Winnipeg trustee Ann Evangelista seeks second term, pointing to Filipino Heritage Program in 11 schools ahead of 28 October vote

Winnipeg School Division Ward 9 trustee Ann Evangelista is running for re-election in the city's 28 October school board election, citing the division's bilingual Filipino program and a Filipino Heritage Program that reaches more than 300 students in 11 schools.

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Ann Evangelista, the Winnipeg School Division trustee for Ward 9, is running for re-election in the city's 28 October Municipal Council and School Boards Election, U Multicultural reported. Evangelista, who has worked in education for nearly 30 years, said her experience as an immigrant helped motivate her to run. "As an immigrant, I understand what it feels like to be starting anew, especially when you have new kids going into different schools," she said.

Evangelista highlighted the division's bilingual Filipino program and the Filipino Heritage Program offered in 11 schools. She said more than 300 students take part in the heritage program, which was initiated by the Manitoba Association of Filipino Teachers, an organisation on whose board she served before becoming a trustee. She chairs the division's Newcomer Advisory Committee.

She named student support, after-school programming and absenteeism as some of the biggest issues facing families, and pointed to the elimination of lunch and field-trip fees as measures that have made school more affordable. "We have eliminated the lunch fees. We have also removed fees for field trips, so that everybody can join the field trips," she said.

Pilipino Express reminded readers that polls open on Wednesday, 28 October, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. To vote for school trustee, voters must be Canadian citizens aged at least 18 and live in the school division ward on election day. There are more than 90 candidates for school trustee, 54 for city councillor and 12 for mayor.