The Tribune asked candidates running in the municipal, regional, and School District 27 election a few questions about themselves and their platforms.
We asked the following:
• What position are you running for?
• Why are you running for it?
• What do you see as the top three issues to address in your community?
• How do you propose to tackle them?
Candidates in the area, including those who have been acclaimed, were invited to participate for free
and were given a maximum word limit of 275 words to answer the questions above.
The following are the answers we received from participating candidates:
Rob Zacharias
1. I’m running for school board trustee for Zone 6, City of Williams Lake.
2. I have two children in high school, my fiancée has one child in high school. Opportunities for grades 10-12 have steadily declined over the past three years. I’m running to give the children of Williams Lake every opportunity to succeed and graduate with more tools to succeed in their future endeavours.
3. Declining enrolment, a dysfunctional school board dominated by 100 Mile House trustees and missed opportunities.
4. I will request the release of the10-year plan that the present board has refused to release since December 2010. My priority will be it should have a positive impact for students of our district. Students need to be the highest priority. Secondly, I will encourage trustees to attend and if not possible to do so, call their vote in. There is no excuse for missing any meeting, especially with today’s technology. The fact that four out of seven trustees could not attend a major board meeting to discuss the 10-year plan when all of our stakeholders were there is inexcusable.
Third, there are many opportunities that have been missed that help our district financially. Expanding our international student program is imperative. We have an empty dorm that could be used as an English as a Second Language summer school that would help teachers, our community and promote Williams Lake.
Finally, we have restricted funds that a voice from Williams Lake needs to push to be used for a proper track and field. Bottom line, kids come first. We have a great educational system in the Cariboo but we can do better.