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Noel Herron was the Principal at my children’s elementary school (University Hill) in the 1980s, and after that Principal at another half-dozen Vancouver schools. Since that time, and before, Noel has continuously advocated for public education, speaking out and publishing for the betterment of the education system.
Over the course of the past couple of years, VanRamblings has had the opportunity to become re-acquainted with Noel, in his capacity as Chair of the Personnel and Staff Relations Committee of the Vancouver School Board, and as a liaison with the employees of Cardinal Transportation Vancouver who, this year, achieved successful CUPE bargaining unit status.
The work of the COPE trustees on the Vancouver School Board has been invaluable this past three years in preserving the integrity of our education system, even while suffering the slings and arrows of a provincial government and Ministry of Education seemingly hellbent on ideological warfare with teachers, trustees, parents and children.
The following e-mail arrived in my computer yesterday, a missive from the desk of valued public servant, COPE School Board Trustee Noel Herron. Today, VanRamblings passes on to you an edited version of the e-mail …
Dear Friend of Public Education,
The civic election is just around the corner — Saturday November 19.
As people who care about kids and public education — the COPE School Board candidates are asking you to vote for people who care about kids and public education, who believe in the potential of all children. We will do everything in our power to make public schools work for every child.
Before casting your vote on November 19th, we would ask that you check out the record of the COPE School Board trustees.
In just 3 years a COPE Vancouver School Board has:
- Stopped $3 million in provincial cuts to inner city schools and our region’s most vulnerable children, and introduced a successful consultative budgeting process
- Played a key role in winning $150 million in provincial funding for public education in BC
- Worked closely with the province to develop a programme to make all schools across our province seismically safe
- Re-hired multi-cultural workers laid off by the previous NPA controlled Board, while reaching out to Vancouver’s diverse communities, and making our schools safer and more welcoming with new anti-racism and anti-homophobia programmes
- Dedicated increased monies into text books, restored teacher librarian hours and achieved lower class size at the elementary level
- Supported student input into district decision-making
- Worked tirelessly to repair relations with parents, students and staff — relations that had been damaged under previous NPA Boards
- Expanded all-day kindergarten
- Hired one of the country’s most respected educational leaders as our Superintendent of Schools — without resorting to use of an expensive headhunting firm
- Expanded literacy programmes, and increased spaces for French Immersion
- Worked with both the SFU and the UBC Education departments to educate the community about the value of public education
 l-r: Allan Wong, Allen Blakey, Angela Kenyon, Conrad Lew, Jane Bouey, Kevin Millsip, Noel Herron, Sharon Gregson |
There remains much that needs to be done. We still have a lot of work to do. We need to protect these achievements and build on them.
If re-elected, a COPE School Board will:
- Continue to advocate effectively for proper resources for public schools
- Fight to keep local educational decisions in the hands of our community
- Work for smaller classes for all children enrolled in the Vancouver school system
- Provide increased support for ESL, and children with special needs
- Get junk food out of our schools
- Work hard to build strong and respectful relationships with local aboriginal and First Nations organizations while working towards making our schools more inclusive and relevant for aboriginal students
- Continue to participate and support joint initiatives between the School Board, Park Board and City Council such as the Joint Council on Childcare
- Make each school a centre of environmental sustainability
The COPE Vancouver School Board has made decisions based on sound educational principle — not Fraser Institute fiction. We need all caring Vancouver citizens to help make sure that the positive accomplishments of the COPE Vancouver School Board to support children and make public schools work for every child will not be undone by the NPA.
The Vancouver School Board — a great reason to vote COPE!
