Trustees still finding their feet after recent amalgamation of boards. Andree Lau reports.
The debate over Catholic school closures has revealed some frustration by both parents and trustees, who are still getting used to a smaller board of trustees representing larger zones and more issues.
One parent says she believes the imbalance of seven trustees from Carleton and only three from Ottawa on the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board means city issues are being ignored.
“I haven’t seen any evidence of anything done,” says Lauretta Partenio, whose children attend St. Anthony elementary school on Booth Street. “Look at all the schools they keep trying to close down here instead of other areas. There’s no support there for Ottawa schools.”
The amalgamation of the Ottawa and Carleton Catholic school boards a year ago left 10 trustees representing an area that 28 trustees used to cover.
Partenio is especially upset that the Centretown trustee who represents the school her children attend, doesn’t even live in the area.
“As far as I’m concerned, there needs to be somebody in the community who sees everything that’s going on, and knows what’s going on in the school and in the area in order to support it,” says Partenio.
“If they’re not in the area, it’s hard for them to see what’s going on in the community.”
Under municipal law, school board trustees can run for any ward as long as they live within a board’s geographical jurisdiction.
There are three trustees who represent Centretown ratepayers, only one of which – John Chiarelli who represents the zone in which St. Mary elementary school is located – lives in the area.
Catherine Maguire-Urban represents ratepayers in the area St. Anthony and Immaculata schools are located, but she lives in South Nepean.
She says she grew up in downtown Ottawa and knows the inner-city and its people well. More importantly, she says she ran for the Centretown trusteeship because she was the most qualified candidate in the race.
“We’re running a school system and first and foremost as a trustee I think it’s important to know the educational issues,” says Maguire-Urban.
She says she hasn’t received any complaints regarding her work as a trustee.
“I stand by the work I do,” says Urban-Maguire. “I work very hard and I think any parent that has actually paid attention and has not been a ‘single-issue’ parent would see that I put an awful lot of work into it.”
She says it’s important for her to know the issues that affect all Catholic school zones – and not just the ward she represents – in order to have the most efficient school system.
Urban-Maguire was a key figure in keeping St. Mary elementary school on Beech Street open. Parents who worked with her on that campaign say they were impressed.
“Her voice seems to carry some weight,” says Lynn Norris, president of the St. Mary school council.
“If I’m a parent who has an issue I would rather that my trustee’s voice carries weight and I don’t care if they live on the moon as long as someone listens to them . . . As long as they’re doing a good job, I don’t care where they live.”
But trustees say doing a good job has become more difficult as the school wards and responsibilities have increased, while the $5,000 stipend has not.
“If you look at the broad spectrum of work that’s been downloaded to trustees, it’s unbelievable,” says trustee Thérèse Maloney Cousineau, who lives in Sandy Hill but represents part of Centretown as well as Rideau, Bruyere/Strathcona, Rockcliffe and Vanier.
Cousineau’s views are shared by the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association which petitioned the Ontario government in February to take another look at the trustee system. It says trustees are underpaid and becoming demoralized.
But Norris says she hopes both trustees and parents realize their frustrations can be eventually resolved.
“You’re putting together two administrations, you’re going to get growing pains,” she says.
“After all the issues that have been going on – the school closings, amalgamation, funding formula, the new curriculum, the French review coming up – let’s be serious, there’s been a lot of things on everybody’s plate and I think it may take longer (to get used to amalgamation) and I think everyone has to learn to be a bit patient.”