Fagstein » school-board-elections http://blog.fagstein.com Can you think of a better name? Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:54:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 School boards: What will we do with them now? http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/07/school-boards-what-will-we-do-with-them-now/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/07/school-boards-what-will-we-do-with-them-now/#comments Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:10:11 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/07/school-boards-what-will-we-do-with-them-now/ Now that school board elections are over, with absolutely atrocious voter turnout, the inevitable we-have-to-do-something leadership-by-hindsight begins.

Some of the options being considered:

Abolish school boards entirely: This is the ADQ's solution to the problem, and the excuse for reason why they want to force a real election. Administration of schools would fall to municipalities, the provincial government, and the schools themselves, removing a layer of bureaucracy. Unfortunately, as municipal mergers should have shown us, it's not that easy. The bureaucracy created by the change might be as large or even larger than the bureaucracy it's replacing.

Give school boards more power: For those (like me) who complain there aren't any issues to be decided here (things like school taxes and curricula are set by the Quebec government), this might make elections more interesting. But it would also make the boards inconsistent, and that could lead to problems down the road.

Tie school board elections to municipal elections: I can't see how this isn't a good idea. Let's reduce the amount of times we need to go out, update a voters' list and wait in line to cast our ballots.

Here's one I'd like to suggest adding to the list: Have school board commissioners appointed by municipalities instead of elected by the populace directly. This may sound anti-democratic at first, but the system it's replacing isn't perfect either. This solution would keep the bureaucracy as is, but the decisions about how local schools would be run would be left in part to the municipal governments they're in. (Municipal politics aren't high on voter turnout either, but it's better than school board elections -- and most people can name their mayor at least.)

Just a thought.

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]]> http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/07/school-boards-what-will-we-do-with-them-now/feed/ 1 School board election results http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/05/school-board-election-results/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/05/school-board-election-results/#comments Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:12:12 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/05/school-board-election-results/ I don't blame you if you slept through it, but yesterday was school board election day across the province. Turnout in English boards (which have a much smaller electorate because you have to specifically request to be added to it) was low, about 10-30%. Turnout for the French boards was comically bad, in the low single digits.

That probably had something to do with the fact that there were no issues in this election, nobody knew anything about the candidates, and school boards are powerless to make any meaningful changes about how our kids are educated anyway.

Still, for those who care (the immediate families of the candidates come to mind), here's a quick breakdown of what happened.

English Montreal School Board

EMSB results (PDF)

  • Spiridigliozzi: Wards 8, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23 (plus 16, 17, 18 and 20 by acclamation)
  • Barbieri: Wards 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14
  • Mancini: Wards 1, 4, 7, 10, 19
  • Independents: None

The EMSB election, as Henry Aubin explained it, was a battle between chairman Dominic Spiridigliozzi (whose team had a slim majority on the board) and Rocco Barbieri and Angela Mancini, who work together and whose candidates did not compete against each other for seats. Despite having four candidates elected through acclamation (including Spiridigliozzi himself), the team managed to win only 10 of the 23 board seats, with the rest going to Barbieri and Mancini's teams. This will represent a major shift in the way this board is governed.

Spiridigliozzi lost 3 incumbents: vice-chair Elizabeth Fokoefs (NDG Ward 3), Daniel Andrelli (St. Henri/Point St. Charles/Westmount Ward 6) and George Vogas (Plateau/Park Ex Ward 13)

Two of the races were extremely close (close enough that judicial recounts have been ordered): Rocco Barbieri won by a margin of only seven votes: 319-312. Julien Feldman (also on Barbieri's team) defeated incumbent George Vogas in Ward 13 by only six votes: 319-313, with 52 votes going to independent Adam Beach. (A second independent, Ilias Hondronicolas, dropped out.)

As for Bryce Durafourt, who I had high hopes for, he received only 49 votes against Barbieri's Liz Leaman (454) and Spiridigliozzi's Mario Pasteris (200).

Lester B. Pearson School Board

Official results

Not as fun to analyze as the other board because there weren't any declared teams and there were only seven races. Two incumbents, Howard Solomon (who's been there 14 years) and Don Rae (a one-time incumbent whose website is filled with stock photos of smiling kids), lost their seats.

Commission scolaire de Montréal

List of winners (PDF)

Wow. You can't go wrong with a 100% victory, but that's exactly what the MEMO group did here, picking up 13 acclamations and winning all eight contested elections against independents. Even Dominique Cousineau, whose campaign apparently consisted of pointing out that her opponent was named Mostafa, won her board seat. I can't find a list of the vote totals (though with a turnout of less than 4%, maybe they're embarrassed to show them).

Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys

List of winners (PDF, apparently scanned from an old fax machine)

With 20 of 21 seats contested, this board's election was the most active. Diane Lamarche-Venne was the big winner, picking up 14 seats of the 19 her candidates ran in (including herself and one candidate who was elected through acclamation). Jocelyne Bénard-Rochon, who ran 17 candidates, only saw three victories, and lost her own seat to a Lamarche-Venne candidate.

