ELECT
PHYLLIS HEPPNER

To Langley SCHOOL BOARD

Authorized by Nico Bot – financial agent for Phyllis Heppner 604-506-2338

Phyllis Heppner – Three Priorities

Phyllis Heppner – for Langley School Board

Phyllis Heppner – Feel the Jazz

Phyllis Heppner – A couple more reasons to vote of Phyllis

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

  1. Let us know that you plan to vote for Phyllis.
  2. Talk to your friends – get them on board.
  3. Donate to Phyllis’s campaign. We believe in good fiscal management, and value small donations.
  4. VOTE on February 27 – CLICK HERE FOR VOTING INFORMATION

Please donate today

WE PLAN TO VOTE FOR PHYLLIS

9 + 13 =

SUBMIT YOUR CONCERNS

4 + 5 =

VOTING INFORMATION

Election Day, Saturday, February 27, 2021 voting places:

Aldergrove Community Secondary School:
26850 – 29 Avenue

George Preston Recreation Centre:
20699 – 42 Avenue

James Hill Elementary School:
22144 Old Yale Road

James Kennedy Elementary School:
9060 – 212 Street

Lynn Fripps Elementary School:
21020 – 83 Avenue

R C Garnett Demonstration Elementary School:
7096 – 201 Street

WHAT’S IMPORTANT

Q1: Who am I?

I am a wife, mother, grandmother; piano teacher, Music Festival Adjudicator and Conservatory Examiner; small business owner in Langley since 1984; church musician.

Q2: Why am I running for school board trustee? What experiences have you had that qualify you to serve in this capacity?

As a trustee, I want to bring hope and stability to disadvantaged students and to COVID-weary teachers and support staff. I have a history of serving in leadership roles in many spheres.

Q3: Why should I be on the Langley School Board of Trustees?

Because I have proven collaborative skills as well as leadership ability. What can be more important than the future of our children? I  understand this well.

Q4: Do I have any experience in education?

I have teaching experience, private tutoring in music. pre-school music classes, teaching pedagogy to piano teachers. With my own children I have homeschooled, enrolled them in independent school and in also in public school. This gives me a close-up view of education from all angles, and an evaluation the pro’s and con’s of each.

Q5: What are my policy stances?

  1. Help teachers and support staff deal with the ever-changing pandemic conditions by collaborating on thoughtful, effective solutions.
  2. Find ways to help the most vulnerable students to thrive.
  3. Strongly advocate for capital and operating funding for SD35; then wisely allocate those available funds for the betterment of the community.

Q6: How do you plan to foster positive relationships with parents & teachers over the remainder of this term?

There is no substitute for taking time to listen to diverse voices! This practice always better informs our considerations and thus, our decisions. I have always been highly engaged with people, and feel well-equipped to become informed by multiple competing perspectives of diverse parties.

Q7: Do I believe controversial material should be taught in public schools? If so – should parents be notified and be given the option to opt their children out of such classes/discussions?

It is not the role of the school to teach students a particular view on any controversial topic. A high-school teacher could tackle such a topic as an example of an honest debate of differing views. I was happy that my own high-school age children participated in these types of debates and felt that the challenge was good for them. The school should never supersede the parent as the student’s final authority. Therefore, parents have the right to have their children opt out of any questionable class. As a trustee, I would welcome the role of advocate for any parent who felt this principle had been violated.

Q8: What sort of responsibility do you believe the board has in the overall community?

The board is tasked with providing the best education possible for our future citizens. Period.

It is the board’s mandate to uphold high standards for measurable outcomes and for what is difficult to measurable: positive atmosphere in the schools. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the board to set policy for effective and efficient operation of schools, to approve the school district’s operating budget, to prepare capital plans and then advocate for their fulfillment.

The board also has the responsibility of hearing appeals from parents and students.  It is here that my skills will be most useful.

Q9. Should the School Board increase bus access?

I have heard from many concerned parents about the issue of lack of bus access in areas where walking to school is unsafe, such as Willoughby and the D W Poppy catchment area. The complaint is that parents are not being heard and their complaint is passed back and forth without any solution. This issue requires attention and I will be tenacious at getting to a solution. Common sense must win out! Children must not be put in danger.

Q10. Is the School Board still relevant? 

Absolutely.  That’s because you are best governed at the closest level to you!  if you have a concern, do you want to call someone in Victoria?  Or me, your friendly neighbourhood Langley School Trustee?  We must preserve this level of governance.
But how?  By making sure that Langley School Board is a working board.  Not one that rubber-stamps committee work or that  passes off difficult decisions to other governing bodies.

So – don’t allow the school trustee position to be a place holder for people who just want to move on! The answer: elect a serious person who actually cares about Langley’s public school system and it’s taxpayer!

I want to hear from you.

I know you have ideas and concerns. Let’s talk.

SUBMIT YOUR CONCERNS

14 + 15 =

WE PLAN TO VOTE FOR PHYLLIS

3 + 8 =

CANDIDATE STATEMENT

 

Phyllis Heppner

  • Langley resident since 1984, classical and jazz musician, teacher, business owner
  • wife of 1, mother of 4, grandmother to 12
  • passionate about each person’s healthy development
  • convinced of the value of creating beauty all around us
  • offering leadership skills to Langley School District 35
Leadership has been entrusted to me as: strata council president, church music program director, large children’s club director, South Fraser Registered Music Teachers’ president, Langley Morning Toastmasters president. 

I have enjoyed living in Langley since 1984 – a classical and jazz musician, teacher and small business owner who is constantly inspired by my own children, grandchildren and students.

I will bring stability to Langley Board of Trustees as a collaborator with proven leadership skills. In 2021, health and safety considerations must have our focused and wise attention.

Priority #1 is to ensure that students have a safe, nurturing environment which generates a positive interest in learning. The goal: future informed, skilled and self-reliant citizens.

We can help achieve this positive outcome by supporting our teachers, support staff and leaders who daily interact with students.

I will enjoy being a conduit of information between all of the stakeholders involved in the education of all 23,000 students in Langley.

I’m up for it! I have experience and passion. I am ready to serve.

ABOUT PHYLLIS

Community involvement:

  • Active in music and on staff as music director for 3 years
  • President of strata council – Langley, BC
  • Elected President of South Fraser Registered Music Teachers Association
  • Joined Langley Morning Toastmasters in May, 2017. Became president in June 2018
  • Member of Brookswood-Fernridge Planning Committee for Langley Township

Background:

  • Born in Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan
  • Have been a Langley resident since 1984
  • 4 grown children: 2 sons, 2 daughters and 13 grandchildren

Career:

  • Taught piano from age 16 until the present
  • Received ARCT Teacher degree with 1st Class Honours with Distinction and earned the Gordon Hallett Scholarship for Highest Mark.
  • Earned a licentiate degree, LLCM in Recital Performance, from the London College of Music
  • Music Festival Adjudicator
  • Examiner with Conservatory Canada.
  • Played keyboard and recorded with a professional band, Quintessential Jazz

Business:

  • Conducted personal music teaching business for 50 years
  • Developed ‘the MUSiK SHOP’ in 2009, expanding to offer more instruments being taught

2 + 13 =

ELECT PHYLLIS HEPPNER

To Langley School Board.

 

email: elect.p.heppner@gmail.com

Please donate today