The large field of candidates for the Saanich school board has James Taylor and others taking notice.
There are 13 candidates in line for seven positions.
“Going back 20-some years, nobody can ever remember having this many candidates running,” said Taylor, a father of two school-aged children and president of the Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils of Saanich.
“So we’re really excited.”
District superintendent Keven Elder agreed that candidate participation is unprecedented.
“We haven’t had four run-off elections in four zones, as far as we can tell, in the history of the district. There’s real interest out there.”
Taylor said he suspects the recent teachers’ strike could be a factor in the number of trustee hopefuls.
“I just wonder if people are all fired up over what happened with the strike,” he said. “Normally, we struggle just to have somebody run.”
This year promises “true elections,” Taylor said.
In the 2011 election, Jane Husband (representing the Sidney zone) and Nick Claxton and Timothy Dunford (representing the Central Saanich zone) were all elected by acclamation. The Saanich board is made up of two trustees for the north end of Saanich, two Central Saanich trustees, two North Saanich trustees and one Sidney trustee.
Neither Husband, a nine-year trustee, nor 15-year incumbent Helen Parker are running this year.
“We’ll definitely miss them,” said board chairman Wayne Hunter. “But hopefully we get some new blood, too.”
He said ongoing concerns for the board include delays in seismic projects at Cordova Bay Elementary School and Parkland Secondary School, which total about $14 million and were both supposed to start in the spring.
» READ MORE: Candidate profiles
District snapshot
- Operating budget: $80.8 million
- Students: 7,200
- Schools: Eight elementary, three middle, three secondary, one alternative, one distributed learning program and one for special programs
- Teachers: 500
- Trustees: Seven
- Annual salary, board chairperson: $14,566
- Annual salary, vice-chairperson: $10,612
- Annual salary, trustees: $10,612
- District includes: Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney and part of Saanich
- Website: sd63.bc.ca
