The Burnaby school district has kiboshed a local high school’s plan to host class discussions with two former students running for city council.
Matthew Hartney and Jason Chan, two Alpha Secondary grads vying for city council seats with the Burnaby First Coalition, were putting the finishing touches on a visit to their former Social Studies teacher’s Grade 11 classes earlier this month, when they got an email from the school’s principal, Paul Fester.
He had gotten some “clarification” from the district, he said, and, because of concerns about school-district neutrality, the Socials classes would not be able to host the two grads before the election.
“I was a bit taken aback because he and I had met face to face, and his decision and tone was very different than the email,” Hartney told the NOW.
He said his former Socials teacher Andrew Hunchak had initially been excited about the idea.
Hunchak confirmed as much with the NOW, saying he had thought it would be an “excellent idea,” especially since both candidates were Alpha graduates.
“We had just finished a unit on politics and government in Social Studies 11, and to have some living and breathing examples of people involved at the local level I thought would have been probably engaging and informative for the students,” Hunchak said.
Fester didn’t initially oppose the class discussions with the candidates either.
“Absolutely, at first blush it sounds really good,” he told the NOW, “but I just wanted to make sure and double check with our school district to see if it’s OK. One of the things we have to be very, very careful of is to make sure that we’re not seen as being partisan.”
After telling them the discussions wouldn’t be going ahead, he told Hartney and Chan he’d be happy to talk to them about visiting the Socials classes after the election.
Hartney said that doesn’t make a lot of sense if the school district is worried about being non-partisan.
“I still could have some kind of influence,” he said. “If that’s the issue today, it’s the same issue two months from now.”
He said the reason he approached his alma mater about talking to students and giving them an opportunity to volunteer on his campaign was to get more young people engaged in the democratic process.
“Young people don’t vote,” he said, “and I’d hoped to get them more interested in it. I think it’s sad that now these folks won’t be maybe as engaged.”
While he’ll be glad to talk to students after the election, he said, talking to them before November’s vote would have encouraged them to pay more attention to the political process going on around them over the next few weeks.
But superintendent Kevin Kaardal said schools have to avoid giving the impression of endorsing one party or individual over another during elections, and a visit from Hartney and Chan after the election could still be informative.
“Afterwards it’s, as you say, not necessarily relevant but it could still be educational,” Kaardal told the NOW.
The superintendent said it would have been different if Hartney and Chan had proposed an all-candidates debate, which have been arranged by teachers and student groups in the past.
“We’re trying to make sure that we respect all the political views that are out there, and that we don’t advantage any particular party over another,” Kaardal said.
Asked if the district has guidelines or policies in place to guide administrators in making decisions like the one at Alpha, the superintendent said no, but that the decision about Hartney and Chan was an ethical one based on “good common practice.”
Asked why Hunchak, as a professional educator, would not be left to make that judgment call, Kaardal said, “We make decisions collectively, and in this case we made the decision from the district office. … I’m not going to comment on the judgment of our teachers. They are excellent professionals. The practice in the district during elections is to make sure that public servants remain neutral.”
As for whether any school board trustees – six of whom are running for re-election with the Burnaby Citizens Association – were involved in the decision about Hartney’s and Chan’s visit to Alpha, Kaardal’s answer was emphatic.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s absolutely a decision that rests with my office.”
