How I’m Bringing Solution-Focused Change to Create Safe, Inclusive Schools on the Saskatoon Public School Board
November 11, 2024
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I am deeply committed to advocating for a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students, which aligns directly with the goals outlined in my campaign flyer. By prioritizing support for the 2SLGBTQAI+ community, I aim to ensure that our schools are spaces where every student, regardless of their identity, feels respected and protected. This focus on safety is foundational to creating an environment where students can thrive, and it ties directly into my platform’s call for increased funding to support diverse student needs and reduce teacher-student ratios.
My solution-focused approach begins with active listening to the community, especially to groups and individuals who may have concerns or differing viewpoints. Open communication channels with teachers, parents, and students allow me to gather accurate information about their needs, ensuring that decisions made at the school board level address real issues in a meaningful way. This ties into my goal of transparent and accountable funding, as it’s essential for me, as a trustee, to understand specific needs rather than relying on generalized requests. By hearing directly from those affected, I can advocate more effectively for targeted support and resources.
Addressing safety is also critical. Schools can be safe only if we listen to and support our teachers and students. Overcrowded classrooms and insufficient specialist support increase stress and reduce safety for both students and staff. I advocate for lower student-to-adult and student-to-specialist ratios to provide teachers the capacity to support students’ emotional regulation, reducing instances of violence and disruptive behavior. Additionally, community engagement and parental involvement are essential for fostering a safe environment. Through events, mentoring, and positive behavior modeling, we can build a culture of mutual respect and accountability that strengthens our school communities. These approaches all contribute to a safer and more supportive environment for learning.
Ultimately, my campaign’s focus on increasing funding, addressing class sizes, prioritizing public education, and ensuring transparent communication all work together to achieve the goal of making our schools safer and more inclusive for every child. By securing adequate resources and fostering an environment where every voice is heard, I am dedicated to building a stronger, safer school system that truly supports both students and staff.
I stand firmly with the 2SLGBTQAI+ community, committed to making our schools safe and inclusive for all. Your voice deserves unwavering representation, and with your vote, I'm ready to advocate loudly and proudly for you at the Saskatoon Public School Board.
Listening is the final part of the big 3 concepts that inform my solution-focussed platform. Below, I discuss why it's necessary to listen to diverse community interest groups, ESPECIALLY if we disagree with them. This why plays heavily into my approach to safety, which is often at the heart of why people want to be heard.
There are diverse concerns that community groups bring forward, and it is crucial that we listen with the intent to understand, even when we may disagree. A lack of listening and transparent communication leads to conspiracies and loud, angry groups. I firmly believe that all interested parties should have a voice and be heard at the School Board level, and that their concerns must be adequately replied to. Open, respectful listening helps prevent misunderstandings that can lead to unnecessary tension and conflict. For example, there is a group that would like some books removed from school libraries. I have read some of the books on their list with my kids and find them unobjectionable. We need to share with them what rubric the book review committee uses, explain why it's important that the books are in the school libraries, and then address the underlying issue, which is their feelings about their children's safety. The end result might not be what they want, but they will have been heard.
The school board needs to have open and engaged communication with teachers, parents, students, and the wider community. This is a necessity to give Trustees the information needed to make actual informed decisions.
Have you ever played the game telephone, where a message is passed from person to person and the last person says the message to everyone, and it's not at all what the first person said? That's the biggest reason why I firmly believe we need channels of direct communication between all parties and Trustees. If I know what a teacher's needs are because I hear them from the teacher, I can make decisions that help. If I never hear from anyone other than a very general need for more funding, that's not specific enough for prioritizing. I would encourage teachers to reach out as frequently as needed if specific needs aren't being met, so that we can prioritize and plan how to best meet those needs. I recognize that limited funding is a significant challenge. I have open communication established with both the Ministry of Education and the Opposition Education Critic so that I can advocate for more funding wherever it will be most effective.
Similarly, parents should be able to connect with Trustees about anything that they think is an issue, and be able to be heard at the board level. Whether this means their Trustee asks questions for them, or the parents are invited to present at a meeting, that communication channel needs to be open.
Students need to be able to contact their school trustees if they have issues that are not being addressed at the school level. Most students don't even know what a School Board Trustee is or what they do, and that needs to change. Sometimes, the best ideas come from children, and we need to establish that line of communication. Likely the easiest way to do this is for Trustees to be present at school events, and for students to be encouraged to go talk to their Trustee at the event, about literally anything and everything. Good communication begins with being visible and approachable.
Communication with the community would be less frequent because most issues are simply not community issues. That said, the current communication policy strongly discourages any communication with media, unless it goes through several layers of approval first. In light of this, I believe strongly that Trustees need an active and engaging social media presence, with the caveat that it is their personal thoughts and no single Trustee speaks for the Board as a whole. An authentic, transparent presence on social media is crucial for Trustees to maintain public trust and accountability.
