Policy

In the months leading up to the October 15 election I will be out and about as much as possible, continuing to listen and learn about what matters to you when it comes to our community. During this time, I have no doubt that I will come to appreciate new issues, perspectives, and ideas. I will keep my platform up-to-date to reflect this ongoing learning.

Focus on youth at risk

With home ownership completely unaffordable, car ownership discouraged, and poor potential for earnings, the path to adulthood for young people is very different now than from what it was for most voters. I believe the future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion should be a focus on low-status males at risk of suicide, drug addiction, and political extremism.

Focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Responding to climate change and other challenges will require advanced skills and knowledge. For us to succeed, we must do the following for our children:

Develop a plan to become the best public school district in Canada for entry into STEM university programs and jobs.
Advocate against any attempt to cancel honors or advanced placement classes for ‘equity’ purposes.
Instead of a calendar focused on highlighting demographic differences, advocate for a calendar of days that focus on intellectually stimulating topics and careers including Engineers Day and science day.
Advocate for increased curriculum focus on statistics, data science, and fallacies common to conspiracy theories and political extremism.
Revise the learning materials policy to prohibit pseudoscience.
Facilitate access by student clubs (e.g., math, data science) to anonymized district data or surveys.

Modernize Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Policy

A lot has changed in the last few years since Richmond’s SOGI policy was first implemented. Leading countries such as Sweden and Finland have moved on from easy access to Gender Affirming Care for minors. The district needs to provide leadership and respond to new information with the following actions:

Promote self-acceptance and anti-bullying without teaching gender affirming pseudoscience.
Require sexual health safety education (for students and parents) to contain recent and complete information about the health consequences of puberty blockers.
Require reporting of aggregate statistics to the board of the facilitation of social transitioning by district staff or teachers.
Advocate for improved data around suicides of trans and non-binary youths.
Advocate for the support of Canadian primary research to understand the relationships between puberty blockers, depression, and suicide.

For more details, visit Dean’s Statement on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Policy.

Modernize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies

We should continue Richmond’s history as an inviting and open community with the following:

Revise learning resources policy to include the following requirements:
- Elementary level anti-racism content must provide positive messages for any reader.
- Remove aggressive anti-racism content and philosophy from learning materials and provided support.
- A preference for Canadian materials.
- Pseudoscience of any form is not permitted, even if ‘inclusive’.
Revise IT device acceptable use guidelines to ensure staff refrain from using district property for the promotion of political causes or personal brand building.
Conduct exit surveys of students and parents leaving the district to ensure we’re hearing from all sides.
Review the international student program for impacts on anti-Asian racism.
Advocate for increased curriculum focus on statistics, data science, and fallacies common to conspiracy theories and political extremism.
Revise Reconsideration of Learning Resources policy to require an annual report to the board on complaints and responses.
Contribute to open-source requirements and lessons learned to improve procurement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion services for other school districts.

Housing Affordability

Housing in Richmond is extremely unaffordable and having all sorts of downstream impacts. The Richmond School district should review our international student program for impacts on housing affordability.