IN THE MAPLE RIDGE SCHOOL TRUSTEE RACE: Elaine Yamamoto

Elaine Yamamoto

RUNNING AS INDEPENDENT FOR MAPLE RIDGE TRUSTEE

Literary outreach coordinator & community developer, age 59

Resident of Maple Ridge for 23 years

Elaine is honoured to have been elected vice-chair of the board each year of her first term as Trustee.

A 23-year resident of Maple Ridge, Elaine has deep roots in this area where her grandparents were pioneers.

She has a bachelor of arts in international relations (UofT), and years of experience in government and business.

Her passion, however, is community development. Fourteen years ago, Elaine left the commute to Vancouver to focus on community development in Maple Ridge.

As literacy outreach coordinator and coordinator of the Hive Neighbourhood Centre at Eric Langton, she has enjoyed delivering literacy, food skills, and gardening programming that help adults and families build resiliency.

Elaine is the proud mother of three graduated, SD42 French immersion students.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Elaine Yamamoto for Trustee SD42

Website: elaineyamamoto.ca

Phone: 604-721-3738

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Have you held office in past? If so, please specify: Yes. I am a one-term incumbent on the SD42 School Board.

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Questions:

(These answers are presented as the candidates submitted them)

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1. Do you agree with how SOGI material and other sex education is currently taught in the classroom, including LGBTQ2S content and sexual consent?

Yes. The sad reality is that bullying and harassment still exists everywhere including online and in schools.

Our board policy 9410 (safe and caring schools) was adopted in 2013 at the request of students and after lengthy public consultation.

SOGI was created as a provincial resource for the many districts facing this same issue.

Lesson plans teach our youngest children to include all classmates, that hurtful words should be called out, that princesses can be strong without a prince, and happy families include many different configurations of moms, dads, grandparents, and caring adults.

At secondary, youth learn how personal biases can affect the way language is perceived, the difference between sexual and gender identity, the science of genetics, and about discrimination LGBTQ2S people face around the world and in Canada.

Any place, including the classroom, is an ideal place to teach about the need for sexual consent. It can never be emphasized enough.

SOGI is comprised of 24 lesson topics (15 elementary and nine secondary). Like many good resources for teachers, SOGI presents ideas designed to educate young people to be kind, compassionate, critically thinking adults who are better equipped to safely navigate the world beyond the classroom.

2. Are class sizes too big?

No. This matter was settled by a Supreme Court ruling with the province’s teachers in 2016 after 14 years of challenging labour relations. For school boards, the balancing of class size and composition and budgetary constraints is challenging. Because the school systems were not allowed to evolve over time, districts have since been scrambling to find classroom space and teachers to teach the more numerous, smaller classes. When classes do not conform, there are remedies paid, but ideally, we strive to hire enough trained teachers and to have classroom space to accommodate the current conditions. This is something the Board will continue to monitor while advocating for new and expanded schools.

3. Should students with diverse abilities or special needs be taught in regular classrooms?

Yes. Inclusion is a core vision of the School District which is that every individual feel valued, and all learners are supported. That having been said, it is a complicated reality that being in a classroom fulltime is not the best situation for some children or their classmates. The Board’s role is to provide the funding to ensure resources and properly trained adults are available to best support our special needs students until they are able to experience success in their classroom. It is a growing issue for districts across the province. The Board relies upon our skilled educators to recommend needed resources. The Board will continue to advocate for increased funding from the province.

4. Is the provincial government providing enough funding for public schools?

No. For many years the chronic underfunding of public education has created challenges for school boards across the province. Demands on our annual operating grant are increasing at a rate far faster than available funding. Moreover, the chaos of the past two years has shown how public schools are the cornerstone of support for every family in the Province and that the public schools are, therefore, the cornerstone of a healthy economy and society. Our schools teach beyond basic literacy and numeracy. Our schools support the social and emotional development of our students and for some, are a main source of food and security. It must be recognized that our per-student operating grants are also needed for many other areas such as the maintenance of our buildings, portables for a growing student population and transportation to get students to school. All of these costs are rising much faster than our funding and are, therefore, taking more from our core program budget. The current Board has been a strong advocate at the provincial level for bus transportation funding, universal food programs and increased funding for building maintenance.

