To the Editor,
Re: Parents angry over logo cost, Sept. 18.
The trustees of School District 68 need to get reacquainted with their operational mandate, which is to improve student achievement by engaging their communities in building and maintaining a school system that reflects local priorities, values and expectations.
If the trustees believe that even a fraction of our students will benefit, in any way, from any form of rebranding, logo design or otherwise, then contracting the appropriate professionals at current market rates is a reasonable use of education funds.
I, along with countless other parents, cannot foresee any benefit, direct or indirect, to students, ergo I can only interpret the school board’s actions as a form of political posturing.
District spokeswoman Donna Reimer reported that a revision of the district’s graphic identity is timely in light of the new strategic plan, which is “in the developmental stage.”
Over the years, many excellent initiatives within these strategic plans never made it out of the developmental stage, ironically, owing to lack of funding.
This undertaking of corporate rebranding amounts to putting the cart before the horse. The district wants stakeholders to perceive it is focused on improving student learning and optimizing academic outcomes.
But, rather than acting according to this mandate and letting those actions speak for themselves in the eyes of stakeholders, the district has opted to get a shiny new coat of paint in the hope that teachers, parents, and other stakeholders may be sufficiently dazzled by this new image so as to overlook the academic shortcomings within the classrooms themselves.
Proper management of human resources, minimization of salary-heavy, high-level administrative positions, and accountability for class size and composition all constitute moving forward in the best interests of students throughout the district. A new graphic identity does not.
Parents may be powerless to change the school board’s most current wasteful undertaking, but do not forget it come the next election.
Research trustees, get informed as to who voted for what, when, and why, and then let the ballot speak on voting day.
Sadly, we have no one to blame for this logo debacle but ourselves, as each of the trustees who voted for this senseless waste of resources was elected to their position by parents.
Tiffany Nelson
Nanaimo