Trevor Barry for SD61 Trustee for Saanich (GVSD electoral area)

IN PROGRESS (web page under construction)

You can also read the "Trusty Trustee Trevor" page to learn more about me.

Think of this as a "dynamic document" below, which will be moulded and crafted based on all the consulting, door-knocking, and other engagement I have with stakeholders, experts and other local voters, along the way. If the font is a lighter shade, it is particularly unpolished - thanks for understanding.

Policies

Please find the heading below for the topics you are most interested in:

Music Education 

• Priority #1 - maintain instructional hours for three years, i.e. Sep'27-Jun'31: 
  • ensuring continuity of teachers and programs,
  • reliability for parents and students,
  • and sustainable planning for middle school music
  • this probably means steering clear of the exploratory model, to ensure it has space for other meaningful skillsets that are outside the core curriculum (re: music is inside).
  • sustaining continuity in music-team-dynamics which supports retention for high-school programs that benefit from per-pupil funding from the province with the corollary benefit of specialised senior courses like languages, fine-arts, phys-ed leadership, etc.
• Engage VCPAC on viable ways to leverage PAC fundraising efforts & crowdsourcing volunteer hours, while respecting equity of opportunity across the district.
• Business Partnerships with not-for-profit organisations 
  • e.g. community group rehearsal space + coaching in return
  • e.g. leveraging the liability coverage of PAC activities to reduce insurance costs on community partners (e.g. ensemble rehearsals, private/group lessons, etc.)
  • capital asset (community amenity) development
• Greater student exposure to higher-level music performances by lower-level schools (e.g. hosting or field trips) as well as older student volunteers coaching and mentoring younger musicians.
  • higher-level could mean secondary school, but may also be UVic concerts, jazz/vocal societies, Hermann's, Royal-McPherson, etc.
• Build a new, larger seated theatre facility at Reynolds - ideally as a joint venture with the District of Saanich, re: Quadra McKenzie Centre community meeting and event space.
  • There may be CRD Arts Funding and other capital grants for partnership collaboration
  • Reynolds (and QMC) are conspicuously anomalous in not having sufficient performance hall amenity serving their growing community

Climate literacy in classrooms

• encourage use of Climate Action Kits (newly created resources curated by Librarians)
  • by multiple teachers back-to-back at the same school 
  • reservation system available to middle and secondary students
• followed up by classroom engagement by sustainability professionals/academics 
  • use Aarav's Lambrick Climate Summit as a model across the district 

Climate Action (corporate)

• SD61's Climate Accountability Reporting, such as the provincially-legislated Carbon Neutral Action Reports, should be more accessible to the public, and used as resource material in the aforementioned climate action kits
• SD61 should better support (and seek support from) Saanich, Victoria and other climate and sustainability programs across the region (e.g. bike racks, bus shelters & waste diversion) including having the facilities portfolio (school buildings) not only participate in the CRD Benchmarking program, but also: 
  • SD61 should use their energy-management software to populate EnergyStar Portfolio Manager platform data-sharing,
  • allowing for annual public disclosure of performance metrics under via the "Building Benchmark BC" map tool,
  • and, eventually, real-time facility-by-facility consumption data
• These and related initiatives could provide insight into
  • Facility-by-facility accountability (e.g. ekWh/m2)
    • normalised for set-points due to facility rentals, etc.
    • normalised by FTE and other demand variables
  • pre- and post- major renovations: to discover best practices for cost-savings
• Organics Diversion: purposefully located receptacle bins for lower contamination (in spite of risk of lower participation).
• Transportation Demand (TDM) strategies
  • e.g. Work with lower-island athletic associations on travel schedules that mitigate vehicle reliance on higher-walkscore populations, simultaneously reducing outbound trips during afternoon peaks.
  • e.g. Parking management (e.g. PAC motivation enforcement) and as potential revenue stream opportunity
  • e.g. cash-in-lieu of free parking for staff 

Budget Transparency, Democratic Accountability

• Prepare a deliberate and intentional recruitment strategy and selection criteria for hiring the next Superintendent
• School District Budget (if not school budgets) should be provided line-by-line as open-source machine-readable CSV (spreadsheet) files for academic research and public scrutiny. Let sunshine be the best disinfectant.
• Standardise the practice of SBO staff providing information notes and reports to trustees and the public - akin to municipal governments - replete with Pros/Cons, Cost-Benefit analysis, trade-offs, cross-jurisdictional research, etc. Recommendations should be argued with accompanying evidence. 

What about the wards?

• Whereas the current changes in 2026 provide a disproportionately low and unfair representation to the Saanich population;
• And whereas one-member electoral areas are essentially "SMM wards" that political science suggests will equilibrate and devolve into divisive first-past-the-post partisanship;
• And whereas plurality-at-large systems offer more opportunity for a diversity of voices and collaboration between them;
• And whereas the current changes in 2026 were brought in by an unelected, democratically unaccountable, provincially-appointed trustee, and done without any meaningful parent- or public engagement;
• And yet also whereas incumbent politicians, elected under a given system, are never motivated to make changes to the system;
• And also whereas the morphing of two (out of nine) trustee seats to be specifically accountable to residents of the two land-based First Nations, while imperfect and still colonial, offer a valuable opportunity for piloting "Reconcili-action" and on the advice of said Nations;
• And whereas the Province and the School Board as authorities and institutions have a long road ahead to rebuild trust with parents and the community;
• And whereas this coming term, with Trevor serving, will be the one great opportunity to meaningfully engage the community on governance reform; 
• THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT: 
  The School District and the Ministry will engage the SD61 electorate community and stakeholders on variations and options for a sustainable new governance model;
• AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT (Trevor will campaign on)
  The SD61 School Board trustee election model move back to a plurality-at-large system to elect seven (7) trustees of equal non-FN population representation, and additionally maintain the two (2) trustees that are each elected from the respective populations of the Kosapsum and Songhees Nations.

AI/tech - draft ideas

• Any AI usage by SD61, including in-classroom, should be
  • Canadian & Sovereign
  • sourced from Clean data centres (i.e. near-zero water, low-carbon energy, heat recycling)
  • also congruent with PM Carney standards
  • (Kids: avoid foreign threats)
  • Safe kids (Manitoba?)
  • Clean energy, water, co-gen
• AI policy - when proven as a bespoke learning tool
  • Not as screen time, rewiring and harming young brains
  • Yes as aid to unique learning needs (specialised to particular student)

Other - draft ideas

• Mechanics vs. Computer programming
• Advocate to Prov
• … daylight time vs darkness (changing clocks, standard)
• Revenue via facility rentals
  • With freemium use for community groups with parent connexions
  • (Repeat: Paid Parking [Mgmt])
• Partnerships with Local Government
  • Facility and resource sharing
  • Transportation demand management, visionZero
  • Population and community planning vis-a-vis development, school asset capital planning (also with 3 ministries)