NANCY BEAMER QUICK FACTS
Running for: English Public school trustee (incumbent) for Pelham/Thorold vs. challengers Lisa Fucile, Linda Borland, and Rene Nand
Age: Declined to state
Occupation: Retired teacher
Resides: Ridgeville resident for 35 years
Family: Husband Donald, three children, five grandchildren
It’s been four years since retired teacher Nancy Beamer won the English Public Schools trustee spot for Pelham and Thorold in the 2018 municipal election, defeating incumbent and then District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) Board chair Dale Robinson, by some 3,400 votes.
“The voice of the community showed they would not be ignored and disrespected,” said Beamer at the time, referencing the arbitrary fashion in which the school board had handled the renaming of E.W. Farr Memorial Public School, in Fenwick, to Wellington Heights Public School, a move that infuriated the local community.
“Over 700 people signed a petition not to change the school name, and it was not listening to,” she said.
Beamer grew up in Hamilton and Smithville, married, and embarked on a career as a school teacher.
“When our children came along, I decided to be a stay-at-home mom, but helped run the family business,” she said. “I was head of the parent council at Pelham Centre School for a while, and did some supply teaching.
Beamers have been in Pelham since the early 1800s. Nancy and her husband, Donald, have lived in the hereditary Beamer family home on Centre Street in Ridgeville for some three decades, with 18 acres that they used to work in the days when they were running Beamers Country Market, on Highway 20. These days, they rent out their acreage to Lee Johnson of Johnson Farms in Fenwick.
The main focus of a board of trustees is to provide the best possible educational experience in a safe and barrier free environment, insisted Beamer.
“Our public mandate is to provide a good education for every student,” she said. “Regardless of your cultural or religious upbringing, you're getting the same positive experience. A progressive board recognizes that our population is much more diverse than it was 15 years ago. We've looked at our libraries to make sure that our books represent that diversity. We've examined various media that are ingrained in our culture, but that may be offensive to certain groups. Stuff that we grew up with is not always socially acceptable in this day and age.”
A progressive board recognizes that our population is much more diverse than it was 15 years ago
Indigenous recognition has been one area where the board has had to ensure that school libraries reflect the current realities, said Beamer.
“We all have diverse life experiences,” she said. “Every child needs to be given the support they need. Some require more than others. We now have 36 full-time social workers working at DSBN in our schools.”
The biggest challenge of the last four years stemmed from Covid, said Beamer.
“As a board, we were coming together, and felt we had a lot of successes. When the pandemic hit, our board was financially stable, and we were able to hire the extra teachers that were necessary, without having to wait for the government to provide an influx of money.”
A great deal of support was provided for teachers who were not tech savvy during the period of exclusive online instruction, said Beamer.
“We muddled through for the first little while, but now have seen the evolution of technology in the classroom.”
Are the trustees one big happy family?
On a board of 11 people coming from diverse backgrounds and life experiences, you are always going to have a certain amount of debate and disagreement on issues, said Beamer.
“But once the board has voted on an issue, as a trustee, you have to support that issue. You can communicate that you didn't like the decision, but you have to endorse that decision and follow it.”
Beamer told the Voice that she is “all about communication, and making information available to the community. Parents are often reluctant to go to the school principal on a matter, so it’s important that the board’s social media convey the details of its policies and procedures.”
But once the board has voted on an issue, as a trustee, you have to support that issue
Beamer heaped kudos on DSBN Director of Education Warren Hoshizaki.
“Warren is a very knowledgeable person, and an excellent financial manager. He also has assembled a solid team of superintendents and principals. The senior management team is very qualified, and looks after all the day-to-day, operational matters. Trustees look after governance issues, like policies on bullying.”
Beamer said that trustees are always receptive to parent inquiries, and encourage conversations that direct them within the organizational structure to have their questions answered.
To create economic efficiencies, Beamer said that the DSBN partners with the local Catholic school system in a number of areas, including school bus operations.
The board is also very supportive of its teachers.
“The DSBN provides a lot of professional development courses, also referred to as additional qualifications or AQ, that teachers can take to improve their knowledge and advance up the pay scale,” said Beamer. “We provide them free of charge, while a lot of other boards expect teachers to pay out of their own pockets. Our board feels that if teachers are going to put in the time to improve their competencies, then we can at least provide the funding for it. We've done a lot with Indigenous Studies, anti-black racism, and sexual harassment.”
Just recently, said Beamer, the DSBN made available a sexual harassment toolkit for teachers, which will also be posted on the board’s website, allowing parental access.
The DSBN’s enrollment was 633 elementary students above target during Covid, said Beamer, and as a result, an additional 103 Elementary contract teachers were hired.
“And for the record, none of the teachers that were hired during Covid were let go, they all still have their positions. And given that we were 320 secondary students above target, we hired an additional 36 secondary teachers. We've also partner with Brock University’s Faculty of Education, and have arranged for an extra 18,000 hours of tutoring for our students, above what we had other years. We are working to help those students who fell behind during Covid.”
When Beamer first became a trustee, she said that she contacted all of the schools in her area to say that she would be willing to come to their parents committees, to explain the role of a trustee.
“As I said, it’s all about communication,” remarked Beamer.
Her stimulus to run again?
“The job is not done,” she said. “Covid interrupted a lot of things that I still feel we can accomplish, and frankly there is still not a really good feeling of trust in the Pelham area between the board and the constituents. There are areas in Niagara, in larger centres like St. Catharines, Welland, and Niagara Falls, that have great educational needs, and accordingly the board needs to direct monies to them. Schools in Pelham are going to get their turn. If there's something particular that comes up here in Pelham, the board is going to address those concerns with staffing and funding.”