Surprisingly, four independent candidates, three of whom ran against at least one of the parties, also picked up seats: Guylain Desnoyers, Jean-Guy D'Amour, Sonia Gagné-Lalonde and Sarita Benchimol (the latter ran in Cote-St.-Hamp-West, which didn't see any party candidates).

The turnout was also abysmal here, at just over 3%.

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]]> http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/05/school-board-election-results/feed/ 2 TWIM: Kids, money http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/04/twim-kids-money/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/04/twim-kids-money/#comments Mon, 05 Nov 2007 03:38:21 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/04/twim-kids-money/ Bryce Durafourt

This week, I talked with Bryce Durafourt (above), who's running in the school board elections for the English Montreal School Board in TMR/Saint-Laurent. He's 20, a McGill microbiology student, curler, and ran for city councillor the 2005 municipal election in Saint-Laurent, only to come dead-last as the only independent candidate.

So I asked him: What's up with that?

Also this week (though not online) is an explainer about the status of the Canadian dollar, which is constantly hitting new highs compared to the U.S. dollar. It also mentions the situation in Zimbabwe, home of the least-valued currency in the world and one of the worst examples of hyperinflation since the 1940s.

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]]> http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/11/04/twim-kids-money/feed/ 0 OMG they’ll outsource our students too! http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/27/omg-theyll-outsource-our-students-too/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/27/omg-theyll-outsource-our-students-too/#comments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 00:36:02 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/27/omg-theyll-outsource-our-students-too/ Apparently realizing that there are no real issues in this school board election, Commission scolaire de Montréal candidate Michel Bédard has decided to invent a scandal. Bédard is running as an independent against incumbent Paul Trottier of the establishment party MEMO in Division 15, which is the area around the Gay Village in southeast downtown.

Bédard is complaining that the school board had Canada Post print some of its election material, and they did so in Toronto. Apparently this blatant outsourcing is taking jobs away from Montrealers willing to print flyers.

Yeah.

Scandal.

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]]> http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/27/omg-theyll-outsource-our-students-too/feed/ 0 Everything you couldn’t care less about school board elections http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/23/school-board-elections-info/ http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/23/school-board-elections-info/#comments Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:31:47 +0000 Fagstein http://blog.fagstein.com/2007/10/23/school-board-elections-info/ If you've been wondering what those election-style signs are doing up around town, you've missed the fact that there's a school board election going on. Four boards on the Island of Montreal (two English, two French) are electing 54 of 86 commissioners on Nov. 4 to vote on important school board matters, not that I have any idea what important school board matters are.

Media coverage lacking

The Gazette's Don Macpherson complains in a column that voters aren't getting enough information about the candidates and issues. He places the blame for this problem on the school boards:

The school boards themselves might do more to inform voters. For example, the Pearson board provides candidates with space on its website. But most others give voters only a list of the candidates' names.

Nowhere in his piece does he mention the fact that it's the media's job to inform us of the issues related to election campaigns, a job they are failing miserably to do in this case. (UPDATE: To his credit, his opinion on the weekend of the election points out that major newspapers abdicated their responsibility for coverage of candidates to the community weeklies.)

The media talk the talk about how important school board elections are, but why aren't they giving us platforms? Profiles of the candidates? Examinations of the issues?

Instead, we get stories about how hard it is to convince people to vote for school board elections, and others that gloss over confusions over what boards voters are registered to vote for. The articles giving us lists of candidates, when they appear, tell us only who the incumbents are and what wards they're running for.

Last Friday, a letter to the editor pointed out that the media has a job to do too, profiling the candidates and talking about the issues.

The Transcontinental-owned community weeklies, including the West Island Chronicle, are being surprisingly effective at covering the individual candidates. Links to those articles are in the "candidates" section below. But even then the profiles are lacking. No questions about the role of religion in school. No questions about funding priorities. I don't care what age they are, or how many kids they have in school, or why they decided to run. I want to know what policies they'll support. And I'm not getting that information.

The Gazette's West Island section has articles about the elections of each of the school boards (Lester B. Pearson, Marguerite Bourgeoys), but they seem to focus on people complaining about the lack of candidates, or the reasons people are retiring. There's absolutely no discussion of any issues, or platforms, or anything else that would help people to decide who they will vote for.

Henry Aubin, The Gazette's regional affairs columnist, also opines about the lack of a real campaign. He blames the EMSB for not holding debates and the candidates for having vague, platitudonal platforms. At least his piece delves into some of the ugly partisanship behind the scenes with a look at the "parties" as well as some controversial issues they face (like closing schools and dealing with Bill 104). But it's hardly enough to satisfy our need for information about this election.