All children, regardless of their background, religion, or neighborhood, deserve access to a quality public education and a safe environment to learn. All children deserve to feel safe at school. All teachers and staff deserve to feel safe at school.
Safety is a more difficult ideal to achieve with current funding and under-staffing issues. My eldest child has broken up several recess fights when adults were nowhere close enough to help. Violence and disrespect faced by teachers is growing, and it is unacceptable. Having lower student to adult ratios would likely help considerably as adults would have more capacity to help students with emotional regulation, and having much lower student to specialist ratios would help considerably with many of the underlying issues that become violent.
I want to support teachers and students by listening to them and advocating for their actual needs, both in the boardroom and at the provincial level if necessary. I am committed to advocating for teachers' specific needs. I want teachers to know that they can contact me directly, officially or unofficially, and that I am all ears for helping. That help might take the form of advocating for certain needs at a board level, inviting the teacher to speak to the board about a particular issue and providing tips for success on the presentation, or even possibly volunteering for out-of-class excursions if needed, reading with students, or other ideas that could be directly helpful. I do believe that the easiest way to support students is to support teachers, but again I'm open to more direct ideas here.
To promote safety in schools, a multifaceted approach is needed. There is evidence that community involvement promotes school safety. Community involvement fosters a sense of belonging and accountability, which naturally promotes a safer school environment. Some ideas for community involvement might be getting students involved with neighbourhood tree planting, door to door Christmas carolling, having a peer support reading program at the public library, having a school or community clean up day, student safety patrol during arrival, dismissal, and recess, and having neighbourly kindness and empathy initiatives where students are expected to exhibit certain behaviours outside of the classroom and talk about them at school.
Parent engagement promotes safety at school. Events at school involving parents are challenging to arrange as they need to fall outside of school hours, but students feel safer when their parents are occasionally present.
Modeling and rewarding positive behaviour helps to create a predictable and safe environment by showing students what is expected of them.
Mentoring students through conflicts is very helpful and effective because students are able to see and understand the impact of their actions, and it teaches empathy.
Providing a space for student input after safety drills helps engage students in their own wellbeing.
School safe zones or calm spaces that students can choose to use when feeling overwhelmed are helpful. Student involvement in creating these spaces encourages a sense of ownership, making it more likely they’ll use and benefit from the space. Schools are overcrowded as it is, so this space does not necessarily need to be a new space, or a large space, but it should feel welcoming and extra safe.
Ultimately, when students and staff feel secure and supported, the entire school community thrives.
I strongly oppose the parental rights bill. The parental rights bill risks discouraging students from openly communicating with teachers and staff about issues affecting their safety. Combined with the lack of third party education, such as the program No is a Full Sentence, which empowers children to set boundaries and recognize unsafe situations, this uncertainty and fear creates space for child predators to exist - not necessarily in the school, but in the child's community.
I recognize that many parents view this bill as a protective measure for their children’s safety, and I am committed to finding solutions that ensure all students feel safe and supported.
First and foremost, I will ensure the safety of any child who chooses to share with me, always, forever. This includes being a visible public figure showing support at rallies.
All children, regardless of their background, religion, or neighborhood, deserve access to a quality public education and a safe environment to learn. All children deserve to feel safe at school. All teachers and staff deserve to feel safe at school.
I strongly oppose Bill 137.
Bill 137 discourages students from openly communicating with teachers and staff about issues affecting their safety. Combined with the lack of third party education, such as the program No is a Full Sentence, which empowers children to set boundaries and recognize unsafe situations, this uncertainty and fear creates space for child predators to exist - not necessarily in the school, but in the child's community.
This is not okay!
I will continue working to have Bill 137 repealed. In addition, I will work with third party providers who teach child sexual abuse prevention and ensure they have space to provide this education outside of school hours.
Bill 137 was passed by using the notwithstanding clause to deliberately remove our children's Charter rights. This is unacceptable. Our children deserve to feel safe at school no matter which pronouns they use, which name they want to be called, or which person they choose to date. ALL children deserve to feel safe at school!
This is a very important issue to a lot of people. When I was doorknocking, I met people on both sides of the issue, and I listened to why YOU believe your stance is important. My inbox is open. If you have any questions, concerns, or just need someone to talk to about this, please email me at jensawesomeshow@gmail.com and I will respond within 24 hours.
As conversations about removing books on gender identity and sexual orientation from our libraries intensify, it's crucial to remember the value of providing safe, informed resources for our children.
I've read some of the books on that list with my own children, and we found nothing objectionable in them. My daughter is 9 and my son is 11.
SOGI is optional in Saskatchewan, it is not officially part of the curriculum. I haven't looked into it in great detail, but if it became relevant to my position as a school trustee, I'd happily read all of SOGI.
