Port Moody has been my home for over a decade, part of more than 23 years in the Tri-Cities. As a parent and community builder, I know firsthand that communities are built through careful planning, collaboration, and genuinely listening to people. Our school community deserves this same care.
I’m running for Port Moody School Trustee because I understand the challenges families navigate every day. With two decades of experience working in non-profit and community, I bring a thoughtful, informed voice that will work collaboratively on behalf of Port Moody. Read more about my story and what I can bring to the role of trustee.
Every child in Port Moody deserves a school district that sees them, supports them, and prepares them well for what’s ahead. My priorities are shaped by years of listening to parents, educators, and neighbours across our community, and by a genuine belief that good decisions come from working together.
As your trustee, I will bring a collaborative, informed approach that focuses on supporting every student, expanding programs of choice, promoting school safety and wellbeing, preparing students for a rapidly changing world, ensuring fiscal responsibility, and planning thoughtfully for Port Moody’s growth.
Every learner deserves the resources and support they need to succeed, and this can look different for every child. Some students need extra support to keep up, others need to be challenged to keep growing, and many need varying support at different points along the way. I want to see SD43 continue investing in the staffing, specialists, and classroom supports that let teachers actually meet students where they are.
This means paying close attention to how resources are distributed across our schools and ensuring students have access to learning resources, programs of choice, and the specialized supports that help them thrive. That includes protecting and growing options like French Immersion, Mandarin Bilingual, Montessori, and our gifted programs, so families have real choices in how their child learns.
I would also like to explore expanding hands-on opportunities like COAST outdoor education beyond grade 10 so more students can benefit earlier in their school years. As trustee, I’ll work with the board to protect what’s working and expand where the need is.
Every student deserves to learn in a calm, safe classroom, but SD43 has seen a rise in violent incidents both in the classroom and in the school community, including incidents directed at the teachers and EAs working directly with students. Some schools have started building calm rooms, mindfulness spaces, and providing de-escalation training for staff, but these efforts are uneven across the district.
As your trustee, I’ll advocate for the board to invest in what actually keeps kids and classrooms safe: funded, consistent de-escalation training for teachers and EAs, and adequate staffing so no student in crisis is ever managed alone. I’ll also push to strengthen the district’s partnerships with community mental health agencies so students get supports they need and before things escalate.
Children learn best when they feel safe, and the adults who care for them deserve that same safety. Every student in SD43 deserves this foundation.
The world our students are heading into looks nothing like the one most of us grew up in. Technology, careers, and the skills that matter in the workplace are shifting quickly, and school programs need to keep pace.
Students need access to real experience and practical skills alongside their academic ones, things like expanded career and trades programs linked to real job opportunities, modern STEM learning, and partnerships with post-secondary institutions and industry associations that give students early exposure to future pathways.
I want SD43 to be a district that looks ahead rather than one that plays catch-up, so students leave school genuinely ready for what comes next.
Port Moody is growing, and our schools need to grow with it. As new neighbourhoods like Inlet Centre take shape, planning for future school capacity must start early and alongside municipal development, not after families have already moved in.
Too often, opportunities to build shared benefit into new developments get missed simply because the right conversations didn’t happen early enough, like joint-use agreements for gyms and fields, shared child care spaces, or co-located community amenities that serve both students and neighbourhoods.
These aren’t complicated ideas, but they only work if the school district has opportunities to collaborate early and often with Municipal leaders and the community.
Every dollar in our school district budget comes from the public, and every dollar should be accounted for and explained. I believe in asking hard questions about where money goes and why, and in making sure decisions are communicated clearly, not buried in process. Families and taxpayers deserve to understand how choices get made, not just the final numbers.
Good fiscal management isn’t just about balancing a budget. It’s about ensuring we fund the things that matter most: strong programs, well-supported teachers, and the diverse student supports children need to succeed.
As school trustee, I am committed to transparency throughout the decision-making process and will advocate for dollars to reach students and classrooms first.