Why do I care?

The lack of coverage about the issues, combined with the lack of controversial positions being posted to the few candidate websites out there, suggest that there simply aren't any important issues to be decided here.

I respect how important grass-roots democracy is. But nobody's proposing we start teaching Intelligent Design here as far as I can tell. Whether it's the media's fault for not digging enough, or the candidates' faults for not having polarizing opinions, there's just nothing to vote for or against here. Just a bunch of people I don't know running against each other.

The Suburban tackled the issue of whether this election really matters in a point-counterpoint: School board commissioners matter vs. School boards' use is long past. Neither side is very convincing.

When it comes down to it, why are we electing school board commissioners in the first place? We don't elect hospital administrators, or police commissioners, or board members of Crown corporations. We don't even elect board members for CEGEPs and universities. What makes elementary and high school administration so important it requires its own political system?

(Think I'm asking a lot of questions? The Gazette has an editorial full of them, along with an op-ed from a former teachers' union president about how little this election matters.)

The candidates

(Note: "Ward" and "Electoral District" are used interchangeably. I use "ward" because it sounds cooler. Contested seats are bolded. The rest are considered acclaimed.)

Lester B. Pearson School Board (7/21 seats contested)

Coverage
Candidates

Ward 1 (Verdun—PDF map)

  • Douglas Flook

Ward 2 (Southern LaSalle—PDF map)

  • Sergio Borja

Ward 3 (Northeast LaSalle—PDF map)

Ward 4 (Western LaSalle/Ville-Saint-Pierre—PDF map)

Ward 5 (Lachine—PDF map)

  • Patrick Whitham

Ward 6 (Dorval—PDF map)

Ward 7 (Eastern Pierrefonds/eastern Dollard/northwest Dorval/eastern Pointe-Claire—PDF map)

  • Rosemary Murphy

Ward 8 (Roxboro/Riverdale—PDF map)

  • Craig Berger (email)
  • Bashir Hussain (email)
  • Nazia Nadeem (email)
  • Howard Solomon (incumbent) (email)

Ward 9 (Central Pointe-Claire/Valois—PDF map)

  • Allan Levine

Ward 10 (Lakeshore Pointe-Claire/Pointe-Claire Village/Western Pointe-Claire—PDF map)

  • John Killingbeck

Ward 11 (Central Dollard-des-Ormeaux—PDF map)

  • Marcus Tabachnick (LBPSB chairman and chairman of Quebec English School Boards Association)

Ward 12 (Île-Bizard/Sainte-Geneviève/north central Pierrefonds/Rive-Boisée—PDF map)

  • Sylvia Di Donato (incumbent) (email)
  • Bart Sellitto (email)

Ward 13 (Northwest Dollard-des-Ormeaux/Greendale—PDF map)

  • Martin Sherman

Ward 14 (Southwest Dollard-des-Ormeaux/Fairview Pointe-Claire/eastern Kirkland—PDF map)

  • Joseph Zemanovich

Ward 15 (North/east Beaconsfield—PDF map)

  • Ralph Tietjen

Ward 16 (West Kirkland/east Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue—PDF map)

  • Suanne Stein Day

Ward 17 (West Pierrefonds—PDF map)

  • Luisa Bulgarelli-Vero

Ward 18 (Senneville/west Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue/Baie-d'Urfé/south Beaconsfield—PDF map)

Ward 19 (Île Perrot—PDF map)

  • Susan Bartlett-Lewis

Ward 20 (Vaudreuil-Dorion/east Hudson/western shore communities above the St. Lawrence except Saint-Lazare and Rigaud—PDF map)

  • Angela Nolet

Ward 21 (West Hudson/Saint-Lazare/Rigaud/Pointe-Fortune—PDF map)

  • Armando Jardim (email)
  • Daniel Olivenstein (email)

English Montreal School Board (19 of 23 seats contested)

Coverage
Parties

(unofficial, based on Henry Aubin's list)

  • Team Spiridigliozzi: 23/23 candidates, including 9 incumbents
  • Team Mancini: 6/23 candidates, including 5 incumbents
  • Team Barbieri: 12/23 candidates, including 2 incumbents
  • 6 independents
Candidates

Ward 1 (Côte-Saint-Luc)

  • Neil Chazin (Spiridigliozzi) (email)
  • Syd Wise (Mancini) (incumbent)

Ward 2 (Montreal West)

  • Susan Gottman (Spiridigliozzi) (email)
  • Joseph Lalla (Barbieri) (email)

Ward 3 (NDG)

  • Elizabeth Fokoefs (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent, vice-chair) (email)
  • Albert Perez (Barbieri) (email)

Ward 4 (Hampstead/Côte-Saint-Luc)

Ward 5 (NDG/Saint-Henri/Ville-Émard)

  • Leslie Alleynes (Spiridigliozzi) (email)
  • