A veteran Port Moody councillor won't be seeking re-election this fall.
Instead, Zoe Royer is turning her attention to winning a seat as trustee for School District 43 (SD43) in the 2022 municipal election.
In a release, Royer said her experience as a city councillor as well as a "thoughtful approach to problem solving" will help her work toward creating a good educational experience for young people.
"Our youth are tomorrow's leaders," she said. "Soon enough, all of us will need to depend on them."
Royer said one of her top priorities, if elected, will be finding a way to get more education assistants into SD43 classrooms, as well as create more daycare spaces in local schools.
"Great schools emerge from a caring community," she said, adding there’s a "dire need" for more education assistants, counsellors, registered psychologists and other support workers in schools.
Royer was first elected to Port Moody council in 2011 where she was a big proponent for the city’s arts community.
She founded the KaBoom! arts event for visual, literary and performing artists and co-founded the city’s art walk. Also, she regularly highlighted the work of local artists at the beginning of council meetings.
In recent years, Royer’s become more involved with youth, working with a group of students on a mission to ban single-use plastics as well as representing Port Moody on SD43’s childcare task force.
If elected on Oct. 15, Royer could fill the gap left when longtime Port Moody trustee Keith Watkins announced his retirement after three decades on the school board.
Royer joins four other known candidates for a SD43 school trustee position in the fall election, joining the race with Chuck Denison as well as incumbents Jennifer Blatherwick, Christine Pollock and Michael Thomas.
For more information on Royer and her platform, you can visit her campaign website.
You can contact Royer directly by email: [email protected], or through her Facebook and Twitter pages.