Tara-Marie Hall for Portage la Prairie School Trustee

10/26/2022

Today is voting day! Let’s do better for our special needs children! Let’s support our teachers and hire more EA’s! Let’s give all of our children the best possible change to succeed by increasing funding. Vote Tara-Marie Hall for school trustee and let’s make every child a priority! Just know if I am elected I will fight for your child with the same determination as I would my own!

10/24/2022

Clubs are a great way to build friendships, incorporate inclusion, improve mental health and help special needs children.
Please meet Austin and Sara. Both children have similar disabilities. They have difficulties with school and often have trouble connecting with their peers. They attended the same school for a couple of years, but never really connected until they were in a Lego club together. The Lego club gave them each a break from the stress they often feel from classes. It gave them a chance to bond with one another in a school setting. The Lego club allowed them to be creative while working on improving their fine motor skills. They both felt accepted, relaxed and overall happy. This helped with the anxiety they often feel about a school. Best of all they formed a real friendship they still have to this day despite being in different schools now.
Clubs can be very beneficial to children who are new to this country or to this city or who are simply changing schools. Moving to a new city and/or going to a new school can be very overwhelming for a child. Having to make new friends and in some cases learning a new language can cause a lot of anxiety. Being around peers in a smaller setting while similar interests can really help a child make friends easier
If elected I would like to see more clubs for children in every school. Clubs can be very beneficial for a child’s mental health by easing anxiety and creating friendships with one another by sharing a similar interest in a safe and fun space.
Election Day is October 26. Please feel free to share.💙

10/22/2022

Election Day is almost here! Let’s do better for our special needs children.💙
Are you wanting to know more about who I am and the changes I would like to see happen? Look for Austin and I this week as we will be handing out pamphlets. If you are wanting to make sure you get one just send me a message. As always my inbox is always open. Thank you everyone for your support. Feel free to share this post and invite others to like this page as we are getting closer to the finish line.

10/21/2022

This is a question I have been asked.
Question
What do you see as the biggest barrier or stress that school division staff are currently experiencing? What will you do to address it?
Answer
As someone who has worked in education I have seen first hand how stressful it can be. Teachers are expected to teach larger classrooms with less help. One way to address this is to hire more EA’s. Teachers depend on EA’s to help support them in the classroom and parents, especially parents of special needs children depend on EA’s to help support their children throughout the day. My son Austin would not be able to make it through a whole day of school without EA’s. The social aspect of school would be impossible for Austin without EA’s. They are an extremely important part of our education system. We need more EA’s, not less. I am always hearing that there is no funding for EA’s. We need to change that.
I also think more mental health support is needed for staff. School staff have a very important job and a high stress job. Over the last few years with Covid, staff were expected to do more work to ensure everyone stayed safe. Constant cleaning, ensuring everyone was following health regulations, remote learning and having to reassure children that everything will be okay. Violence in schools have gone up all around the world. School staff and children should feel safe when attending school. All of this takes a tremendous toll on a person’s mental health. It is leading to burnout and the loss of staff members. Having a dedicated mental health worker for each school would be a great start. Also offering private mental health help as well as mental health days would be a great start. We need to start supporting school staff if we want the very best education for our children.
Do you have any ideas or concerns? Please feel free to message me and let’s talk about it.
*As always feel free to share*

10/20/2022

Today is your chance to get to know the candidates running for office. Come by and let’s talk about how we can improve education for everyone. Deciding to run for school trustee was deeply personal. I wanted to run because I didn’t want any other family to struggle the way we have. I genuinely want to help make the school system better for everyone. I am prepared to advocate for our children and for school staff with the same passion and determination that I have for my own children. Having a child with special needs means I have to advocate with everything I have in me and it is something that I will not fail at no matter how hard it gets. That is exactly how I view this position. If given the opportunity I promise to listen to all concerns and work hard to make your child a priority. I want to help school staff anyway I can. Their jobs are so important and they need to feel supported and valued. Education is so important and something we cannot afford to fail at.

10/18/2022

I would like to thank everyone who came out last night to the school trustee meet and greet. A special thank you to family and friends who came to support me. My son Austin was in attendance and really enjoyed meeting everyone as well. It was a wonderful evening and I enjoyed talking with everyone and hearing their concerns. I also enjoyed meeting some of the other candidates and getting to know them. We definitely have some amazing people running and I wish them all the best. I am looking forward to the event on Thursday and I will post more about that later on today. Thank you again for everyone’s support and giving me the opportunity to fight for a cause that I am very passionate about. Our children’s education is so important and I believe I can bring positive change by working hard, not giving up and really listening to the concerns of families.

10/17/2022

Let’s talk!
Do you feel like you are not being heard when it comes to issues regarding education? In order for positive change to take place you need to feel like someone is listening and cares about what you are telling them. I want to hear your concerns, whether it regards a child in your life or any other school decisions. I genuinely want to help and it all starts with listening. I invite you to come out and share your story with me on October 17th at the meet and greet. My inbox is always open. Let’s have a discussion about making your child a priority and what we need to do in order to help them succeed.

10/13/2022

I am so excited for this event! I look forward to meeting everyone and discussing how we can improve education to ensure all of our children have an equal opportunity to succeed. I hope to see you all there.😊

Put your child’s education first and come meet your next school trustees 📚🍎

10/11/2022

Can we talk about how important EA’s are? I have worked as an EA and now I depend on them to help my child succeed in school. Please meet my son Austin. He has been diagnosed with autism, ADD and ADHD. He is a smart guy who loves to make people laugh. He has a heart of gold and he just wants to be accepted. As he gets older education becomes harder for him. EA’s are instrumental for children like him. Without the support of his EA’s he wouldn’t be able to do a full day of school. His EA’s help him focus and cope with the social aspects of school. EA’s are also help support teachers in the classroom with whatever they need. Without them our children’s education would suffer. EA’s are so important and we need them in our schools. I would love to see more EA’s in schools. The more support teachers have, the more likely children will succeed. It also gives special needs children like mine a better chance at receiving a great education and a bright future. Every child deserves that. Together we can make every child a priority .💙
Please feel free to share this post.

10/11/2022

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! I am so thankful for my family, my friends & for all the support that has been given to me. To everyone who believes in what I stand for & hope to accomplish, thank you. Words cannot express how grateful I am

10/08/2022

I can’t wait to see everyone.

Do you want a chance to learn more about the candidates for Mayor, Council and School Board Trustee for the upcoming municipal election?

Come to the CBYF Youth Council's Speed Date Your Candidate event on Oct 20th starting at 6:30 at the LVS gym!

10/08/2022

One of my favourite quotes that I try to live by. I am determined to give a voice to special needs children. No matter how hard the fight is I will never give up on making sure special needs children get the support they need as well as every other child who needs it. I have a child with special needs so I know first hand how tough it can be when it comes to their education. That needs to change and if elected I intend to do just that.
*As always please share this post and follow this page. Together we can change children’s lives for the better when it comes to their education.*