Fifty people that included parents, teachers and school employees turned out to Chippewa Intermediate/ Secondary School Parent Council's Trustee Candidate Debate Wednesday night to hear from the candidates running to be a Near North Public School Boa
Fifty people that included parents, teachers and school employees turned out to Chippewa Intermediate/ Secondary School Parent Council's Trustee Candidate Debate Wednesday night to hear from the candidates running to be a Near North Public School Board Trustee.
The candidates representing zones 1 and 2 took the opportunity to address their key issues about the local public education systems as well as field questions from the crowd.
Fixing the provincial funding formula, school closures and quality education topped the long list of issues that were discussed during the 2-hour event.
Although the event was titled a debate, the evening turned out to be another polite question answer period with candidates all in agreement that maintaining quality education, keeping class sizes down, and providing good bus transportation with an ever shrinking dollar and declining enrollment will be a herculean task for the next board.
Accountability was also a topic for discussion as a number of folks pointed to the recent accommodation review process (ARC) as flawed due to the lack of communication between parents and board members.
Charlene Lindsay, Chair of the Chippewa Intermediate/ Secondary School Parent Council, says it is important to have events like Wednesday night's in order for parents to ask the important questions and help them make an educated decision when it comes to electing a board that is in control of a multimillion dollar budget.
“There's quite a few people that no-one knows and they're coming in new and they don't know what these people are standing for … and how they are going to work for them and their children at the board office.”
“I think there is not enough emphasis put on trustees who are making a lot of valuable decisions for our children and the future in education.”
Parent Lisa Mellow says she also attended the event to get to know that candidates a little and have a sense of their personalities and what their core beliefs were about being on a board are.
“Because I've been on boards in the past and I've run into people who weren't very committed to the board they were on and I always used to think they did it because it would look good on their resumes and whatever,” she explains.
“And they often didn't show up to meetings and certainly didn't know what the issues were and that's a critical concern for me.”
“So I think I got a sense of those people, their core values and core beliefs are … to be there, to be knowledgeable about what they are doing before they get out there and have an opinion on it. And that is very important.”
“I don't have to agree or disagree with their opinion but I have to feel that their opinions or decisions are based on something concrete which is knowledge of the situation.”
Without endorsing any candidates Mellow said the evening offered a perfect opportunity to get to know candidates she didn't know beforehand and says she has a better sense of who she will be voting for.
“So I got a sense of their perspective and where they are coming from. Some of the other issues that were important to me were having that transparency on the board because in the past I've been frustrated with the lack of transparency and being told as a stakeholder that I didn't understand all of the facts that they were basing their decision on.”
“And I really feel that it's the board's job to answer to those questions when I ask and make me informed because they are the ones who are holding that information. So I feel that the communication piece and the transparency piece are very important as well.”
One candidate drew a round of applause after he stated that one fix to the shortage of funding the education system faces would be to move to a one board system, a Mellow agrees with.
“I have to say I'm not well-informed about the issue but I do believe in a one board system because I look at North Bay and the size of North Bay and I just feel that with the four boards there is a lot of financial waste.”
“You know how functional would the government be if you had four premiers and four cabinets … I mean you are putting a lot of money into people to do the same job and I just think that that's a real wast of money and time and energy that could be better spent forming a real quality educational system.”
Standing for election in Zone 1 (North Bay and West Nipissing) for one of four seats available are April Leblanc, Floyd Pelkey, Jeff Serran, Emma Langdon, Larry Abbot and Michelina and incumbents Jay Aspin, David Thompson and Kathy Hewitt.
Langdon and Abbot were absent.
Standing for election in Zone 2 (Callander, East Ferris and Mattawa) for the one seat available are John Whalen, Chris Boileau and incumbent Randy Sheppard.
Boileau was absent.
