Quinn Skelton

The Porch welcomes retired high school teacher Quinn Skelton he is running for Public School Trustee. Brian and Quinn discuss the changes in the classroom since Quinn started in the classroom in the 1990’s. He is running because he wants to make sure the kids come first.

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Transcript

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I think the what really stands out is the wide variety of a variety of options and different interests kids can go into. We still have the foundational. All our core courses are there, and I know all our schools here do a great job with that. We also offer up so many other, variety of things in within public education. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. October 20th, the voters go to the polls to elect a new public school board, and one of those who is seeking a seat on that board is former teacher Quinn Skelton. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Now you just retired. You just got out of teaching. Why do you want to jump back into this? That's a that's a good question. I had a couple of phone calls, and, a few people reach out from education that said, hey, why not? Why don't you think about it? And at first, I didn't really think they were being serious and sincere, but, the more more I thought about it and more talk with them and had a few conversations with people that are on the board. I thought, yeah, this is, this is a good idea. Now, you're used to being on the gridiron. Football is is in your blood. Do you see any similarities between, competing on the gridiron and in the political arena? I think all the preparation and, you know, practice, so to speak. Well, well, show up and both. I think you just don't show up at, at whatever venue or meeting, called and think you're going to be able to put on a performance. So I think that being prepared and and doing all your work behind will help out. That's all those days of preparing lesson plans. Yeah. That too. Yeah. You've got your lesson plan here. This morning. That's that's, helping me. Thank you. You have been in the classroom most recently, just back to last June. What's the experience like in the classroom today compared to when you started back in 1990? Considerably different. But, I guess the best part is there's still fantastic kids that are that are there in the classroom, and there's still great parents and some incredible teachers. So that is still there. Thank thank goodness. And, but the complexity that that word that is thrown around now is certainly real. And, our classes do not look exactly like they did back in 1990. They don't even look the same five years ago. Ten years ago. So that has changed a lot. From K to 12 is different. I think here in Medicine Hat might not be quite the same as some of our, our big urban areas, but, it certainly has changed. And, you know, some of it for the better as well, like all the, all the like very, very interesting kids that we get coming in now, really, makes it education itself, even that much better. What are some of the changes that, stand out in your mind? Well, we can talk about class sizes, but that always depends on programing and, what's going on. Things are programs are different here and 2025 than they were back in 1990, for sure. But I think the what really stands out is the wide variety of variety of options. And different interests kids can go into. We still have the foundational. All our core courses are there, and I know all our schools here do a great job with that. We also offer up so many other, variety of things in, within public education that I think that's probably one thing that stands out, for me, especially or being at South High, the options that are out available there are quite incredible. I think I remember one started being like over 80 different options available from, for your, your high school experience. So all the different levels. And one of the things that has changed is, how the, provincial government, has taken a bigger chunk of the responsibility from the school boards in terms of setting budgets. And also, as we've seen here with the, negotiations, which aren't going very well right now with the teachers. So what is left for a trustee and a school board to do? Well, for my experience in working, along with the board, over the years, our board has done a remarkable job of keeping our district, healthy and wealthy and, and working well with the kids. I know the challenges of, and the funding has impacted their ability to do that, but I also am very comfortable knowing that the people that have been in there been doing their best and doing a great job and trying to keep up and do it. Do what? The count of what they're getting from the government. It is funded, a little bit differently than it used to. Not as locally, derived, but as I know they'll work hard and continue providing. We've spoken with some of the other candidates, about the funding and how the dollars follow the child, which has set up a competition among not only individual schools, but school divisions. Yeah. Good idea, bad idea. Both. There's positive and negative out of it. Competition is going to, obviously, breed some better opportunities as well. And one thing that I can see coming out of it all is giving our kids and our parents a choice of, you know, what is it they want to pursue? What are their kids interested in? So having that out there, I think is good. The the direct competition between the boards where all public educators and whether it be Prairie Rose or the mouse, Catholic or 76, we shouldn't be having to compete, with kids walking through our doors to to to keep things afloat either. That, unfortunately, is, one of the negative sides of it. And, trying to draw and pull, pull kids away with, with some, you know, shiny, shiny object, new programing that will attract a few kids here, there. I think what our districts really should do is focus on what we do. Well, make sure our, our, our people that are within our districts, are comfortable and, are very, very satisfied with what options they can take. I think a lot of people don't understand how many, how many options and opportunities are out there in all three districts. And and I've heard it, you know, the money being wasted on advertising and trying to pull people around, that's real. And that is unfortunate. But all three districts offer fantastic programs. And of course, I'm a little bit biased with, with 76, but I know what's offered from K to 12 and especially at the high school level, both at half high and across. And it's high, this incredible opportunities for kids. When I was in broadcasting, we used to refer to the sports department as the candy store of the newsroom, because that's where everybody had fun. You were in physical education at Madison, at high school for the bulk of your career there? Same analogy. You had fun. Every day. I think you said it was the best job you could have had. I've, I've said this for years that I had the, the best job in medicine. Definitely the best job. And and our district at our school, I got, teachers ed and coach and they'll the program and athletic performance and, work with people that way. I always said I had the best job, period. I just didn't get paid the most. But I certainly enjoyed what I did. There were other, paybacks that you got, though. Oh, yeah. Wouldn't be financial paybacks, but, intrinsic paybacks, you know, getting to work with, incredible people, seeing kids, you know, build and grow and move