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Trustee-elect Gail Campbell excited to return to familiar role

December 7, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

It is school board trustee: round two, for outgoing Councillor Gail Campbell, who is looking forward to a familiar, but new chapter in her life.

After deciding to retire from Orangeville politics after 21 years, Ms. Campbell successfully won the votes for Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) trustee. She received 46.83 per cent of the votes (2837) to Kim Reid’s 1913 votes, Shelley Bergant’s 897, and John Trafananko’s 411. She was previously a public school board trustee for 15 years from 1982-1997, the year provincial legislation resulted in the creation of the Upper Grand board.

“I’m really excited,” she told the Citizen. “I’m anxious to learn.”

The world she is stepping into is one very different since she last left. “The changes are almost beyond imagining compared to what it was like before,” she commented, particularly the digital world. “We were so happy to get one computer per classroom.”

However, Ms. Campbell said her years of experience as a councillor meant she was able to deal with change. “I’ve always been adaptable to change. I always make sure I do my homework, and learn what’s going on, what the trends are.”

Going forward, she said she always wants to “put kids first,” reflecting on the changes in the new provincial government and actions taken she deemed as “detrimental” to schools and students as what convinced her to run again.

In particular, she pointed to Premier Doug Ford’s decision to scrap the 2015 sex-education curriculum. “I decided I can’t really complain about something if I’m not prepared to try and make a difference.”

Ms. Campbell described the 1998 curriculum, the one the Ford government has been pushing to go back to, as outdated. “I even think the 2015 one needs some updating, because so much has changed in the last couple of years.”

She noted that ignoring current issues and topics such as sexting, same-sex marriage, and cyber bullying as being dangerous for young people. “We’re not giving them the knowledge (the students) need.”

Moving on, Ms. Campbell touched upon having appropriate accommodations and accessibility for all students across the board, looking to “enhance” French Immersion, and have more First Nations history. “Our kids need to know the truth, about residential schools, about a really sad and wrong part of Canadian history.”

Wrapping up, she noted specifically the need to address Shelburne’s rapid growth, being the second-fastest growing town across Canada. “That’s going to be huge, to be sure we have accommodation. These kids have to have the same rights as the rest of the students, and have an appropriate place to learn.”

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