acclamation

School board elections coincide with this year’s municipal election, but interest this year is lower than it has been.

Only a handful of races are taking place across northwestern Ontario, including in Kenora, Dryden and Thunder Bay.

Most other positions were filled by acclamation.

Some communities, including Kenora and Atikokan, needed extended nomination periods to secure candidates.

In Kenora, no one filed for the three positions available on the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board by the original deadline.

The extended nomination period brought in five candidates, forcing the need for an election.

Vacancies still remain in Ear Falls and Rainy River and will be left to the respective school boards to decide how they will be filled.

The situation in northwestern Ontario is not unusual.

The Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA) counts 84 trustee positions across the province as being acclaimed.

It acknowledges that it is a modest increase over previous election years.

Changes impacting the role of school board trustees are seen as the main reason for the lack of interest in some areas.

Earlier this year, Education Minister Paul Calandra mused about doing away with elected school board trustees.

Legislation was later introduced that dismissed trustees’ powers and reduced honorariums.

Several school boards in southern Ontario remain under provincial supervision.

OPSBA still views trustees as providing an essential connection between the education system and the public.

“School board trustees have served Ontario communities since before Confederation because public education is simply too important to be governed at a distance,” states OPSBA President Kathleen Woodcock in a release.

“In some respects, recent legislative changes have brought the trustee role closer to that of a board director in other organizations. But trustees retain something fundamentally different: direct democratic accountability to the students, families and communities they serve.”

Woodbeck is pleased to see many people still wanting to be a school board trustee, suggesting to her that local education governance still matters deeply to Ontarians.

Here is a list of all candidates running in school boards in northwestern Ontario.

Kenora-Keewatin Patricia District School Board

Dryden (one to be elected)

Jason Owen

Barbara Gauthier

Judi Green

Ear Falls – Vacant                                                                      

Ignace – Steve Poling (acclaimed)

Kenora/Sioux Narrows/Nestor Falls (3 to be elected)

Dave Cornish

Anita Cameron

Grant Erickson

Malcolm (Rory) McMillan

Pickle Lake – Norine Van Breda (acclaimed)

Red Lake – Dave McLeod (acclaimed)

Sioux Lookout – Sylvia Davis (acclaimed)

Machin – Roger Griffiths  (acclaimed)

Kenora Catholic District School Board

Kenora (5 to be elected)

Derek Favreau (acclaimed)

Teresa Gallik (acclaimed)

Paul Landry (acclaimed)

Marie Lundin (acclaimed)

Irene Richards (acclaimed)

Red Lake – Angela Bishop (acclaimed)

Northwest Catholic District School Board

Dryden/Machin (2 to be elected)

Peter Marshall

Kathy Bryck

Michael Cortens

Fort Frances/Alberton/La Vallee (2 to be elected)

Lisa Cousineau (acclaimed)

Kenny Desjardins (acclaimed)

Morley/Stratton/Emo/Chapple/Dawson/Rainy River/Lake of the Woods/Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls – David Sharp (acclaimed)

Atikokan – Teresa Larson (acclaimed)

Sioux Lookout and Ignace (2 to be elected)

Jim Kulchyski (acclaimed)

Cathy Bowen (acclaimed)

Rainy River District School Board

Fort Frances (2 to be elected)

Heather Latter (acclaimed)

Mike Walchuk (acclaimed)

La Vallee/Alberton – Kathryn Pierroz (acclaimed)

Atikokan – Kristi Langer (acclaimed)

Emo/Chapple/Nestor Falls – Barbara Kyro (acclaimed)

Rainy River/Morley/Lake of the Woods/Dawson – Vacant

Lakehead District School Board (8 to be elected)

Susan Frattaroli

CJ Goater

Kathleen Heikkinen

Patricia Johansen

Scotia-Leigh Kauppi

Lex MacArthur

Deborah Massaro

Ian Morgan

Vish Nayyar

George Saarinen

Ryan Sitch

Trudy Tuchenhagen

Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board (6 to be elected)

Eleanor Ashe

Lawrence Badanai

Mike Bertoldo

Anthony Foglia

Leanne Fonso

Olivia Kembel

Matt Pearson

Tony Romeo