCSTA’s elections committee has been focusing on four goals, including increasing the number of candidates from the Indigenous, LGBTQ, disabled and multicultural communities.
Brzovic, who was born with Spina Bifida, said individual boards have a role to play as well as the October 15 election nears, to encourage individuals to run “and let them know we welcome diversity on our board… to start talking about what can we do to make the idea of running for school board more welcoming to people who might feel there isn’t a place for them… and what are the barriers that might keep people from these underrepresented groups from choosing to run. ”
In March, BCSTA published an election guide for those interested in running from school trustee, which is available at www.bcsta.org.
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