Public has spoken on school boards

Re: “Elected school boards remain essential” (Opinion, Sept. 13)

Dan Lamoureux and Russell Copeman present a case for maintaining locally elected school boards. While many general observations are postulated, the writers don’t confront the hard reality that electors, by the extremely low voter turnout, have already made a concrete decision regarding the importance of school boards.

Citizens long suspected and now know that boards exert little control over key educational issues, such as textbook selection, curriculum issues, class sizes, bus schedules or even school calendar.

In reality, the Quebec Ministry of Education mandates every detail on the educational landscape with a one-size-fits-all complex set of regulations. The ministry does not permit local innovation or creativity and demands rote obedience from all boards. The acceptance of a new secondary history program in 2016, along with student texts filled with historical half-truths, by all English boards in the face of strong community backlash demonstrated the spurious nature of elected commissioners.

School boards, be they elected, appointed or anointed, are hollow administrative bodies simply designed to shield provincial politicians from possible parental wrath by offering the mirage of democratic representation. Yes, voting in a school board election may make one feel good, but it is voting for straw people capable of influencing nothing of any educational consequence.

Jon Bradley, Beaconsfield