Mozdzen seeks 2nd term with focus on school capacity

Brandon School Division trustee Shawna Mozdzen is seeking re-election to use the experience gained during her first year on the board.

The trustee, who was elected in a 2025 byelection to represent the division’s Ward 1, is one of 10 candidates seeking trustee seats in the Oct. 28 civic election.

“I took the year to learn a lot about what was happening with the school division, and I feel like I can use my voice a little bit more now,” Mozdzen told the Sun.

One of her immediate priorities is addressing overcrowding as Brandon continues to grow.

“I know that the overcrowding in the schools is an issue,” Mozdzen said. “For the future we’re going to have to look at a new high school as well. So that’s something that should be considered immediately, actually.”

Mozdzen said the planned expansion of Maryland Park School and the new K-8 school being built in southwest Brandon are important steps, but “the division needs to begin considering additional capacity, including a new high school.”

The new Brookwood South School is expected to open in September 2027 and is intended to provide additional space in an area experiencing significant residential growth. The division has also identified overcrowding as an ongoing concern, with most K-8 schools operating at 90 per cent capacity or higher, she said.

School safety is another area the board should continue to address, particularly preparedness for emergencies, she said.

Mozdzen said schools cannot necessarily prevent every crisis, but staff and students should know how to respond when one occurs.

“I think that if the staff and students know what to do in this situation, the outcome would be better than if nobody was educated that way,” she said.

Mozdzen said Indigenous education and reconciliation in local schools is also important, drawing on her own family’s experience.

She said her grandmother was a residential school survivor and her mother was a day-school survivor, and that she did not learn about their experiences until she was in her 30s.

For Mozdzen, greater education about residential schools represents an important change from the silence that surrounded those experiences when she was growing up.

“It makes me happy to know that this is now being taught in the schools,” she said. “Everyone is aware of it.”

She said reconciliation will take time but added that she is grateful Indigenous history and culture are increasingly being taught to students.

“I’m just grateful for the resilience of my people and that they are able to show the culture and the beauty,” she said. “There’s so many great things with Indigenous people, and I’m a true believer of everyone learning that.”

Funding remains another major challenge, Mozdzen said, acknowledging that trustees have to make decisions within the resources available to the division.

“We really have to put some pressure on the government to give us more funding for our children and our staff,” she said.

Mozdzen said the budget has been one of the biggest lessons from her first year as a trustee.

Her perspective on the board’s work changed after she moved from being a community member with ideas about what should change to sitting at the board table and dealing with the financial and operational realities behind those decisions.

“One of the biggest things I think that I’ve learned is the budget and just how it’s not easy to do what everybody wants us to do,” she said. “The budget is a huge barrier for getting what we need.”

Mozdzen said she has campaigned largely through social media and conversations in the community rather than door knocking. She said she has also put up campaign signs and remains respectful of whatever decision voters make.

“I hope that everyone gets out to vote, no matter who they’re voting for,” she said. “I respect the outcome, no matter which way it goes.”

The municipal and school board election is scheduled for Oct. 28, with advance voting available Oct. 14, 17 and 22.

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