Drama (Relatively Speaking) in Trustee Election

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Trustees get the message
Urged to get past political divide

Union influence was election factor
Nov. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
TESS KALINOWSKI
EDUCATION REPORTER


The people elected to run Ontario's biggest school board say voters have sent them a clear message to get past their political divisions and get on with the business of educating students.

"We all got a scare. We all got taken down a notch," said Bruce Davis, who was returned as trustee for Ward 3, Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

He was referring to a bitter campaign controversy over whether unions have too much influence on the board. Some parents and trustees complained a labour-backed parent coalition called Campaign for Public Education was giving some candidates an unfair advantage.

Some of the 22 candidates endorsed by the group said they were being unfairly portrayed as "bought" by the Toronto District School Board's unions.

Media reports oversimplified the issue, allowing it to overtake more important debates such as school safety and closings, said returning St. Paul's Ward 11 trustee Josh Matlow.

Still, in some wards, voters appeared to have reconsidered their previous choices.

In Etobicoke North, anti-school cuts incumbent Stan Nemiroff — the Campaign for Public Education's candidate — was knocked off by former Conservative MPP John Hastings, who sat at Queen's Park during the Mike Harris school cuts years.

Hastings said he's concerned with Ontario students' literacy levels. "I believe reading is the foundation of learning," he said. "I think we should teach children about financial responsibility as well; they should appreciate the value of money."

But Patrick Rutledge (Scarborough East, Ward 22), the right-wing trustee who was reviled by the school board's employee unions and didn't run this election, was replaced by the Campaign for Public Education's choice, Nadia Bello.

In Scarborough-Rouge River Shaun Chen, 26-year-old software consultant, beat right-wing incumbent Noah Ng.

Chen, who was supported by the Campaign for Public Education, said sees himself as independent but "in general" he's against school closings and cuts.

But Sheila Ward, who was returned to Ward 14 Toronto Centre-Rosedale, said the Campaign for Public Education's endorsement doesn't guarantee those board newcomers will vote along union lines.

During the election campaign, she complained about union-sponsored attacks on her and other candidates who had supported $84.5 million in board budget cuts. But yesterday, she said, the success of 11 Campaign for Public Education-endorsed candidates doesn't mean the board has been taken over by the unions.

"It could play out that way and in some cases it could not play out that way," said Ward, who didn't know if she would stand for board chair again.

Other newcomers appear non-aligned, at least for now. "We need a long-term fix to the funding crunch. We need a better deal from the province to offset increasing costs and utilities," said James Pasternak, who won in York Centre without an endorsement.

The father of three, who has two children in private, religious-based schools, said he was interested in public service.

Chris Tonks, who knocked out veteran trustee and union supporter Elizabeth Hill in York South-Weston, said he's got to get into the board and decide for himself.

"I'm definitely not no-cuts at any cost. I am practical in the sense that if there are cuts to be made they have to be done. That said I don't think the board is properly funded either."

With Files from Louise Brown


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Teacher fights to take board seat
www.thestar.com

Nov. 22, 2006
TESS KALINOWSKI
EDUCATION REPORTER

A Thornhill teacher who was elected trustee for a neighbouring school board last week is now challenging the provincial rules that prohibit her from holding office.

Julia McCrea beat out two incumbents, including the board chair, to win one of three Oshawa seats on the Durham District School Board.

But her election is fuelling growing unease about the involvement of employee unions in school board affairs, amid doubts that she can ever legally be sworn in as a trustee.

A special education teacher at Thornlea Secondary School, McCrea said she believed she was qualified to run when she registered as a candidate because she works for the York District School Board.

But employees of any school board are not eligible for trustee seats, according to a Nov. 15 memo from the labour relations branch of the Ministry of Education. It says that any board employee who wins an election must either quit the teaching job or disclaim the school board seat.

The Oshawa city clerk said questions about McCrea's bid didn't arise until Oct. 25, after the Oct. 2 deadline by which the municipality can refuse to certify a candidate. After that date, the candidate's eligibility to hold office must be challenged in court, said Sandra Kranc.

With the legality of her win in question, McCrea said she has begun a petition against the rules so that teachers and other school workers can serve as trustees.

Retired teachers, and spouses of school board employees, are allowed to serve as trustees.

"Unions are a group of workers who are often parents. They're the experts on what's going right or wrong in the system. Yes, they're important stakeholders in the education process and need to be considered, along with parents and other members of the community," she said.

A group of Alberta teachers is taking their challenge to a similar provincial rule to the Supreme Court of Canada, claiming it violates their freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights and Freedom.

The issue of employee union involvement in school boards also played out in a bitter election campaign among trustee candidates at the Toronto District School Board this month. There, a union-backed parent group endorsed candidates in each city ward and ran negative advertising against others they said favoured school and job cuts.

McCrea dismissed allegations from her election opponents that she has committed fraud or injustice.

"The fundamental injustice here is that you've got a whole group of employees who are discriminated against," she said.

A former federal candidate for the NDP, McCrea was defeated by Judy Sgro in the 2000 federal by-election in York West.

She also ran against former mayor Mel Lastman in the 1995 North York municipal election.

McCrea chairs the education services committee of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, District 16.

She said she moved into a rental home in Oshawa last year to be closer to her best friend and spent about $22,000 running for trustee.

She denied receiving help with signs or campaign work from her union, but said she got a small financial contribution from the OSSTF and another labour organization, and was among the Durham District Labour Council's endorsed candidates.

"I have fun with politics. I enjoy being politically active. But this one is stranger than usual," McCrea said in a phone interview yesterday.

Although she said members of her local union executive have signed her petition, McCrea said she is waiting for legal advice and word from the OSSTF provincial office before deciding how far she will push the matter.

"I don't want to be in the position where I just resigned my job," she said.

Officials at the Durham board would not confirm that it is seeking legal advice as to McCrea's eligibility. But a spokesperson said, "It is a point of interest and the board is looking at its options."

The York District School Board is also sending McCrea a letter advising her of her options as outlined in the education ministry's memo.

If it is decided that McCrea's election is illegal, the school board can appoint someone to the seat or hold a by-election at its own expense, said the president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, Rick Johnson.

Teachers would inevitably run against many conflicts on a school board, according to Johnson.

"If you're discussing in-camera items, labour strategies, you want to be impartial. You're representing the board, not the teachers' federation. It doesn't matter if you're teaching in this board or another board," he said.

"People are supposed to keep these things secret. Who do you have your allegiance to: the board you're elected to, or your fellow solidarity-forever brethren?"

"There is obviously very much a conflict of interest when you're an employee and also part of a governing body that regulates the jurisdiction of where you would work. You cannot have somebody who sits on a board of directors who has a pecuniary interest in the board," said Michael Barrett, the defeated chair of the Durham board.

Oshawa incumbent Susan Shetler, who served on the Durham board nine years before coming in fourth this time in a field of 11 candidates — in which McCrea was second — said she was disappointed in the election process.

"This candidate walked away with 6,400 votes. I feel that's an injustice for those people that voted for this candidate in good faith thinking she was a viable candidate," Shetler said Monday.

Calls to OSSTF president Rhonda Kimberley-Young were not returned yesterday.

The presidents of the Durham and York Region union locals also did not return calls.