Oleson wants more teachers, EAs hired to support students

In the weeks leading up to the Oct. 16 Brandon School Division trustee byelection, the Sun will interview the seven candidates on their platforms and why they are running.

Hiring more teachers and educational assistants is a key priority for Brandon School Division trustee candidate Eren Oleson ahead of this month’s byelection.

Oleson, 34, said the number of students who need extra help has increased, and support should be available for them.

“We do have a significant change in demographics in Brandon, and it seems like there’s more students who need specialized interactions with teachers,” Oleson said in an interview last week. “They need more help.”

The 911 dispatcher and part-time Brandon University student said that includes students who have English as a second language.

There are “various places where there is waste” in the school division budget, and some of those funds could be reallocated, he said.

Inclusive policies are also important to Oleson, who said all students should be able to access educational resources, as long as they are age appropriate. Political topics that were raised in the past at school board meetings shouldn’t be revisited, he said, referring to discussions about book bans in BSD two years ago.

“It became pretty clear to the community that the school board is not a place for politics,” he said. “We can use that as a reference point for why politics should not be in the school board. It’s OK to have open dialogue, but there’s a way to go about doing that.”

Another priority for Oleson is to get more students into leadership roles.

“One of the best ways to learn is to teach,” he said. “I think that doing something like that would implement some kind of a culture change.”

Oleson’s proposal would see students jump into a “pseudo-teaching” role, where they could do things like present part of a lecture to the rest of the class. The initiative would not only help students build confidence and take more responsibility, but it would also illustrate to them the work their teachers put in, he said.

“I think that having the added perspective from students, if they are put in that role, maybe they’ll be able to empathize a little bit more,” he said. “I don’t think people really understand, personally, what it’s like to have all the stresses that a teacher has, especially if they are looking at higher classroom sizes.”

Oleson would also like to see greater emphasis given to career awareness in schools. That would include more “bring your kid to work days” and potentially having classes tour job sites.

“Just to kind of get kids thinking,” he said. “A lot of kids that go to school, school is not really for them, and we need to also start thinking about like, what is out there for them, maybe help facilitate that in some ways.”

Oleson said he had been considering a run for school board trustee or city councillor for “a while” and was planning to run for trustee in next year’s election before the byelection was called.

He said he brings critical thinking skills and an ability to work under stress to the table.

“My goal in this is not just to win. I just think we need to have a good, fair representation,” he said, adding that transparency on the school board is also important.

Oleson is one of seven candidates in the Oct. 16 byelection, joining Laura Armitage, Shawna Mozdzen, Bonnie-Lynn Mills, Michael Grantham, Himanshu Shah and Henry Sieklicki in the race for a single trustee seat in the Brandon ward.

Advance polls will be open on Oct. 8 in the main foyer at city hall from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Oct. 11 in the Pioneer Lounge at the Keystone Centre from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Election day is Oct. 16, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at various locations across the city. A full list of voting sites is available at brandon.ca.

The byelection was triggered after Blaine Foley resigned in March.

The next general school board election is scheduled to take place on Oct. 28, 2026, coinciding with the municipal elections.

» alambert@brandonsun.com