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John Burleson, Pemberton school trustee candidate

John Burleson: A parent committed to improving education

Proust Questionnaire

Name

: John Burleson

Political experience:

I vote

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Lack of vision.

What is your idea of earthly happiness?

Empowering others to succeed.

Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?

Any character who overcame great adversity.

Who are your favourite characters in history?

Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln.

Your favorite musician?

Bono.

The quality you most admire in a woman?

A great sense of humor.

The quality you most admire in a man?

Courage.

What natural ability would you have liked to have had?

Remembering where I put the car keys…

Your most marked characteristic?

Determination.

What do you most value in your friends?

The ability to inspire one another.

What is it you most dislike?

Lack of compassion.

What reform do you most admire?

Personal reformation.

What is your motto?

"

Fix the problem, not the blame."

When John Burleson speaks about education it’s with an enthusiasm, and sometimes analogies, others reserve for sports.

"It’s 90 feet from third base to home plate regardless of the colour of your skin or your socio-economic background. It’s our job to get kids to home plate," he says. "Our local community, whether looking at the primary or secondary school, should not be satisfied with the status quo."

His passion for youth excellence and community engagement was the driving force behind his decision to run for the position of Pemberton trustee for School District No. 48. A story that ran mid-September in The Globe and Mail bemoaning the substandard level of literacy among college and university entrants sealed the deal.

"We need to address this problem at the local level now," he says.

One of the few male members of the Signal Hill Elementary School Parents Advisory Council, he feels that parents have an obligation to be involved at every level of their children’s education.

"As parents we are the primary educators of our children. And as such we know that each child is a uniquely gifted individual," he says. "Our job is to empower that child to discover that creative spark and for us to fan the flame of understanding so that our children will provide leadership and hope for the next generation."

Creating environments necessary to nurture children’s creative sparks often requires sacrifice. Raised in Canada, Burleson relocated to the U.S. as an adult. Before moving to Pemberton last year, he and his wife, Anita, had resided in Dallas, Texas for nine years.

"Raising our son, who’s now six, in a large metropolitan area was not what we wanted, we wanted a different lifestyle. I have an uncle who has lived in Whistler since 1965 and we ended up picking Pemberton because we didn’t want to be in as transient a community as Whistler is," says Burleson.

To make the move feasible, Burleson, who has a background in TV and radio, took a job in property maintenance.

Burleson believes there is no reason why kids in Pemberton schools shouldn’t be scoring as a high as kids in West Vancouver on provincial standardized tests.

"Our children should lead the school district in scholastic achievement. In order for that to happen, we need a creative approach in providing innovative educational opportunities for our students. We should be exploring non-traditional means of learning, such as broadband Internet virtual classrooms available in many disciplines from many major universities and institutions of higher learning," he says. "We lose many of our children to the large metropolitan areas because traditionally that’s where they need to go for their educational and employment opportunities. New technology, however, is changing this trend. Population size is fast becoming a non-barrier in achieving a cutting edge education."

Burleson believes that this type of practical "outside-the-box" thinking is the most effective way of addressing problems within the education system.

Burleson acknowledges that parents have to be actively engaged in their children’s education, but concedes that with many two-parent working families or families where parents work multiple jobs, this is not always possible. Therefore, if the parents can’t come to the school, the school must come to the parents.

"We need to reach out to parents, many who work more than one job to provide for their families, by using new forms of communication technology in order to help them meet their goal of being more involved in their child’s educational process," he says.

He believes it’s imperative that parents, as the end users of the school system, have an advocate at the board table – a role he’s ready to take on.

"We need proactive leadership at the school board level that is a voice for setting policy that favours every child – regardless of race, ability or disability, and socio-economic background – so every child will have access to the tools and training to prepare them to succeed in life."



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