5. Should students be taught how to administer Naloxone in school?

Yes. Naloxone is one of tools available to assist a person in respiratory distress if the use of drugs are suspected as a factor. Naloxone training, along with the prerequisite CPR training should be an optional training available to our students.

6. Should there be more emphasis on STEM courses in schools?

Yes. We should emphasize all learning options that prepare our students for adulthood in a complicated world. We can thank science and the wealth of our nation for literally helping us to survive the past two years. Our world is also searching for scientific solutions to a looming climate catastrophe. I support the encouragement all students to explore STEM curriculum from an early age. The Board’s role would be in providing professional development opportunities for educators to be able to effectively deliver this curriculum.

7. Do we need a post-secondary institution/campus in Pitt Meadows or Maple Ridge?

Yes. In our most recent “Supporting All Learners Report,’ our five-year graduation rate of “All Students” reached 91.4%. At the request of the Board, it was found that 70% of our students graduated with Honours. SD42 has the fourth largest post-secondary trades program in the province representing 11% of our 2021 graduating class. Despite this, our transition to post-secondary remains lower than the provincial average.

After much lobbying, the province has funded a $250,000 study of post-secondary opportunities for Maple Ridge. We are hopeful that the final report next year will include a solution to the lack of access to post-secondary opportunities in our community.

8. Is bullying a problem in local schools?

Yes. Any level of harassment and bullying in our schools is a problem. Our District emphasizes the need to minimize these troubling behaviors. It can be challenging in a world where mental health is a growing issue and social media can provide easy access to poor role models. Schools and the adults in our schools need to create an environment that model positive inclusivity and appreciation of diversity. The SOGI curriculum teaches these concepts from an early age. Resolutions need to involve the victims, perpetrators and their families.

9. Should there be more emphasis on Indigenous-based history and culture courses?

Yes. As a country, we are only at the beginning of our truth and reconciliation journey. The grim discovery of unmarked children’s graves at government-mandated residential schools was a devasting wake-up call. That so many of us were shocked by the news is a clear indication that indigenous-based history has not been emphasized enough in our curriculum. The way forward to reconciliation includes this knowledge along with an understanding and appreciation of indigenous culture.

10. Should the district have a strategy to reduce the use of portables?

Yes. The Board has emphasized the need for new schools to address our growing student population. Our Strategic Facilities plan completed in March 2022, is an extensive review of current facilities, enrolment projections and includes public input from over 1,000 citizens. This detailed level of this planning helps us to create a strong case for our requests for new-school funding. Recommendations stemming from the review include; the joint purchase of land in the Silver Valley Area; expansion of Eric Langton, Harry Hooge, Blue Mountain elementary schools and expansion of Samuel Robertson Technical. The District has purchased a future school site in North Albion. In 2019, we opened a new elementary school, c’usqunela, in Albion. It has reached its operating capacity within four years. The District deploys costly portables very reluctantly to address needs created by development and population shifts until Ministry funding is granted for a new school.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

How the questions were presented to each candidate

Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows news readers have told us how much they value this important, straight-forward reference guide that helps orient them with the range of choices on the ballots – both at the council and school board levels.

Towards that end, we have attempted to make this package available (along with the following instructions) to each of the candidates in a timely fashion ahead of the Oct. 15 election.

Please read carefully before you start to fill this out.

To help voters in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows make their choices on election day, The News is asking local candidates 10 issue-based questions.

You must provide a ‘yes,’ a ‘no,’ or a ‘don’t know’ (Y, N, D) response to EACH of these questions.

Each question MUST be answered with yes (Y), no (N), or Don’t Know (D). This will be published in a grid in the Oct. 6 edition. Any questions not answered will be LEFT BLANK.

Candidates may also expand on ANY OR ALL of these questions (to a maximum of 200 words each). Please note any responses longer than that will be cut off at the 201-word mark.

Due to space limitations, we can only guarantee to run one of these answers in The News print edition ahead of the election. You must CLEARLY indicate which expanded answer you want to see published in print. If you do not specify, we will choose. Any and all expanded answers provided will be published online at www.mapleridgenews.com.

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