I'm in the habit of reading objectionable books, and if they're age-appropriate, reading them with my kids, to understand why someone might object to them, and then discuss how we feel about that, and how we can talk with others who might object and have a constructive conversation. So far, aside from sex and gender books, we have read Persepolis and Maus.
I'd like to read the rest of the books on the list, and see how my children feel about them - do they feel safe reading them, or uncomfortable? My stance on the books depends on how my children feel reading them.
When I was in grade 7, the main characters in a series of books I read from my school library were lesbian, and the books tastefully hinted at intimate relations. Beyond that, I remember it being a fun love story. For context, I grew up in a conservative, but not religious, home. Gay wasn't something we talked about unless someone was making a tasteless joke. I was not offended or traumatized by the books I read. Instead, they sparked my curiosity. Back in the 90s, the internet was different. Instead of social media, there were BBS chat sites, but you had to dial their number directly for a connection. But then, connected, 16 year old me got to speak to a room full of adult strangers and ask all my questions. I learned about the different kinds of gay, polyamory, BDSM, and more. I was fortunate that the adults were kind. I was never honest about my identity or location.
It probably would have been a whole lot safer to have some books in my school library that trusted adults had reviewed as safe sources of information.
The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation released their election platform for candidates yesterday.
I commit to advocate for and achieve the goals of restoring per-student funding, funding specialists to help with classroom complexity, and addressing violence in the classroom by having adequate learning supports in place for students, as well as listening to teachers when it comes to making a plan to deal with violence in the classroom.
The provincial election is October 28. Please vote for the candidate in your riding who supports properly funded public education!
School Board Trustees are elected as part of the civic election on November 13.
Back to School Day 3: Why aren't kids placed in classes yet?
September 5, 2024
Please share this with your kids! We're on the third day of school and my kids haven't been placed in their classes yet. While this is hopefully resolved today, we should be looking forward to prevent it from happening again next year.
Saskatoon Public School Board meets on Tues., Sept. 17 at 6:30 pm in the board room at their office on 3rd Ave. N. These meetings are open to the public. If you want to speak at the meeting, the link to register is Speak at SPSB Meeting and you can speak virtually or in person. The meeting agenda isn't up yet, so this is a good opportunity to flood their inbox with requests to speak on this issue to get it on the agenda.
Good news, the Minister of Education's assistant offered to answer all of our budget questions! (Jeremy Cockrill is apparently too busy to meet with me, as expected.) My questions are below, drop yours in the youtube comments or my DM!
1. Education tax is collected by municipalities, with mill rates set by the provincial government. Could you please provide a year-by-year breakdown of the total education tax collected across all school boards for the 7 years prior to and 7 years following the change in tax collection and mill rate setting? How has the total amount collected differed between these periods?
2. Regarding tax allocation, does a resident’s selection of a public or separate school board directly determine the funding allocated to that specific school division, or are all revenues pooled together and distributed based on budget requests from each school board? Is the education tax managed in a dedicated account, or is it merged into the province’s general revenue alongside other tax sources?
3. What led to the decision to allocate public education tax revenue to fund Qualified Independent Schools? Why was the public education tax stream selected for this purpose instead of revenue from the separate or Francophone school boards? Since this shift, what is the total amount of funding allocated to Qualified Independent Schools, and have any other private schools received public funding? If so, please provide details.
4. Setting aside teacher salaries, what avenues are available for public school boards to secure funding specifically for educational resources such as physical textbooks, digital textbook access, paper, photocopying supplies, and digital devices to offset the scarcity of textbooks? For this question, please consider that educational resources are not the responsibility of teachers or students and that the Education Act prohibits soliciting funding from parents for these items.
5. What funding is available for curriculum refresh and how often is this done? Is the time between refreshes the same for all courses? If not, please provide details.
6. Question for Jeremy Cockrill: If you could make a really big mess with all the education budgets, with zero repercussions, zero responsibility, and zero accountability, what would you do?
There was some chatter over on reddit when I announced my candidacy with residents asking if I'd be publicly calling out the Education Ministry for the lack of public education funding over the years. I still believe that publicly calling out someone I'm supposed to be on civil negotiating terms with is a poor choice. The correct route is to work together to accomplish things, and that starts with having a civil conversation and trying to understand the other side's motivation. Please see the recording and transcript of my phone call to this effect below. If you're listening with the sound off, there is a couple seconds while the phone is ringing before the text starts.
Jennifer Barrett Running for Saskatoon Public School Board Trustee in Ward 1
August 19, 2024
I'm excited to announce that I'm running for Saskatoon Public School Board Trustee in Ward 1! My priorities are open communication, a safety first approach, and hearing from you about your concerns. Please follow me here so that we can connect on educational issues that are important to you. In the coming weeks I will be posting about things I've learned from attending school board meetings. I'm also open to presenting your concerns at upcoming school board meetings.
