“I think it shows that the public has an appetite to have more influence and more say in what’s going on in our public schools,” said organizer Nick Day.
Article content
Hopefuls running to be a Regina Public Schools board trustee faced a grilling on Friday night, at the first-ever candidates’ forum held by local teachers ahead of this fall’s municipal election.
The Regina Public Teachers’ Association (RTPA) hosted and moderated the event, which was organized after seeing how fired-up the public has been on education-related issues over the past year, executive member Nick Day said.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Questions were prepared by organizers, then followed by an open mic portion with attendees. Nearly all focused on the two biggest topics from 2023: the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ politics targeting Saskatchewan schools, and then the messy, very public round of collective bargaining between the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and government.
It was a full-house at the Artesian on Friday night, and the crowd did not hold back their opinions on candidates’ answers over the course of the evening.
“I think it shows that the public has an appetite to have more influence and more say in what’s going on in our public schools (and) I hope it’s the start of more democratic engagement,” said Day after the event was over.
Ten of the 20 candidates running in Regina Public’s seven subdivisions participated. Day said he “wouldn’t speculate” on why other candidates weren’t present, but felt those who did attend sent a message.
“I see it as a strong signal of a willingness to collaborate (with teachers),” Day said.
Five of the night’s participants were returning trustees: Adam Hicks (Sub. 3), Sarah Cummings Truzkowski (Sub. 5), Ted Jaleta (Sub. 1), Lacey Weekes (Sub. 7) and Tracey McMurchy (Sub. 2).
Headline News
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
New faces seeking election who took the stage were Jason Agar (Sub. 2), Kale MacLellan (Sub. 2), Doug Armbruster (Sub. 6), Tolu Folarin (Sub. 4) and Brandon Shea-Mutala (Sub. 6).
Recommended from Editorial
McMurchy was the first to address one of this election cycle’s two major intrigues: a group called the Regina Civic Awareness Action Network (RCAAN) that has endorsed candidates who cite “parental rights” as a priority.
The parents’ rights movement has been critiqued by experts and advocates as an anti-LGBTQ+ political ideology that undermines youth’s human rights to freedom from discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual identity.
“We know what RCAAN is trying to do. RCAAN isn’t fooling anyone with language like ‘back to basics,’” McMurchy said in her introduction.
A later question from RPTA asked whether each candidate on stage supported Bill 137, the Parental Rights’ Bill passed by the province in 2023 requiring parental permission for students to use gendered pronouns in school.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Nine outright condemned the policy. Agar, a teacher with Regina Catholic, said it was a “distraction meant to divide” and Hicks called it “a big political stunt” in order to “secure rural votes,” to cheers from the room.
“It is a disgrace that the government has forced us to talk about this as an election issue,” Hicks said.
“When the most powerful men in the province are targeting the most vulnerable children, it is wrong,” Cummings Truszkowski said.
Armbruster, the only RCAAN-endorsed candidate at the forum (though he says he is not affiliated with the group), said he supports “people over politics” and how boards kept kids safe after the bill’s passing, speaking as a past trustee with Horizon School Division.
“Whether I agree with Bill 137 or how it came into existence is irrelevant. What is more important is how, as a member of a board of education, we moved through it,” he said, drawing heckles from some members of the audience.
The crowd also got loud during several questions on the recent round of collective bargaining, which saw the most days of job action from teachers in provincial history.
Advertisement 5
Article content
All ten spoke against the way bargaining unfolded last year — during which time the government chose to “vilify” teachers, according to Shae-Mutala — and expressed disappointment in the Saskatchewan School Boards’ Association’s actions during that time.
“To me, SSBA is not an advocacy group. They are the political wing for the current government,” Jaleta said.
“They undermined the collective bargaining power that teachers hold, (and) that is not something that I think was acceptable,” MacLellan said.
On the topic of education underfunding, eight promised to continue lobbying for increased per-student dollars. Shea-Mutala said part of that means being “innovative” in budgets, while Armbruster said he sees finding “efficiencies” without raising taxes as the solution.
The forum closed after two hours, though candidates did linger to speak with attendees late into the night.
Day said it was encouraging to see the passion in the room. He said RPTS plans to make this a regular event and to engage with the public more, to foster interest to get involved in school board elections.
Advertisement 6
Article content
He pointed out that in Saskatchewan, an average of 60 per cent of school board trustees are elected by acclamation — meaning no one ran against them — and voter turnout is typically around just 20 per cent.
“We are going to build on that interest and motivation to keep making (elections) more democratic, more responsive to teachers’ needs, and more responsible to students,” he said.
The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.
Article content
