The 2021 municipal election is Oct. 18 and advance voting has already begun in Lethbridge.
When residents head to the polls, they’ll be asked to select either a public school board ballot or a separate school board ballot (Ward 2) before they vote for trustees.
A full list of candidates can be found here.
Sandra Dufresne, a former trustee for the Holy Spirit Catholic School Division, said it’s important to understand their roles.
“In years of municipal elections like this one, we get an opportunity to help choose trustees to help shape the future of education,” she said.
“Trustees definitely spend time in the schools, visiting with staff and students, but that is secondary to really what their role is (which is) to set the strategic direction for the division.”
Along with board duties that impact a variety of aspects of the division, such as budgets and policies, the board is also responsible for hiring the superintendent.
“The board of trustees have one employee, and that’s the superintendent,” she explained. “One of the most critical roles of the board is the hiring and evaluation of that superintendent, because really it’s under their direction that the board’s vision will be activated.”
Dufresne, who served from 2007-2013 and spent three years as the board chair, said a major issue at the time was the HPV vaccine.
“Being on Holy Spirit means we don’t only report to the education minister, but also to our bishop,” she explained, “It was very contentious in that out bishop did not want HPV vaccine being delivered in our schools.
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“The board saw it as a health issue and not a faith issue, and so I was very pleased just to advocate to the bishop, and now we have those vaccines in our schools.”
Clark Bosch, a current public school board trustee not seeking re-election this fall, said some of the highlights over the last couple of years have been the board’s involvement in the opening of two new schools, and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the role is technically part-time, Bosch said it can take a lot of work and flexibility.
“It could take 20 hours a week, it could be every day for a week,” he said. “You could have a meeting on Monday, a meeting on Tuesday, nothing on Wednesday, full day Thursday, half-a-day Friday (so) it’s kind of all over the place.”
Voters will elect seven candidates for the public division and five for the separate division. Each voter must decide whether they vote for the public or separate board and may not vote for both.
Once elected, the trustees in each division will decide on a board chair amongst themselves.
Bosch said voters should look for candidates who possess the skills to deal with government, work collaboratively, listen and ask questions.
“What people should do is they should look at the candidates, and say: ‘Does that person have leadership qualities? Do I want them to lead one of the most important things that goes on in our society?'”
“Even if you don’t have children in the system, trustees help shape education in our city for years and years to come,” Dufresne added.
“And really the foundation of a civil society is an education system, and we all have a role to play in that.”
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