I am a mom of 3, Ward D resident, and a long term advocate for Public Education. I am running for Trustee because our schools are under stress and I can really help. I have been doing successful advocacy work for public education over the past 15 years, most recently co-founding EPSAN, Edmonton Public School Advocacy Network, focused on advocacy for new school infrastructure. As Chair of school council and IDEAS Lab parent society I have led many initiatives to support our classrooms, in terms of staff, partners and materials. I have been involved in protecting our school and programming, fundraising, and collaborating to create fun events.
My professional background includes classroom experience with my business, Nancy's Notes Music, and management experience in corporations including TELUS and Intuit. With this combination, I bring together an understanding of teaching and classroom dynamics, and a business acumen. I am strategic, data-driven, and have the ability to lead through challenging situations with lots of energy and creative thinking.
As Trustee, I am ready to hit the ground running with an action plan to focus on giving all kids our very best.
Statement of beliefs
I believe in public education. Every child has the right to a great start regardless of their background, abilities, and socio demographics. Schools are like a second home for our kids and we need to treasure and nurture them. Public schools work because they are diverse and inclusive.
Public education is close to my heart because I would not have been able to learn music if it wasn’t for the Edmonton Public Schools strings enrichment program.
My vision for Edmonton Public is that ALL students are welcomed, safe, loved, challenged, and supported to achieve their dreams. The foundation for this is that every teacher and staff member has a great place to work where they feel supported, energized, valued, fulfilled and able to do their very best.
Priority areas
LOWER CLASS SIZE: set best practices including teacher:student ratios, and support for complexity
STAFF AND STUDENT WELLNESS: embed wellness into school culture so we are all supporting each other
SUPPORTING ALL STUDENTS: teachers always need to know there is class support available when needed
Views on funding
Alberta is underfunding education. Our per student funding is the lowest in Canada (Fraser report, 2025), and when indexed to inflation has declined more than 17% over the past 10 years. Equally concerning is how behind we are on infrastructure. Edmonton Public is approximately 5 years behind on new school builds and has over $1.4 Billion in deferred maintenance on existing buildings. Deferring infrastructure is costly. Every year a project is delays the costs go up – we are seeing cost increases of 15-20% each year projects are delayed.
School boards have lost their autonomy with funding decisions and I would like to see a return to more funding flexibility for the division. Specifically, I would like to see a return to municipal taxes staying within Edmonton so that our school division can focus on priorities for our community.
How learning conditions can be improved
We are in a time of limited resources – financial, staff and volunteerism. We need every creative idea on the table to improve classroom conditions and to be flexible in our thinking.
I am honing in on Class Sizes as the top priority, as focusing on class size will lead to the right number of schools, the right programming and the right number of teachers and support staff. I am putting forward several creative ideas to get more classrooms opened including re-opening a downtown school, sharing space with out of school care programs (instead of moving them out of schools), and expanding enriched programs to double capacity of some classrooms (including sports, fine arts and land based programs that can spend 1/2 time out of school).
Wellness initiatives are also critical for both staff and student experiences and I’d like to see some student led initiatives, so that wellness becomes embedded in school culture rather than just an add-on.
How trustees and school boards can best support teachers
By listening to teachers. I have talked with hundreds of teachers and I understand the classroom pressures today. This is why my 4 priorities are:
– Lower Class Size
-Staff and Student Wellness
-Build and Fix Schools
-Support all Students
I am committed to keeping an open dialogue with teachers and responding to their needs.
Views on the new K-6 curriculum
The new K-6 curriculum has been troublesome both in process and in content, and I have participated in sharing my opposition to the philosophy and content.
My focus as Trustee will be to speak up for both a solid process and content that is supported by experts. Effective curriculum is updated regularly through meaningful consultations with educators and subject experts, working groups and a slow roll-out of each grade level, developing strong resources to support each subject and continual improvement of curriculum. I am very concerned that teachers have not been given the appropriate resources to roll out this curriculum.
I will be keeping a close eye on the next steps for grades 7-12 curriculum and working hard to ensure it will be a better journey for students and teachers.