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Polls for Pemberton by-election for school trustee open till 8 p.m. tonight

Erica Osburn and David Walden running for election as trustee
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Photo by Clare Ogilvie

The Sea to Sky School District 48 (SD 48) is holding a by-election for the Pemberton school trustee role today, Saturday, Jan. 18.

There are two candidates running in the election: writer and editor Erica Osburn and retired, longtime Signal Hill Elementary School teacher David Walden.

Osburn currently has two children at Signal Hill, where she has been involved with the school's Parents Advisory Committee (PAC) executive.

While she wants to help all schools in the district, Osburn said she would like to be a strong voice for Pemberton schools.

"We are not an urban environment and we have some real challenges here," she said. "I intend to be a strong voice for our little community because it's just not like Whistler and it's not like Squamish."

As part of her contribution to the Signal Hill PAC, Osburn brought guest speakers to the school, including educators with the iGuy/iGirl workshops that discussed issues to do with gender and consent.

"Looking critically at gender stereotypes and gender roles are things that we want our kids and youth to know inside-out and backwards," she said. "So that's why we brought [the speakers] in [over] multiple years."

Osburn, who also works part-time as a guest-relations host for Whistler Blackcomb during the winter, has lived in Pemberton for the past 15 years.

She is passionate about nutrition and cooking, having taught cooking classes for children and youth in the Pemberton Valley.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

This is not Walden's first time running for trustee. He won election in 2006 and served as in the role until 2011, spending four years as chair of the board.

A longtime music teacher, Walden served as vice-principal of Signal Hill from the mid 1970s until his retirement.

"I've been involved with the school district for 53 years now," he said, adding that he taught for four years in his native Australia before moving to the Pemberton Valley in 1967.

Following his retirement in 2000, Walden has worked as a teacher on call (though he did have to give up this role after declaring his candidacy for the trustee race).

His educational roots run deep. His father and brother were teachers, and his daughter is a teacher at Pemberton Secondary.

"It's been very gratifying to meet some of my former students and they have told me, 'Oh yes, Mr. Walden, you got me started in music," said Walden.

He earned a Bachelor of Education degree at UBC and a Masters of Arts degree in education at San Diego State University.

Voting will be open to qualified electors of Trustee Electoral Area 3 (Village of Pemberton) until 8:00 p.m. at Signal Hill Elementary School (1410 Pemberton Portage Road, Pemberton BC, V0N 2L1).

There is no need to pre-register to vote.

For more details on voting see sd48seatosky.org