Perspectives clash as you read through recent postings on the “commentary” section of the Avon Maitland District School Board website.
You can find vitriolic letter after vitriolic letter — interspersed with board responses — opposed to the June 22 decisions to close schools in Brussels and Zurich.
“We are angry because we don’t feel like we were given a choice and these are our kids!” proclaims one June 29 posting. “This is Canada, not North Korea, what happened to freedom of choice?”
At one point, Versteeg felt inspired to address a list of what she labelled misconceptions. Numbers 5, 6 and 7 in her responses were: “I certainly don’t remember anyone putting on nail polish at a meeting”; “Neither do I remember anyone laying their head on the table for an entire meeting”; and “trustees DO care about children”.
Scroll back a few weeks, however, and you see a message from 10-year veteran trustee Meg Westley, who doesn’t intend to seek re-election in the Oct. 25 municipal vote.
“I’ve been lucky to serve with ethical, committed individuals who care deeply about children and are not afraid to argue their points,” she wrote, encouraging people to step forward as nominees.
Westley’s retirement will definitely have an effect. When her commentary cites well-argued points and a board that’s not dysfunctional, it’s a reflection of her own legacy from several years as chair. And if thought-provoking former principal Doug Pratley — currently vice-chair — follows through on his stated intentions to also step down, the city of Stratford will have four big shoes to fill.
On a less high-profile stage, Perth South and West Perth face a similar question.
Carol Bennewies will not seek re-election after seven years with the board. Elected against one other candidate in 2003, and then acclaimed in 2006, the soft-spoken but extremely level-headed Bennewies has developed into the most consistent of representatives.
She was always there for meetings surrounding the transition to our town’s Little Falls Elementary School. At regular board meetings, she never came up with any wild ideas of her own, but always made sure fellow trustees and administrators knew if a constituent had contacted her with concerns.
And in the recent Brussels controversy, she alone tried to promote a hybrid rural/urban viewpoint — in contrast to the poles that eventually developed in the lead-up to the final decision.
So far, no one has stepped forward. The board’s communication department says there are rumours. I’ve had one person ask me about the position; I told them the hands of trustees are generally constrained on many issues, and it’s entirely possible that — during a four-year term — they will be asked to vote for the closure of one or more schools. As a result, they can expect to be the target of the type of vitriol currently evident on the Avon Maitland website (on which trustees’ home phone numbers are listed).
I also offered that there is a new trend in the relationship between trustees and the Ontario Education Ministry: the importance of community partnerships as a prerequisite for increased funding. Anyone new stepping into the job might anticipate being on the front line of building such partnerships.
Pratley, in an interview earlier this week, suggested a decision like the recent Brussels closure would take “two minutes” at Queen’s Park, compared to the “agonized” process undertaken locally.
“I think we put a stamp on the kind of education that we give our kids that’s entirely different from what’s available in Toronto or Ottawa or Northern Ontario. And I think that’s important.”
Pratley calls public education “one of the most important services we — as a society — provide.”
Voter participation in trustee elections (if they happen. In 2006, all five Catholic trustees and eight of nine Avon Maitland representatives were acclaimed) is always low. One of the aforementioned Brussels-themed online postings read: “Who the heck votes these trustees in anyways? Do the taxpayers have a choice on this?”
It’s not glamorous. The pay isn’t great. You may become the target of vitriol. But for now, somebody has to do it.