Judi Hunter says she wants to focus on the issues she heard about from constituents in Ward 5 now that she has become their school trustee.
Hunter took top spot in the Rocky View Schools election on Monday night with an unofficial tally of 959 votes, beating out education administrator Dan Cavanagh, who received 761 votes, and community leader Kristyn Schmidt, who logged 606 ballots.
She takes over the reins from longtime trustee Colleen Munro, who represented the area for three terms before vacating the Ward 5 position earlier this year to run for county council.
“I’m honoured to be elected,” said Hunter, who watched the late-breaking results come in on her computer. “The first thing I would like to do is meet with all my colleagues and try to get an agenda to visit all the schools so we can have a common framework for discussion.”
Hunter’s ward includes elementary, middle and high schools in Springbank, Bragg Creek, Westbrook and rural Cochrane. The retiree worked for years in the Calgary Board of Education and currently has eight grandchildren who attend school in the division.
Now that she’s officially a trustee, Hunter said she’d like to tackle some of the subjects she learned about while on the campaign trail – in particular, a disconnect between parents and school administrators when it comes to their children’s unique needs.
“The biggest issue that I had was diversity and how we manage that,” Hunter said. “Many, many people felt disenfranchised from the school system because it didn’t meet the needs of their child, who was outside the norm. One of the things I think we need to address: how do we do that better? What are some of the solutions?”
On a divisional level, Hunter said trustee candidates met with superintendent Greg Luterbach to understand what will be top of mind for Rocky View Schools over the next four years.
“Busing is still going to be a huge issue,” said Hunter, referencing a shortfall left by the removal of school fees and bus fees for students who live further than 2.4 kilometres from their child's designated school, combined with a provincial government cap on the fee increase RVS could pass on to families with students closer than 2.4 km. “There’s a deficit and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change.”
Hunter said negotiating a new collective agreement for teachers will also fall within her four-year mandate.
School division results will become official at noon on Friday, Oct. 20.
