Surrey trustee Laurae McNally says she will run for school board “one more time” in the upcoming fall election.
“I’m going to offer to represent the City of White Rock for one final term. This will be it for me,” she told the Now-Leader.
“I don’t view it as a job or a stepping stone to another political office,” she said of her position, which she’s held, on and off, since 1980.
“For me, it’s just community service. I grew up in a home where mom always said you get out of your community what you put into it. I think that’s true and I simply want every child to have a good education like I did.”
McNally, the lone independent on the Surrey school board, laughed as she said “I’m still energetic, I’m still out and about. I’ll do it one more time but then that will be it. It gives notice to the community they better start looking for somebody.”
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McNally has been an outspoken trustee over the years.
In 2016, McNally had no idea the storm she was unleashing when she asked city hall to halt development in areas of massive growth.
She said she was “appalled” over the amount of growth in three Surrey neighbourhoods, and put forward a motion at a school board meeting asking city council to “temporarily suspend all new development approvals in the Clayton, Grandview/South Surrey and South Newton regions until the Surrey School District receives adequate provincial capital funding to support the many new students in these regions.”
Her motion was passed unanimously by her fellow trustees.
She said the overflowing school situation in the city was “the very worst situation” she’d seen in her 30 years as an elected official.
Voters will elect seven trustees to form the next Surrey Board of Education. Including McNally, 15 people have put their name forward so far.
Surrey voters head to the polls on Oct. 20.
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