A parent very active in the community wants a seat on the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board.
Serena Shaw, who with her spouse Graham has two school-aged daughters, Dana and Lauren, in the Catholic system, is running for a seat on the board of trustees.
“For me it’s a passion because I’ve spent so much time in the schools,” said Shaw Thursday. “It’s really imperative that we have parents at the table.”
One of Shaw’s daughters is special needs, and Shaw said, as a parent, she’s been very active in the schools, including chair of a school council and chair of several committees. She’s also worked with the City of St. Albert on projects.
Shaw said she believes parents have an important role to play in education. “I think the trustees are the voice of the community and you want to have the broadest representation,” she said.
“The pubic has a vested interest in the system. (Students) are going to be our doctors, our lawyers, our tradespeople.”
Shaw, who’s been a St. Albert resident since she was 14, said her family spent a couple of years living in Edmonton, but wanted to move back to St. Albert because the schools do an excellent job of making students and families feel included.
Looking at issues of the election, Shaw said one thing hangs over education in Alberta. “We need to find a sustainable way to fund education,” she said.
Shaw said the education system seems to be undergoing regular changes to funding and she said trustees are responsible for advocating on behalf of families to the provincial government.
She said it’s an exciting time to be involved in education, but her goal is to make everyone involved feel as though they are equal partners.
“I want to get to a point where we don’t talk about special education and just talk about education,” she added.
