Next to the students themselves, teachers working for the Hanover School Division are likely the ones most impacted by the decisions of the trustees on the divisional board. So, in time for a trustee election on October 28, the Hanover Teacher's Association (HTA) asked all 18 candidates some candid questions in order to help guide both the teachers and the voting public on election day. It was posed in the form of a formal long-answer questionnaire which is available, along with the responses, on the HTA website. At the time of this writing, the questionnaire had already garnered nearly 3500 views. "As president, I wanted to make sure that we were able to give our own members an overview because our own members are voting members of their communities as well," says HTA president, Kevin Martens. "So, this was something that was an effort of myself and my executive. We brought it to our council as well, which is our representatives from every school. We kind of bounced ideas off them and then we put our questionnaire to the candidates." A critical year to get out and vote Perhaps what makes this year a critical year to vote is the fact that there are exactly twice as many candidates in the running for an HSD trustee position than there are available seats. With such a broad base of options, Martens and his educational colleagues believe that it provides a unique opportunity for voters to help create the best possible board of trustees for the coming term. The questionnaire and the responses View the entire questionnaire here along with responses from the trustee candidates. HANOVER TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION - Hanover Teachers' Association Home Two candidates decline response Out of the 18 candidates running in this election, two declined to respond to the questionnaire, including Josh Loewen from Ward 3 (Steinbach) and Jeff Friesen from Ward 1 (Niverville, New Bothwell, Kleefeld and Crystal Springs Hutterite Colony). "When you're running for a position of governance, and your teacher staff is your largest employee group, we would hope that they would all respond to questions that we felt were quite fair and quite broad," says Martens. "It does open the door, really, to asking why? Why wouldn't you [respond]? What is it from these questions that has you thinking this would not help you? I find it hard to come up with a defensible answer." Support for the public school system in their personal life The first three questions put to the candidates inquire into their familial situation, asking whether the candidates have or have had children in the public school system. "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," Martens says. "Our concern is when they choose forms of education that aren’t the public school [and yet] want to be involved in governing public schools." Agendas verses obligations Martens cautions against electing trustees with an agenda that doesn't align with a school board's obligations under the Public Schools Act. In the end, he says, a trustee's decisions should be framed within the question of whether it will make school culture a better place for everyone. "Are they going to make it better for the students? Are they going to make it better for the staff that work in those schools? Is it going to be a healthy environment? Is everybody going to be able to feel good, well, and safe coming into the school each day?" Protecting the culture of the region If the people within Hanover School Division are anything, they are diverse. Steady growth and immigration has effectively transformed the division's once small Mennonite hamlets into mosaics of cultural and socioeconomic diversity, as well as a diversity of faiths. How then do you defend one culture that is worth preserving? "The culture that is built within the school is that it's a safe place, and that it's a vibrant place and a fun place for students to come and learn," says Martens. "The cultures that [individual] communities have, they can continue to foster and to build on that within their communities, within their homes. But, in the end, when children of many diverse backgrounds come to a public school, they are receiving the Manitoba curriculum, and it doesn't matter which community you're in. That is the one constant." Refocusing on what's important It's easy for the public, at times, to get stuck on the idea that a candidate's personal belief systems or biases are important to the job. One goal of the questionnaire, though, is to bring the conversation back to the only thing that Martens says really matters: the education of our kids. "We're just looking for kids to all be brought to an equal standing," says Martens. "We're looking for how [trustees] see themselves as far as good governance goes. We're wondering about what kind of skills they bring to the table that would be helpful." As for incumbents, there's an expectation that some personal growth took place over their past term. The questionnaire provides opportunity for them to reflect on the professional development initiatives they participated in to help improve their effectiveness on the board. "We felt that some of the incumbents should have a few questions that really raise the bar a little bit higher. [They are] more accountable since they've already had the position for four years." Trusting administration to do their job The role of the trustee board is to govern by creating policy and to be the liaison between the Division and the communities they serve. They are also there to hire and support those taking care of the general operations of the division, for example, the superintendent. Generally speaking, it's the people in operations who are the ones bringing years of teaching experience to the table, whereas the trustees often do not. So, there's an imperative here, Martens says, for a trustee board to give the operations team the freedom and support needed to do their job. Working cooperatively as a team Teamwork is another vital component in realizing an effective board of trustees. For this reason, voters should ask themselves not just who's got the qualifications to sit on the board, but who's willing to make compromises to work together as a team. "I think the things that would really create a positive atmosphere in a trustee board is people who will listen with an open mind. They're coming in with an attitude of, 'Okay, this is what I'm thinking right now, but convince me. What is it that I haven't thought of before?' There would be that kind of open discourse; this willingness to have dialogue." Education is knowledge, especially during an election "Part of what we want to hopefully accomplish is to have people vote with a knowledge of who they are voting for and why. That's truly what education is, right? Education is knowledge. Education is making good choices based on the information that you have." Ultimately, an effective trustee body paves the way for healthy students, healthy teachers, and healthy administrators, Martens concludes. It's just that simple.