on, come back and do really cool things. Yeah, that's the nice part about it is that sometimes you don't know what impact you've had on a person's life until they ripen. Definitely. Yeah. That, that is one thing about education. It's getting getting to see them come back is a reward, for sure. I work with worked with, a lot of teachers in our building that I taught. And so having them come back is pretty cool, even in the community. I don't know, a fireman to MLAs and, all kinds of ex, players that that are around town now that I still keep in contact with is, is, very rewarding. My daughter Margery was one of your students and a rugby player. Rugby player? Five foot. Nothing. Why? She wanted to play rugby. I have no idea. But she loved it. And she loved you as a coach too. And now she is following in your path and is a principal at a school in Ardmore, Alberta. So fantastic. You've planted lots of different seeds and your career and it's rewarding. You talked about the, academic, the, athletic program that you established. Tell us a little bit more how that worked and how you did that and why you did it. Throwing to the fire, to tell you the truth. My original mentor was, in high school is Roger Pozo. I remember I was, you know, the hard calf is that guy and, football coach. And when he stepped down from coaching and back in 89, I was just coming out of school, and I got a phone call for an interview, and, kind of the rest is history, basically. So I stepped into, opportunity with about 26 kids, showing up, and we finished the year with 1819 on the roster and 1990 that fall of 9990. And from there, put together a coaching staff from guys around town that or passed players or moved into town, had some great help along the way. Terry Cordy, Mark Adams, Brian seminar, who's still with me and our son is also, co head coach with me. So, some really great guys, Ryan Herman, that helped build the program for over those 35 years. And the rugby program, we started that in the spring of 1990, and it's still, building, thriving. And, and now we have a girl. We've had a girls team now for a long time. Both my kids played played in it as well. And rugby and football. So yeah, it's been fun. What was the, I guess, what did they learn in that program? What was the actual things that they had to do? Student wise? Well, you taught, I think you called it, athletic. Oh. Yeah. Oh, that that's a separate program. Okay. Athletic performance. Yeah, that's a program that I, I piloted, initiated, initiated back. They've closed off 20 years ago now, and it's basically a workout class. At the end of the day, it's a workout class. So this is in addition to, for Z. So you take AP in grade ten, 11 and 12, it's open for all kids. Don't have to be an athlete, but athletes should be involved with it for sure. We did it with 17 kids and got it off the ground as, developed a class, locally developed class. And, now, we've had as many as nine, nine blocks of it in a year. And right now I believe it's still functioning with, eight classes throughout the year. That means there's a AP class in every single block of the day, both semesters, worth over 220, 230 kids that are taking it. And I know at one point it was the largest option class at school. So pretty proud of that. And also, you know, fantastic option. You talk about, you know, all the academies, all the different things that are out there. That would be one example of what is offered in public schools. There's a lot of people maybe don't even know about it. Was that something that you initiated or were you tapped on the shoulder and said, we want you to do this? Oh, no. I, I definitely initiated it, and wanted to build it for our kids, for the athletes, and give them that opportunity. I'm I'm very familiar with what goes on with the rest of the province through football. Alberta and coaching and, keep our kids, you know, competitive and give them that opportunity as well. I figured it was a program that was for sure, and, a positive for our, our kids. So, going forward now, you're been campaigning for a school trustee position. What are some of the things in Quincy Kelton would like to see done? Well, as part of my my campaign, so to speak, is I'm a product of public education. I think, that's that's the primary part of it, without foundation, what I've gotten along the way from the people in public. Ed, I wouldn't be the teacher. I wouldn't be the coach. I wouldn't have all this type of opportunity. I think that is is very, very real. What I can bring to it, I believe, is just that fact. I believe in public education. I think it's important. And that is something I want to continue helping to build and and have that for our community and kids, build better people through education, whatever that may be, because education is a pretty big catchall word. But that's what I think I can bring. I believe in it. My kids went through it. I know what they how they thrived through public education. And I just believe it should be there for all. Now, you've been a coach. A head coach for a good number of years. Yep. If you are elected, you're coming in as a rookie. Oh, yeah. Are you a rookie thinking about that? I'm. I'm looking forward to working with the people that that end up on the board. I also there's a few people on that board. I definitely, would enjoy their, their experience, their support, and, I think their leadership will be important to see, retain and continue with our, our board so that that's something hopefully I get to look forward to and work with them. Yeah, it'll be a little different though because instead of being in charge, you're going to be the one who's learning. Oh, I can be a pretty good listener to. A good. Student. Yeah, I definitely am going to have to be a good listener and a good student because as much as I might think I'm still fresh, in the game, I'm going to it's going to be a lot of stuff that I was not aware of. And I'm not. I'm the. Curtain. Yes, it's going to be a it's going to be a learning curve for sure. And I'm I'm open to that. Yeah. Thoughts on the current curriculum in Alberta. You know, the curriculum. There's been lots of ups and downs with the curriculum over the time. And different governments have come in and put their twist on it. When it really comes down to it at the classroom, it's still the teacher that's going to make the difference. There's a basic curriculum, whether it be with the core courses or some of the, you know, the, option, so to speak, that are out there. But ultimately it's going to be that that classroom teacher as it's going to deliver, and those kids are going to be prepared along the way. So I'm confident from K to K to 12 that it's still happening. And our, our, our fantastic teachers are still going to deliver whatever that curriculum might look like. And we don't really just because it's on paper one way or another, the delivery is still going to be positive for our kids. Do you have any initiatives that you would like to bring to the board? I'll say no, because, you know, when people have asked me lately, you know, about what's your campaign, what's your what's your agenda? What's I don't have one. And I think that is, is good and that I'm not bringing some angle. I don't have a vendetta. I don't have some special interests that I'm bringing. I'm. I'm just want to build and work with public education. All right. Quinn Skelton, looking to have your vote on October the 20th for public school trustee in Medicine Hat. Thank you for the visit. Well, thank you much. Appreciate it.