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

Download my pamphlet flyer!  -  Comment on Policy Discussions

(dynamic document below... - also see: summer engagement)

...continuously being moulded and crafted based on all the consulting, door-knocking, and other canvassing and 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.

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

Skip to policies below.

Quick Highlights

My campaign tagline is “Open The Books” 
 📖 literally 
 🧮 make the budget transparent 
 📚 >📱
 📰 fresh leadership to restore trust 

#1 priority is music education programming 
 🎶 middle school year-long ensembles 
 🎤 jazz, choir, etc 
 🎻 strings in elementary 
 🪊 this all protects provincial funding locally in high schools 🎭 and community arts economic development 
 🚫 avoid exploratory-only

#2 priority is climate action & leadership 
 🤓 leverage existing climate & energy science resources for the classroom 
 🌎 leverage existing professional network of local experts 
 🚌 work with municipalities on TDM & sustainability strategies 
 🏫 lean into the data for capital asset portfolio planning, environmental investments 

“Trevor the Trusty Trustee” 

⚽️ 3 kids in the system this term 
✅ 15+ years living in Saanich & leading local societies, volunteering, boards, committees
👨‍🏫 professional government experience + chair of SCAN, President of NQ community association, treasurer of Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils
🥎 little leagues, community coach, scouts, festivals, fundraising, music lesson teacher, etc. 

Policies

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

• Music 
• Climate
• Budget
• Democracy
• Safety
• Technology

You can also read about how these topics are being raised and discussed on hundreds of Saanich doorsteps as I canvass and knock-knock in our community (midway down the front page of this site).

Music Education 🎷 (and related community economics)

• Priority #1 - protect existing middle school programming (incl. jazz band & choir) 
  • maintain instructional hours for three years, i.e. Sep'27-Jun'31: 
  • ensuring continuity of teachers and programs, ensemble team dynamics & enrolment retention (progressing into high school)
  • reliability for parents and students, sustainability planning for timetable development and spillover supports for high school via block-funding (surplus monies!)
  • music is a well known brain- and social-development activity (expressing math, art, and teamwork); and it gives all kids (incl. those not into sports, etc) a safe place to feel they belong.
  • moreover, investing in middle-school music programming ensures that there are enough skilled students to take music programming in high-school, where (thanks to provincial block funding model) its strong economy of scale means it is a revenue-generator to the district
  • finally, Greater Victoria is a tourism and services economy; home grown musicians support our performance arts industries that contribute to our economic prosperity.
• Actions
  • Motion to provide direction to superintendent:
    …to present budget options that do not include reductions in music instruction, unless a fulsome report is tabled publicly providing analysis of trade-off considerations
    …to avoid downgrading ensemble instruction to the exploratory model (which also ensures exploratory maintains space for other meaningful skillsets that - unlike music - are outside the core curriculum).
  • Engage VCPAC on viable ways to leverage PAC fundraising efforts & crowdsourcing volunteer hours, while respecting equity of opportunity across the district.
• Other Priorities & Actions
  • 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.)
  • Greater student exposure to higher-level music performances (e.g. hosting/attending lower-level schools; field trips to UVic/symphony) as well as older student volunteers coaching and mentoring younger musicians.
  • 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 our 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 
  • tap into rolodex of sustainability professionals to populate the speaker series

Climate Action (corporate energy, emissions and resilience) 🏫

• 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
• Facility capital improvement planning (HVAC, envelope, sometimes attached to seismic) should also be made public-facing, and emphasize health & Air Quality benefits of switching away from gas heating
• Organic Waste 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; freemium parking, staff transit passes.

Budget Transparency, Democratic Accountability ⚖️

• Prepare a deliberate and intentional recruitment strategy and selection criteria for hiring the next Superintendent, and HR direction for senior management talent acquisition.
• School District Budget (if not school budgets, example models) 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 (incl. during campaign seasons);
• 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 resident representation, and additionally maintain the two (2) trustees that are each elected from the respective wards (electoral areas) of the Kosapsum and Songhees First Nations.

Police & Safety 

I had been under informed (and generally uninterested) in this divisive issue prior to seeking office this year. I have learned a lot about it since then. Including how all sides in this debate ended up looking bad and eroding public trust and confidence. 

Since then, I have knocked on hundreds of doors, most conversations of which demonstrate a desire to see a police liaison program of some kind maintained (as has been for the past year!); although the vast majority of voters seem to be quite open to tweaking and amending it as deemed appropriate to be sensitive to vulnerable students; and they simultaneously don't think the SD61 budget should pay for it. 

SD40 seems to be the best example, e.g. police are invited in, often plain-clothed (without uniform), and activity is logged after signing in at the office. Friendly presence is still beneficial to community building. Harm mitigation, mentoring connections, public safety instruction can all be realised. 

This leads me to this conciliatory approach:

• Whereas this issue left the community bereft of leadership, caused severe damage to public trust in the system
• and whereas institutional efforts to regain trust and help return the system into good repute is in dire need
• and whereas debate on the role and impact of police in schools is deeply fraught with challenges to social cohesion
• and whereas advocates on all sides are pointing to and citing the model introduced in the New Westminster system;
• Therefore, be it resolved that Trevor second any fellow Trustee's motions (e.g. coming from partners) that provide direction to the Superintendent for SBO staff to adapt programming and adopt a new approach to SPLO programming based on the leadership example in NewWest schools (SD40). 

I can imagine a scenario where Victoria TEA representatives raise this issue again - and I will support the conversation, but with hopes that different areas of town, different police departments, can flexibly provide different MOUs about expectations, as well as professional development work.

Furthermore, we need to continue to support programming (e.g. music, sports) and resources (e.g. SOGI, pink shirt day, orange shirt day) that provide safe and inclusive spaces for students of all kinds, from all households and backgrounds - because kids who feel connected to school and that they belong to its community... these kids are less likely to be targeted by and attracted toward the unsavoury elements (not to mention: they learn better).

Additionally, "Safe routes to school". 
Both the police (re: bike safety courses) and other partners need to be consulted (asked to help deliver) transportation and mobility literacy. Examples include #VisionZero Road Safety, Transit access for students during school hours, bike parking, e-mobility awareness, etc. 

AI, screens, tech devices; plus other policy items:

A growing concern among parents and other community members alike revolves around screens and online devices.  In particular, there is strong (even if not yet widespread) fears about the roles of AI in society, and especially in the hands of kids. This follows from overwhelming evidence on the harms caused to youth from social media use.

Screentime is recommended to fall below 2 hours per day; and parents still do rely on screens as a way to survive busy family life. Therefore, screen time at school should be minimized. Moreover, research shows that learning things is longer-lasting (knowledge is regained better) when information is presented in books, rather than videos, etc. 

Finally, the skills of tomorrow will be human skills. The economy of our childrens' futures won't be the 1990s-projections of computer programmers. Computers will program themselves. Students, therefore, need to learn concepts and context, rather than factoids. How to problem-solve, rather than calculate. And how to interact socially with emotional intelligence, rather than manipulate screens and algorithms.

Having said all that - kids with special needs, as part of an inclusive learning (policy 5147 - which needs to be amended to be reviewed more regularly in this shifting landscape!) should have access to bespoke technologies and devices conducive to their unique needs and learning plans. 

Thanks for your patience as I continue to canvass our community and reach out to stakeholders.

More details coming soon. Meanwhile, feel free to peruse my summer brainstorming archive.