"Building a strong foundation for our students today who will be tomorrow’s leaders is what drives my passion to be a school trustee for Surrey School Board," said Aronjit.

SURREY – Aronjit "Billa" Lageri, represents much needed change to the current School Board make up dominated by one slate which is regressive and Surrey voters need to bring diverse and bold voices to the Board in a city that has a large South Asian student population.

Aronjit, who was born in Delhi, India and is settled in Surrey Newton area with his 3 children and wife, is a highly qualified individual who holds a Bachelor’s degree from Adventist University of Health Sciences, Florida. He is currently a manager with Centric Health for the Medical Imaging Division & Staff and also provides MRI services at Royal Columbian Hospital.

Previously, he was a clinical educator and lecturer at Lake Michigan College, and provided Clinical mentorship to students for over 18 years. He is bringing this wonderful educational experience to the role of Trustee, having interacted for many years with students, parents, volunteers, patients and teachers. He is focused on creating policies that will serve the community as well as build strong student leadership.

"Building a strong foundation for our students today who will be tomorrow’s leaders is what drives my passion to be a school trustee for Surrey School Board," said Aronjit.

Aronjit was involved in specific research on ADHD, mental health and schizophrenia in children and adolescents. He has met many parents who are anxiously waiting, watching their children suffer due to few school and community services and the scarcity of available health resources.

Aronit says, “Behavioural changes and improved patterns in mental health in children and adolescents have been noted in my research, therefore I am hopeful that with a team approach of counsellors, outside mental health professionals and social workers we can help all children and ensure they have a place among our successful future generations and leaders of tomorrow.”

Aronjit has lost confidence in present trustees and feels that the School Board has failed to plan for schools and meet the demands of Surrey’s huge population growth. There has been little communication between present trustees and the city. This has also resulted in student portables, teacher shortages and lack of qualified special education teachers. This needs to change.

“Instead of an increase in 2017-18, 66 Learning Support teachers were laid off erroneously. Again instead of being proactive, for this year we are lacking classroom staff and teachers on call. All this is impacting the support students receive and both their academic and emotional needs are being neglected. As trustee, I will act and change these unacceptable shortages.”

 “I am very impressed by the strong efforts of many parents who are working hard, but are also investing their time with their children. I was greatly saddened when young people from my community lost their lives. I know that we have not overcome the gangs and the substance abuse within our schools which can result in violence. Therefore, instead of blaming parents when things go wrong, or directing anger to our institutions and how they are run, we need to all come together and find solutions because it does take a "community to raise a child".

Like the great Nelson Mandela, Aronjit believes that education holds the key for societal change. He is looking forward to bringing change to our schools and our community. He wants to ensure there are better teacher student ratios and no child feels left out by creating environments of real inclusiveness in our schooling system.

Having seen advancements in technology in his field and in other sciences, he also sees the need to be innovative and rethink the concept of class size and traditional teaching.

"We need to better utilize on-line learning and bring students together as smaller teams for intensive problem solving and learning to work co-operatively. My education in Informatics and experience in providing clinical instructorship to students, has reassured me in the success of such initiatives”

Teachers need the tools and the time to be able to working together, provide a safe environment to our youngsters to learn, innovate, collaborate, and eventually be prepared to make tough choices for their education and in their lives. They need the training, resources to apply the New Education Curriculum which supports those ideas and processes of teaching. “

Aronjit is dedicated and passionate about improving our public education, indeed his attributes of leadership and innovation and are exactly what parents, students and voters in Surrey are looking for. He is ready and well prepared to take the new challenge.

ARONJIT LAGERI IS SEEKING YOUR VOTE ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20!