Context Assignment

EDTE 519
Liliana Ballarin-Cass
02-04-2022

Interview with Jennifer Cox (Vice Principal & Gr. 5 Teacher in SD 61)

I had the opportunity to interview Jennifer Cox, who is a Grade 5 teacher and Vice
Principal in the Greater Victoria School District along with Jordan Watters who is a former Chair
and current School Trustee in the Greater Victoria School District. These two interviews allowed
me to gain a deeper insight into what their roles entail and their values of education.
First, I interviewed Jennifer Cox, who I had the opportunity to work with while I was an
EA before my entry into the Bachelor of Education and was an incredible advocate for me to
apply for the program. She was and still is the Vice Principal (for 5yrs now) and a Grade 5
teacher at Frank Hobbs Elementary. Although Jen teaches 100% of the time with no release time,
her dedication, love for learning and support for learner engagment in loving learning
illuminated our conversation. Her background and experience is diverse; she has sat on district
and advisory committees, participated in interdisciplinary research, presented at workshops, been
involved in district initiatives and has worked in special education. All of these experiences have
contributed to obtaining the role of Vice Principal along with receiving her Masters degree in
Leadership. She stated it has been a combination of formal and informal leadership
opportunities: specifically, ‘putting yourself out there’.
“ What got me here is different from what keeps me here” was Jens initial thought. She
found passion in working and collaborating with her colleagues and has felt it to be just as
rewarding as working face to face with learners. She is passionate about collaboration, inclusive
learning, new curriculum and changing the systems organization of diverse learners. Jen
expanded her thoughts on being motivated by working with adults from a grassroots level, to
change the system and evolve practice. I really appreciate her devotion to collaboration with
colleagues and building those relationships to strengthen practice. She has encouraged me to
seek opportunities of collaboration when and where I can. When asked about what gets in the
way of her work Jen listed: a global pandemic, red tape, unexpected crisis, people conflicts,
paperwork and time. Alongside ‘time’, Jen added that her perfectionism can be a factor because
finding the balance between the personal expectation and the time you have can be challenging.
Jen’s vulnerability in sharing the challenges of having high expectations for yourself resonated
with me. This balance has been a challenge for me during practicum. Where I spend every ounce
of time I have into my planning and lessons that at times I have felt close to burnout before I
have even begun my teaching career. A goal of mine this time around is to work towards a
balance of sustainable self expectations. I also asked her what about education is the most
important to you? Without skipping a beat Jen said “education has to be about a learning
process. It can’t be about the content outcome, it is learning how to learn”. She extended her
response further by explaining that learning is how you grow yourself as a learner to pursue your
own passions in education. Jen added that “education is the core competencies that lasts a
lifetime” sharing her enthusiasm for how they are the processes that students engage with to give
them ownership over their learning.
Jen’s main priority as a vice principal includes safety in all forms: emotional, physical
and environmental safety. She mentioned her own personal priorities might be different from that
of the systems for example building managing vs quality of programming for students. The
priorities she prefers to focus on are: working towards what's best practice in the classroom and
being aware of it, supporting the adults in engaging and development if it is missing. She
prioritizes building a collaborative working environment and relationships between colleagues.
Jen touched on how the pandemic had really brought the team together at her school. Moving
further into our conversation Jen elaborated on what learner success looks like in SD61. She
mentioned how the district is growing and shifting. Jen posed the questions around how the
district can always refer to the data, FSA’s and benchmarks: the quantifiable things as a means to
measure what learner success is or we can dive deeper and consider: “are we measuring what’s
important or are we making what’s measurable important?” It was an important question for me
to ponder and we discussed further how learner success is engagement, feeling a sense of
belonging in their community and how learner curiosity will bring them to academic success.
However, working the other way around doesn't always lead to the same place of learning. In
reflection, I connected this to the curriculum and how it is set up for that flexibility of measuring
what's important and individual to each learner. Jen stressed how there is a need for systemic
change and how new teachers can carry this thinking forward creating lasting change to the
system. Lastly, I asked Jen what she felt was the most important shift or direction of education at
this moment and she was quick to say the “elimination of letter grades.” We discussed the
importance of a learner centered approach and how removing letter grades from K-9 is now
finally starting to change the structure to match good practice.

