PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD: Trust and respect are missing

Beamer looks to create good relationship between DSBN and community

A strong and trusting relationship.

It’s an important part of the education of our children, says Nancy Beamer, but it is currently missing from the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN).

Beamer, a retired teacher and owner of Beamer’s fruit market on Regional Road 20 for more than 25 years, says she believes a strong, trusting relationship between the school board and the whole community is essential, and that recent board actions, including the sale of Parliament Oak Elementary School in Niagara-on-the-Lake as well as the renaming of E.W. Farr Memorial School here in Pelham, demonstrate that trust and respect are missing from the way the DSBN works with the community.

“Schools are the heart of the community,” says Beamer. “We rely on our schools to properly educate our children to become the future leaders, thinkers, innovators, skilled workers and active citizens.”

Beamer notes that when the board speaks of “community” what they mean is “school community” — which refers to students, parents and staff.

Community, she says, should also include siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, graduates and the greater community, and this wider definition of community is what the board should be considering.

A trustee, she points out, is elected by all voters. Beamer says she plans to represent the whole community if elected, adding the DSBN needs to reevaluate the way it deals with members of the communities it serves.

“There needs to be a system that fosters transparency in decision-making, that fosters a real inclusion of all community partners, that fosters open communication,” says Beamer.

“It must be recognized that it is the whole community, the businesses and all the people who live there, that support the students and the schools” through donations, attendance at events or volunteering.

“Principals and teachers get transferred, children grow up and leave their local school, but the people of the community remain, year after year, giving support to their schools,” says Beamer. “Their voices need to be heard and taken into account.”

“I will investigate all of the facts behind an issue, I will look for differences of opinion rather than a pre-determined outcome,” says the mother of three and grandmother of five.

A member of Pelham’s Names Matter group that continues to advocate for keeping E.W. Farr Memorial as the name of the amalgamated Pelham Centre and E.W. Farr Schools, Beamer believes the name of the Fenwick public school needs to be revisited.

Beamer’s preference is that the Wellington Heights’ school name be restored to E.W. Farr Memorial, but if this isn’t possible she would be supportive of a new name that is representative of the community and based on the input of the community.

“As a board we have to start planning for future growth,” she says, noting she recognizes funding comes from the province based on current numbers, but the DSBN should be looking to maximize current resources.

Part of this, she suggests, would be to retain the Pelham Centre school property for use as a school when future growth in Fenwick demands it. That building, she added, could be named E.W. Farr Memorial if the name is not used on its original school.

One of the main strengths of the DSBN is the high quality of classroom teachers and support staff, says Beamer, and she feels the trustee should be making sure resources are in place so teachers have all of the tools they need to help all students achieve success.

She notes teachers also need to be given the knowledge and resources to teach in a world of advancing technology, social media, and cyber-bullying.

The same, she said, is true of the sex-ed curriculum, noting students need to be taught for modern society.

“Society in 1998 was [very] different than in 2015,” she says, referring to the provincial government decision to return to curriculum created 20 years ago rather than the more recent 2015 version.

We can’t go back, says Beamer, who supports the societal issues like consent and tolerance that are taught in the new curriculum, but feels the age at which some of the material is taught needs to be revisited.

“I’m not afraid to stand up for what is right and I will make sure the voice of the whole community is heard,” says Beamer, adding she will always strive to inform the community of board decisions and explain the reasoning behind them.