The youngest candidate vying for a spot on the Red Deer Public School District board says he has three priorities when it comes to education: accessibility, sustainability and achieving a high quality outcome.
“We see unpredictable funding from the provincial government and classroom sizes growing. I think those are important issues to look at and develop sustainable solutions to,” said Kurt Spady, 30.
“In terms of accessibility, we are always seeing new technology come out as different ways of teaching in the classroom but I think an important question that I would ask is who are we leaving out? If we implement iPads in every classroom, are we going to leave out socioeconomically disadvantaged families?”
Spady, born and raised in Red Deer, is married to Janelle, a fellow lifetime local. They have twins, Ava and Jackson, age two and a half.
“They’ll be entering the public school system in the next couple of years — it’s coming up quick.
“So they are my inspiration for running,” Spady said.
Spady, who has just completed his master’s in business administration from Athabasca University, also read a column by current public school board member Lawrence Lee in an August edition of the Red Deer Advocate that sparked his interest in running.
“He talked about the importance of being a trustee and being involved in the community, so I read up on it and thought I’d be a good person for the job.”
A part-time senior planner for Alberta Health Services, Spady also teaches business and leadership training at Red Deer College in the evenings and on the weekends, on top of his job as the owner and operator of Avason Consulting Corp., which provides management consulting services.
Spady said he recently began attending board meetings to see what they were like and was surprised by how many members remembered him from his days as student.
“I feel like we have a really good leadership at the board. I think it’s a positive place that I could learn a lot from.”
Trustee candidates will be on the Oct. 21 municipal ballot along with city council and mayoral candidates.
Other Red Deer Public School board candidates are Bill Christie, Shari Hanson, Kerri Kenworthy, Lianne Kruger, Dick Lemke, Dianne Macaulay, Bev Manning, Ben Ordman, Cathy Peacocke, Bill Stuebing, Jim Watters, Milt Williams and Raymond Yaworski.
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com