Do we want province to run school boards?

RE: NIAGARA LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, BY J. MARK ROBINSON, NOV. 2

J. Mark Robinson’s letter regarding his decision to not vote for school board trustees because he hadn’t heard from them in eight years is puzzling. First, where he lives is served by only one trustee so I doubt he would have heard from others unless he contacted them over an issue after not receiving an answer from his trustee for Port Colborne.

I also find it difficult to understand his problem in not knowing how to contact his trustee or any of the others in District School Board of Niagara. Just call the board office and ask for the name of your trustee(s) and/or find the DSBN website which lists all the trustees and their contact information. You can also Google the Provincial School Board Trustee Association that has all the information you require and tells you directly the responsibilities of trustees across this province.

As a former DSBN trustee and having been recently re-elected, I cannot disagree more with the notion that “they do what they want and when they want, and spend our money.” I wish the writer would have completed his homework before making this statement. The province has recognized the sound economic business plans and financial statements that the DSBN has continued to provide, by funding the building of a number of new elementary and secondary schools, while also funding the renovation of aging buildings to make our schools the envy of many other boards in Ontario.

Speak to anyone in Metro Toronto, or just about any other location in this province, and discover why they see DSBN as a model for stability and what good governance is.

Is DSBN perfect? No. Can it do better? Always.

However, I shudder at the thought of allowing the province to take direct control of school boards. Would you really want your school boards run by provincial appointees from outside who usually are members of the political party in power at the time? I want my school board consisting of local representation and, hopefully, independent of party affiliations. Does our last regional government ring a bell?

Alex Bradnam

DSBN trustee-elect

St. Catharines/ Niagara-on-the-Lake