Interview with Jordan Watters ( School Trustee in SD61)

It was enlightening to speak with Jordan who has been a School Trustee with the Greater
Victoria School District for 7 years (Chair for 3 years) and works with children and youth within
the child welfare system. I was drawn to interview Jordan after reading her bio on the School
Trustee website as her views aligned with mine. I quickly noticed that out of all the trustees she
was the only individual who specified her priorities of supporting Indigenous voices, the
LGBTQ2S community and learners with diversabilities. I asked her how she obtained her role
and she shared it was never her intent to be a school trustee. She began explaining how it’s an
elected position and how you don’t have to live in the district you are running for. I showed
interest in that second note, of not having to live in that district, she explained how teachers can’t
run in their district so it opens opportunities for them to share their voice if they were elected into
another district. I still find this very interesting and am intrigued to dive deeper. She
recommended I sit in on a few of the meetings when I am a teacher to see what they entail.
Before her children were school aged, she was active in supporting the teachers strike a few
years back, where she spoke and advocated at rallys and she founded the Support for BC
Students Facebook page. She was an active voice within her community and individuals around
her encouraged her to run when the strike was over. She began running after she started her
Facebook Page in April/May of that year and by October she was elected.
Moving our conversation further I asked Jordan what motivates her, what priorities she
values in her role and what gets in the way of her work? Although she hasn’t had any work
experience in education, her motivation has come from having belief in the public education
system and the changes it can make in the world. She mentioned that she has children who are
neurodiverse, have learning disabilities and a child who has transitioned. Which have contributed
to her priority and motivation to advocate for inclusive education. I truly appreciated her
vulnerability of sharing details about her family. It allowed me the opportunity to dive deeper
into the value of parent voice within the education system and how important it is to have their
voices involved in decision making, creating the space for change and community voice. From
our learning and understanding in class, I was a little unsure of how I felt about school trustees
because of the lack of experience candidates may have when running for election. Speaking with
Jordan, I felt hopeful with having someone like her on the board. She has very well rounded
views and is very knowledgeable about the public school system because of her passion and
respect for it.
She mentioned how there is a different set of values you apply to specific areas when it
comes to making decisions within the board and the complexity of it all. Her personal priorities
may differ from that of other board members as well. We discussed her priority of wanting
education to be equitable and wanting to diminish gaps demographically. Specifically, closing
the graduation gap: “we see 50% of Indigenous learners graduating in comparison to
non-indigenous who are at 80% along with LGBTQ2S learners dropping out because they don’t
feel safe”. She expanded on the challenges of building equity across all schools within the
district for example saying one school gets one thing and another doesn't. For example, one
school may have 1 iPad for every 3 students and another nothing. She said “parents shouldn’t
have to subsidize their child's learning” this led into a conversation about how the amount of
money parents make shouldn’t affect their child's learning opportunities, mentioning PAC and
the accessibility of advocacy. There are discrepancies of resource allocation through-out the
district. This reminded me of when I was an EA and my very first week I was placed at a school
where their population was almost all Indigenous learners that came from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds, situational and generational poverty. Then I landed at a school across town, the
same district where they had not only a computer lab they had iPads available, parent
involvement who advocated for things like new playgrounds and organized hot lunches. Where
this school I was at previously, had none of that. Each school has different needs and means of
support so how do we gain equity across a district because support of resources doesn’t look the
same from school to school. It has made me want to research the equitability of the public
education system. Jordan added how we “can't give the same resources to all schools and expect
the same outcome” and how it isn’t just about changing policy, it's in collaboration with
changing culture and the way we do things.
I furthered the interview by asking what gets in the way of her work on the board and she
was quick to say “there’s a lot” specifically the complexity of funding and how “moving funding
from one area to another is difficult. The system isn’t flexible. If you fund one thing for 10yrs it's
expected you will fund forever even as needs shift…not enough resources as the resources they
have are difficult to shift around.” The graduation gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
learners came up again in relation to this because she recognizes the need to be able to move
funding around to support the students and how sometimes there is pushback from moving
money from one system to another. Jordan explained that it can be difficult also because you
“have to be willing to make a decision that is unpopular in the moment because it's better in the
long run.” We dove deeper into how Victoria is rather political and how “public life can become
polarized and difficult for nuanced discussions of what is needed for communities.” This makes
it a lot less flexible due to fear in the system and uncertainty brought on by change. Funding and
allocation of resources is something I only understand at the surface level and so I am curious to
explore deeper into funding. I asked “what does success look like in your district?” Interestingly,
she responded with “that is a good question. Different people would have different answers: for
us every child is able to meet their potential and is supported in doing so. Make sure every child
feels a sense of belonging and safety in their school.” I went and compared with the SD61
Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 and I was excited to see the shift to culturally responsive pedagogy
because my inquiry project for another class has been around this approach and shift of mindset.
I shifted our conversation to gain an understanding of what is most important to Jordan
regarding education and the shift in education happening at this moment. She explained how “its
transformative potential for individual kids and their lives, our culture and society as a whole.
Raising engaged citizens.” Where learners are growing, thinking critically and creatively. She
also pressed how schools are the heart of our communities and in order to have healthy
communities we need to have healthy schools. When we discussed this in detail it allowed me to
reflect on the idea that it takes a village to raise and support our learners. We have to collaborate
with our communities and allocate the appropriate resources to best meet the needs. As we
continued talking Jordan explained her passion for inclusive learning and education further and
how she appreciates the shift in education. Although she feels we still have a long way to go she
sees value in the interweaving of push in and push out support for learners with diverse abilities.
She is enthusiastic about the idea of no longer separating kids from their classroom communities.
“Inclusion is progression”. She shared her appreciation for EA’s and their importance however;
she mentioned how the system has been putting the ‘least qualified people’ with the most high
risk learners. Which in her opinion contributes to higher burn out of EAs as they are being put
most at risk. This isn’t the first time I have heard this. When I reflect back to the schooling I took
to become an EA, it was very surface level and wasn’t connected to what I put into practice. My
challenging behaviors course deepened my understanding of how the brain works, supporting
mental health and instilled how all behavior is communication. I felt some of the situations I was
in as an EA were beyond my scope, although I was pressured to continue because I built strong
relationships with my students. Jordan had mentioned at one point in time they stopped the
funding of adding more EA’s because it was a band aid solution and instead started adding more
teachers. This was met with a lot of resistance because the viewpoint was that they were taking
away support. From the board's perspective they were adding quality and long term support. I did
take this opinion to heart, I truly value my experience as an EA and feel it has given me a strong
foundation and a different lens as I grow my identity as an Educator. I consider how we can
better support our EA’s in the classroom beyond Pro D days and collaborate with them to better
support our learners.
My impression of Jordan is positive. I appreciate how her values are focused on
community, inclusion and changing the system to best support our learners. She gave me an
insight into the board and the work they do. Although, I recognize not all the members come
from a well-rounded background such as herself and do not share the same viewpoints. It truly
surprises me that the individuals on the board do not have to have any background knowledge or
experience regarding education. I think the community should be involved in some way, on the
other hand I strongly feel they should come with a certain amount of experience or knowledge of
how the system works. I feel education and educators are undervalued and at the same time held
to a higher standard, but we place random individuals who are far removed from the front lines
in these positions to make important decisions. I look forward to going to future board meetings
to deepen my understanding.