Editor:
We would like to specifically congratulate Jen Mezei and Christine Cunningham on being elected school trustees.
Three weeks prior to the election, I emailed each school trustee candidate a list of important and specific questions regarding their positions and plans on supporting special needs students in the Burnaby district.
Jen and Christine were the only two candidates that took time out of their busy schedules to reply.
I belong to an advocacy group of more than six thousand B.C. parents with children with special needs, and we are highly motivated voters yearning to elect candidates that have the best interests of our children in mind. We kept a private list of candidates for endorsement based on past performance and answers to that list of questions we provided.
Since only Jen and Christine answered, they were the only two candidates we endorsed for Burnaby.
Jen Mezei has always been a strong supporter and advocate for our cause, and Christine has pledged that special needs children are one of her top priorities.
We are happy our endorsed candidates in Burnaby were successful, but if you’ll note, they squeaked in. We, as a group, would like to think that a combination of our strength as purpose, and their initiative answering our questions and taking us seriously, pushed them across the finish line.
I hope going forward other elected trustees will do more for students with special needs, and that future candidates will take us motivated parents seriously and answer our important question.
Christine Michailides, Burnaby
