Cranbrook School District No. 5 Trustee Chris Johns sums up one of his most important achievements in his first term in just three words.

“No school closures.”

First elected in 2008 Johns came to the school board after retiring from 36 years as a teacher and 11 years as President of the Cranbrook District Teachers Association. His interest in running for elected office was spurred by a number of controversial decisions by the previous Board, notably attempts to close two schools in Cranbrook which he believed were ill-conceived in concept and execution.

“The whole school community rose up to fight those closures, and they were right to do so,” explained Johns. “Cranbrook and Area C had and has a growing school population. In fact, the year after I was elected we were already seeing classroom space shortages in one of the very same schools slated for closure. The numbers didn’t add up –not then, not now.”

According to Johns, he and his newly elected fellow trustees learned some valuable lessons from what he characterizes as “a sad chapter in the otherwise excellent history of SD5”. The first lesson was that any major board decision requires extensive and meaningful input from parents and teachers, both from a principled and from a practical standpoint.

“It’s tempting when you face tough challenges to take shortcuts to get the unpleasant stuff behind you,” said Johns. “But not only does that shortcut the democratic process, it also deprives Trustees of valuable feedback they might not have considered in making their decision. When we undertook consultations in advance of rolling out full day kindergarten, for example, we received information from parents and teachers that helped us make the transition better for our youngest students. I think that kind of meaningful engagement is fundamental to the health for our education system.”

Johns feels that the second lesson was that Trustees must be willing to invest time, beyond monthly board and committee meetings, to dig deeper into the some of the challenges that the board may face.

“We are the elected leaders who provide the vision and direction to our staff,” said Johns. “To do that effectively a Trustee has to be willing to do his or her homework, and that usually means a lot of time working evenings and weekends to really understand the issues.”

By way of example, Johns points to the over four months of public consultations that he and fellow trustee Trina Ayling undertook in laying the groundwork for replacing Mount Baker High School as a Neighbourhood Learning Centre.

“We met one-on-one with over fifty groups in Cranbrook to learn what our community would like to have in a community school,” said Johns. “Yes, it took a heck of a lot of time and effort, but we’re talking about a community facility that will be a fixture in the heart of Cranbrook for the next sixty years.  Shouldn’t we give people an opportunity to have a say in that?”

Johns says that there is still a lot of work to be done at SD5 and would be honoured if the citizens of Cranbrook and Area C re-elected him to school trustee.

“We have funding shortfalls to overcome. We have a new high school to build. We need to constantly engage parents, teachers and all staff to help us make the best decisions,” said Johns. “I’m up for the challenges and, if elected, I will keep working hard every day to provide the very best public education for all of our Cranbrook and Area C students.”

Article Share