Raise the Hammer
I feel I can represent Wards 1 and 2 with the eyes and heart of a parent, strengthened with the courage of an advocate to do the right thing for our students.
By Christine Bingham
Published October 24, 2014
The most frequent question asked these days is, "Why do you want to become a Public School Board Trustee?"
Plain and simple: the students. They are the heart and soul of education and need immense nurturing to create a successful environment for everyone. Diversity, adversity and unification of the students needs to come first.
As a parent, a community member, a neighbour and an entrepreneur, I have watched so many of these students mature and graduate from our schools. After 25 years, the next logical step in my engagements with the HWDSB is Public School Trustee: advocating directly for our students.
I have no other political aspirations and therefore will give our students my undivided attention as liaison with the HWDSB.
I have participated on the Board of Directors for Niwasa Head Start Aboriginal Preschool from 1998-2003, four of those years as President of the Board of Directors, Parent Council at Earl Kitchener from 2005-2009 and Chair of Parkview SS Parent Council.
I have advocated with and coached families in the HWDSB to help them get the proper support their children needed. My career has taken me from the Museums of Hamilton to creating historic clothing and wedding gowns.
I chose a home-based business so I could attend to my son's needs. Since his diagnosis of autism at the age of two-and-a-half, there have been therapists, program directors, and support services of one kind or another.
I've assisted in writing programs, actively participated in his therapies and organized meetings to bring together those involved in his forward progress in life.
As a parent with two sons in the HWDSB, our household has gone from kindergarten to high school; both french immersion and English tracks; from special education; international students and now school closures.
Their schools have been within walking distances with the exception of the past two years having seen my younger son on a school bus due to the programs he needs at Parkview Secondary.
15 years of historic reenactments, countless hours of volunteering at Hamilton Museums with public and school programming, primary, middle and secondary schools, and many happy moments of brides in their gowns have created a stability for my family in the Kirkendall neighbourhood.
I feel I can represent Wards 1 and 2 with the eyes and heart of a parent, strengthened with the courage of an advocate to do the right thing for our students. As Trustee for Wards 1 and 2, I will listen, research and advocate on behalf of the students and their families.
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