School Trustee Candidate – Qualicum School District
For more than a decade, I’ve been involved in SD69 Qualicum and the wider community as a parent, volunteer, organizer, and community leader.
Over that time, I’ve often found myself helping people understand how systems work, connecting people and organizations, and bringing different perspectives together around a constructive way forward.
I’ve learned governance from working within organizations with very different structures and responsibilities. That experience has shown me that good governance is not one-size-fits-all. It starts with understanding the structure, respecting people’s roles, creating meaningful ways to participate, and staying accountable for what follows.
As a trustee, I would bring that same approach to the Board table: listen carefully, ask questions, bring people together, and make responsible decisions with every student in mind.
Get in touch: VoteRayWoroniak@gmail.com
Public education and the youth in our community have been an important part of my life for a long time. Much of that time has been spent showing up, listening, asking questions, helping where I could, and learning from students, families, staff, and the wider school community.
I’m running to continue that work. To listen, learn, ask thoughtful questions, and help make responsible decisions with students at the centre.
The school district exists for students, and every student counts. That does not mean every decision will make everyone happy. It means we cannot only count the students who benefit from our decisions. We also have to pay attention to the students who are struggling, less visible, or carrying the consequences.
Evidence should help us learn - not simply help defend the position we already hold.
The Board’s responsibility does not end when a vote is taken. Decisions should come back for review. Did we achieve what we expected? What actually happened? Who benefited? Were there consequences we did not anticipate? What did we learn, and does anything need to change?
No Board will get every decision right. When evidence shows that something is not working as intended, the responsible response is to acknowledge it, learn from it, and change course where necessary. If the Board got something wrong, it should be able to say so plainly, apologize where warranted, and work to make it right.
I do not expect to know everything on day one. I do expect to listen, ask difficult questions, keep learning, and take the responsibility seriously.
I’ve spent much of the past eleven years involved in public education in SD69 Qualicum as a parent, volunteer, PAC and DPAC member, and through time spent directly with students. I currently have children attending elementary and secondary school in Qualicum School District. As a parent with children currently in the Qualicum School District, I also bring the day-to-day perspective of a family experiencing public education today.
Over the years, people have also come to me when they need help understanding a process, figuring out who to talk to, connecting people and organizations, or finding a constructive way forward. I value that trust. I try to help people understand the system and their options rather than simply tell them what to think.
Today, I’m Executive Director of the UNESCO designated Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region. My work includes organizational leadership, budgeting and financial administration, staff supervision, grants and contracts, partnerships, Board reporting, and working with First Nation governments, municipal governments, community organizations, businesses, and other partners.
That broader experience has strengthened my ability to carry responsibility, but my interest in becoming a school trustee comes from much closer to home: years of caring about SD69 Qualicum, its students, and its future.
My involvement in public education began soon after our family moved to Qualicum Beach in 2013, before my first child had even started school. Since then, it has grown through parent governance, volunteering in schools, working directly with students, and contributing to the wider community.
11 years of PAC involvement and volunteering in SD69 Qualicum - I have been involved at both the elementary and secondary levels since 2015, including PAC participation, school volunteering, community events, and other district involvement.
7 years on the DPAC executive - I served as Director at Large, Vice-President, Treasurer for four years, and President in 2024–25.
8 years coaching chess at Arrowview Elementary - From 2015–16 through 2022–23, I coached the school chess club and had the opportunity to spend regular time directly with students and teachers.
7 years coordinating the Farm-to-School program at Arrowview Elementary - From 2015–16 through 2021–22, I helped bring fresh fruit and vegetables into classrooms for students.
Community connections and parent engagement - I started and administer the SD69 Qualicum Parents Group, which has grown into a broad community network that includes students, parents, teachers, trustees, PAC and DPAC representatives, community members, and elected officials.
Organizational and community leadership - As Executive Director of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region, my work includes organizational leadership, budgeting and financial administration, staff supervision, grants and contracts, partnerships, and working with governments and community organizations.
Students who are thriving, students who are struggling, students whose voices are harder to hear, and future students all matter. Numbers alone should never make a student or the consequences for that student disappear.
Trustees will not always have perfect information, but they should understand enough to take responsibility for a decision: what is being decided, what realistic choices exist, who may be affected, and what remains uncertain.
Students, families, employees, First Nations, and the wider community all hold knowledge that can help the Board make better decisions. Particular effort should be made to hear people whose voices are quieter or easier to miss. Trustees also need to respect professional expertise, understand the responsibilities of staff, and remember that trustees govern together as a Board.
People should be able to follow important public decisions, understand what is being considered and why, and know how they can participate. Some matters cannot appropriately be discussed in public, but when decisions are public, transparency should help people understand them — not simply give them more documents to find and interpret.
Resources should be examined carefully across the organization. A label such as “classroom” or “administration” does not by itself tell us whether something is valuable or wasteful. What matters is what that use of resources actually changes for students.
Responsibility should not end when the Board votes. We should look at what actually happened, who benefited, who carried consequences, and what we missed and be willing to reconsider, correct, or repair when the evidence tells us we should.
I’m still listening and learning.
If there is something about public education in the Qualicum School District that you think I should understand, I’d be glad to hear from you.
Ray Woroniak
School Trustee Candidate - Qualicum School District, TEA 3
VoteRayWoroniak@gmail.com
