I’m running for the Edmonton Public School Board because I believe that every child deserves to feel safe and welcome at school. Public education is a public good—it makes our community stronger.

I was born in this city and now I’m raising my family here. I have a vested interest in creating learning communities where differences are seen as strengths. I want all children to experience the same joy in learning that I see in my children and my students every day.

I am committed to accessible, public education in a variety of forms. I have been an outreach volunteer delivering classroom and community workshops on safer sex and HIV prevention; and I have been using podcasting to make literary and critical theory accessible since 2015. I am the co-founder of the production company Witch, Please Productions and co-host of the podcasts Material Girls, Gender Playground, and (our organization’s namesake) Witch, Please. Listeners of my podcasts have been telling me for years that I have helped them navigate challenging academic concepts no matter where they are in their studies.

Accessible, joy-centred education is my passion, and I’m ready to apply it to our public school system.

Please swipe through to read a few things that I want you to know about me.

I’ve been teaching at the University of Alberta for over 10 years. I mostly teach first-year English courses, meaning I get to teach students from all over the university: Pre-Med students, Science students, Economics students, Engineering students—and sometimes even English students!

One of the most common comments I find in my student evaluations is some variation on “I never liked English before I took a class with Marcelle,” or “I never thought I was good at English before I took a class with Marcelle.” These comments fill me with gratitude because I really believe that every student can learn to read and think critically if given the right support. Reading and understanding literature is essential training in media literacy, which is more important than ever!

I’m incredibly honoured that both my students and the Faculty of Arts agree that I am a very good instructor. I have received two faculty-wide teaching awards: first in 2019 as a graduate student instructor and, just recently, I was awarded an Academic Staff Teaching award for 2024/25.

I believe that with the right supports every student can find joy in the classroom. My classes at the U of A have a lot in common with elementary and high school classes across the province. I usually teach 40 students per class. In any given semester, I have a classroom comprised of students who:

• are learning in English as an additional language
• have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities
• experience housing insecurity and/or food insecurity
• struggle with unsafe home situations
• work one or more jobs
• celebrate religious holidays not accounted for in the academic calendar
• are themselves raising families and holding caretaker responsibilities

This makes for very complex classroom dynamics! What I have consistently found in my classrooms is that when students have accommodations in place, they achieve their goals. Likewise, when the university provides me with the tools to support my students, it makes accommodating my students infinitely easier.

Not all complexities have straightforward accommodations. In many cases, getting to know my students as individuals enables me to provide them with the additional resources and supports they need to thrive. This is much easier to do with small class sizes. We must make class size a priority at all levels of education. It isn’t just about resources; it’s about building nurturing, respectful relationships between educators and students.

Segregation is not the answer. Disabilities are a reality and we need to build communities of care that nurture and celebrate difference. In order to do this, we need to create the conditions that make inclusion possible. We need more Educational Assistants in classrooms to ensure neurodivergent and disabled kids can learn alongside their friends and peers. We need Occupational Therapists and Speech-Language Pathologists in schools working directly with kids to support their learning and providing those essential early interventions. And we need to include kids with disabilities in conversations about their learning goals to empower them to feel pride in their progress.

History teaches us that book bans are misguided attempts to save kids from bad influences. In practice, there is no evidence that reading actually changes anyone’s behaviour—literacy, on the other hand, is a major factor in preventing poverty! According to UNESCO: “Literacy empowers and liberates people. Beyond its importance as part of the right to education, literacy improves lives by expanding capabilities which in turn reduces poverty, increases participation in the labour market and has positive effects on health and sustainable development. Women empowered by literacy have a positive ripple effect on all aspects of development. They have greater life choices for themselves and an immediate impact on the health and education of their families, and in particular, the education of girl children.”

I am completely against book bans. Instead of banning books that have sexual content, I think we should do everything in our power to motivate young people to read. Graphic novels, comics, and graphic memoirs are shown to be an accessible format that engages readers of all abilities. Some studies show that the visual cues in graphic novels, for example, are a great help to dyslexic readers!

Rather than banning books, we need to put more trust in our educators. I believe that teachers and librarians choose the books in their collections with care and attention to the ages, abilities, and interests of their students. We do not need the province to dictate what does or does not count as appropriate reading material.

I don’t think it’s particularly radical to say that trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive kids deserve the same access to childhood as cisgender kids. They deserve to play on sports teams. They deserve to try out new names, new ways of expressing themselves. I spent a year in elementary school going by the name “Marcy”—it didn’t stick, and that’s fine. To suggest that gender-expansive kids aren’t allowed to try on new names or pronouns is, frankly, discriminatory.

Edmonton Public schools are currently being asked to violate the Charter rights of their students. Teachers are required to “out” their students to parents; and parents are required to prove the sex-assigned-at-birth of their daughters before the kids can join an all-girls team or league. This is blatant discrimination that is already causing harm to children.

The Edmonton Public School Board has a broad mandate “for providing a welcoming, inclusive, safe and healthy learning and working environment that respects diversity and supports a sense of belonging throughout the Division.” In fact, the EPSB website specifically states its “commitment to support all sexually diverse and/or gender diverse students, staff and families.” The Board’s mandate must form a foundation for resisting the harmful and transphobic orders from the province. For many students, and especially 2SLGBTQIA+ students, school is a safe space where they can explore who they are. In some cases, school may be the only safe place they have. The Edmonton Public School Board must do everything in its power to keep schools safe for marginalized students.

Thank you so much for getting to know a bit more about me and what I hope to accomplish on the Edmonton public school board.

On October 20, please vote Marcelle Kosman for Ward A public school trustee!

Find out where to vote.