ABOUT ME

Hi, I'm Christine!

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME

Lethbridge has been home to me for over 20 years. In this time I have:

worked as a Therapeutic Parent and Youth Worker for McMan Youth & Family Services (3 years)
volunteered as a youth leader for both middle and senior high students (13 years)
taught preschool at Agape Learning Centre (7 years)
volunteered as a peer counsellor at the Lethbridge Pregnancy Care Centre (3 years)
served my first term as Trustee for Lethbridge School Division; 2 years as Vice Chair, 1 year as Chair

I have 2 children within the public school system. Trusteeship has come from my desire as a parent to grow in my understanding of the education system. I want to use my voice in participating and influencing a system that empowers students in their journeys to successfully engage and impact the world, both locally and globally, with confidence, compassion, innovative insight and ability, and care.

GOVERNANCE STYLE

I am a relational leader who values integrity, accountability, and communication. I listen well to the perspectives of others and seek to hear all sides of an issue to gain a deeper understanding and broader view. Sitting through the hard conversations is imperative for growth to happen. I believe leadership is both a significant privilege and significant responsibility. In my first term as Trustee, I held to these beliefs strongly as I worked to build relationships, heard stories and perspectives, and used my voice in direction-setting and decision-making that would impact our Division Community in both positive and challenging ways.

Under the authority of the Education Act, school boards exercise leadership through governance in three areas: fiduciary leadership, strategic leadership and generative leadership.

Key roles for trustees are the hiring and overseeing of the Division Superintendent, creating policy, holding the school division to account in policy and implementing vision, promoting understanding of the role and responsibility of the board, and advocating within the division, the community, and the province..

ADVOCACY

Where voices need to be heard

The school board is an advocate for public education and for the local school system, seeking always to do what is best for students. This responsibility is carried out through school board consultation with stakeholders and the sharing of information with MLAs and government.

As Trustee, I commit to advocating for the following:

A Healthy and Thriving Division Culture: to build unified community with collaboration, transparency, and trust. Students, staff, and parents need to know they are valued, seen, heard, and supported. Our schools and workplaces must strive always to be welcoming, caring, respectful, and safe.
Division Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability: ensuring the distribution of funding reflects the values and vision of the Board.
Stronger In-Class Supports: inclusion without appropriate funding is exclusion. Stronger supports mean more students can attain the assistance they need to be successful in their journey.
Parent Voice: to continue to strengthen the role and voice of parents within the Division and create more avenues for parents to feel heard and be involved.
Mental Wellness Support: to continue to build relationships and collaborate with community organizations and advocate the provincial government for adequate funding to ensure that students, staff, and families have the supports needed to thrive.
Indigenous Education: to continue to advocate for equitable funding for Indigenous students and support the Calls to Action of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. This will enable our Division to become a community that continues to grow in understanding, to see with compassion, and to live with an inclusive spirit.
Strong Curriculum: to pause the curriculum roll-out and advocate for what is best for kids. The curriculum must reflect the full diversity of our student community and grow them to be innovative, compassionate, inclusive, globally-aware citizens, set up for success in a progressively changing world.