Editor:
The Surrey Civic Coalition is saddened that school trustees Terry Allen and Laurie Larsen have left our party. Allen was a founding member of SCC and we worked together to elect him three times. We nominated and campaigned for Larsen twice, and the second time we were successful in getting her elected.
The truth behind their defections is Allen and Larsen were not happy with various aspects of the SCC’s nomination process. Specifically, they were adamant that SCC not nominate any additional trustee candidates to join the then-three SCC trustees.
SCC is a democratically run party where the majority makes decisions. Allen and Larsen are both presidents of union locals so they understand democracy as well as anyone. Their views on SCC’s nomination process differed from the majority of the SCC executive.
We were aware that not resolving this internal stalemate could lead to the loss of Allen and Larsen and we made every effort to reach a compromise. We considered that if consensus was not reached, they could run as independent candidates, maintaining the values that got them elected. What we didn’t expect was they would instead choose to join with the very trustees they campaigned against just over two years ago because they believed – as we still do – that Surrey students deserved better.
We are very pleased that trustee Ijaz Chatha chose to be loyal to his values and remain with the SCC. And it is noteworthy that, to the best of my knowledge, not a single other member has quit the SCC over the departure of the two trustees.
Surrey currently has more than 350 portables, with forecasts that this number will increase to more than 600 in the next five years. At the same time, Surrey hasn’t received any new capital construction for new schools since 2005, while the city continues to grow at an unprecedented pace.
While Surrey’s Board of Education has done its best to absorb the cuts handed them by the provincial government and tried to mitigate the effects to students year after year after year, they simply have not done enough to advocate for more funding from the provincial government.
Nor has the board accomplished much in convincing the provincial government to fix the Community LINK and special-needs funding formulas that have left our students far behind compared with other districts across the province. Class sizes have grown uncontrollably for years now, to the detriment of our students’ learning environment.
If Allen and Larsen say they have joined forces with other incumbent trustees to get more accomplished for Surrey students by accepting the status quo, then, no, the SCC does not view that as an accomplishment.
So, while we will miss working with Allen and Larsen, SCC will regroup and move forward in preparation for the November 2011 election. We will endorse school trustee candidates who are willing to actively lobby Victoria for adequate funding, for reduced class sizes and for new school construction.
Stephanie Ryan, Surrey Civic Coalition president