Board members question Wetaskiwin trustee’s eligibility
A school trustee’s faith has prompted some people in Wetaskiwin to question his eligibility to serve on the public school board.
Wetaskiwin Regional Public School trustee George Ollenberger, a former Catholic school trustee, should resign his seat on the public school board, said Rose Briand, who has two children enrolled in the division.
“I believe the dual system for education in this province was set up to ensure minority religious rights. It’s not set up for a person to bump from one system to another,” Briand said.
The public school board’s chair and superintendent say they’ve twice sought legal opinions — one during the 2013 election and again this fall — and say all current trustees are eligible to hold their posts. They consider the matter closed.
“It’s a mess,” said Red Deer public schools trustee Jim Watters, who has been following the issue. “To me, I think you’re either a Catholic or not. You can’t play both sides of the fence.”
At issue is the legal definition of a school district resident.
A Catholic person who lives within the boundaries of overlapping Catholic and a public school districts is considered a resident of the Catholic school district.
To be eligible as a candidate for trustee, a person must have been a resident of the local jurisdiction for six months prior to nomination day, according to the Local Authorities Election Act.
The rule previously made headlines in 2013 when a Catholic woman from Taber found herself ineligible to run for the public school board.
The St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division also serves the City of Wetaskiwin, which is the area Ollenberger represents. The Catholic division’s website says Ollenberger served as a board trustee four times between 1995 and 2004. He was also a teacher and administrator for the public school division before retiring. After losing in a Catholic board byelection in 2012, Ollenberger was elected to the public school board in 2013.
An undated page on the Sacred Heart Wetaskiwin Knights of Columbus website also lists Ollenberger as the club’s president. The club is for Catholic men 18 and older. The club did not return emails and phone calls asking whether he is an active member.
Ollenberger did not reply to phone and email messages.
Believing Ollenberger to be Catholic, Wetaskiwin public school trustees Lynn Ware and Karen Becker began asking questions last month when the rules were brought to their attention.
“It’s a small community. People certainly know if people are affiliated with a certain congregation or the Knights of Columbus,” Becker said. Becker doesn’t believe Ollenberger intentionally broke any rules. He thought directing his taxes to the public school division made him eligible to run, she said. Although she said the law is outdated and should be changed, the board is still bound by the School Act and should comply.
“If we have a problem, I think we need to address the problem.”
She said the board’s decisions may be subject to legal challenges if it turns out Ollenberger is ineligible.
The board called a special meeting Sept. 12 in Wetaskiwin to discuss the issue. There, the school division’s associate superintendent said Ollenberger signed a private declaration of his faith when he submitted his nomination papers. Briand, who was at the meeting, said other people were not permitted to view the paper.
Becker then pointed to school division values of honesty and integrity, and asked Ollenberger if he was Catholic, according to the minutes of the meeting.
Trustee Jennifer Day said Becker had no right to ask that question and successfully moved for the meeting to be adjourned.
At the meeting, trustees heard a legal opinion that an elected trustee is not required to prove their faith and that questions about a person’s religion infringes the Alberta Bill of Rights, Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools superintendent Terry Pearson said.
Pearson and board chairwoman Barb Johnson would not answer questions about Ollenberger’s nomination process, instead repeating a statement that all current trustees are eligible for the position.
“There is no plan, as there is no issue,” Pearson said.
Ware said she’s now obliged to side with the decision of the board.
“Collectively, as a group, they think it’s fine. Now, people in town might not,” she said.
Briand said the issue is “absolutely not” closed, and she’s considering her next steps.
“I just want them to follow the rules. I want to know that I can trust them to follow the rules,” she said.
The ministries of education and municipal affairs are aware of the situation, said Larissa Liepins, press secretary for Education Minister David Eggen. Returning officers are not responsible for validating information on candidate nomination forms, Liepins said in an email, but “they can point out any known discrepancies and refer the individual to sections of the acts.”
Anyone found to be ineligible to serve on a board must immediately resign, Liepins said.