Christopher Richardson has been elected in three of five runs for park board. But he’s vying to be a school board trustee with the Non-Partisan Association in the Nov. 15 civic election.
“In the discussions it was raised was I married to the park board and frankly, it solved one of my problems because Mount Pleasant Community Centre is at the negotiating table with the park board, I was going to have to give that up,” said Richardson, president of the Mount Pleasant Community Centre Association.
“When you really look at it, it’s that network of schools that provide immense opportunities to improve the fabric of our entire communities,” Richardson told the media.
NPA mayoral hopeful Kirk LaPointe introduced four new NPA candidates for school board and four for park board, July 30.
One of Richardson’s sons has a “learning difference.”
“It is one of the things that I, as a school trustee, hope to look at is what are the options so we leave no children or no child behind,” Richardson said.
But the school board struggles to balance its budget with the funding provided by the Ministry of Education every year. How does Richardson believe he can make a difference?
“First you have to raise the issues,” the chartered accountant said.
Candidates Sandy Sharma and Stacy Robertson have previously run as NPA candidates for school board.
Sharma, a real estate appraiser and realtor who served on the District Parent Advisory Council from 2008 to 2011 and as vice-chair from 2010 to 2011, seeks increased transparency and accountability at the school board. She wants an independent audit committee.
“As a parent I’m fed up with decisions made by the board such as their district closure days, which put parents and children last,” Sharma added.
The fourth NPA trustee contender is Penny Noble, a former teacher, communications consultant and executive director of Bike to Work B.C. Society.
Community volunteer Casey Crawford, who ran for park board in 2011, is running again. Newcomers are:
Jay Jagpal, a businessman, mechanical engineer and community volunteer who’s an ambassador to the Board of Trade.
Erin Shum, a special education assistant who specializes in helping children with autism and who co-owns an eco-friendly Kerrisdale spa.
Sarah Kirby-Yung, who highlighted her years of experience in marketing and communications roles in tourism, and who also worked as vice president of marketing and communications for the Vancouver Aquarium from 2008 to 2010.
Like LaPointe, Kirby-Yung doesn’t think the aquarium should change its policy of only caring for whales, dolphins and porpoises that were born in an aquarium or were rescued and deemed non-releasable by an appropriate government authority.
Each candidate praised LaPointe.
“As someone who has run… with five mayoralty hopefuls over the last number of years, it is truly a refreshing difference that Kirk has brought to this table in terms of his well-rounded, his passionate, out-of-box thinking,” Richardson said. “And that was a real decision-maker in terms of me coming back because, frankly, after being involved in my three previous decades, there were other things I could’ve done.”
NPA school board trustee Fraser Ballantyne will run for a second term, as will park board commissioner John Coupar. The NPA expelled trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo from the party in June.
Vision Vancouver is running one incumbent and three newcomers for seven park board seats. Trish Kelly withdrew last month. Vision is running six incumbents and one newcomer for nine school board seats.
The Coalition of Progressive Electors, or COPE, candidates will be endorsed Sept. 7.
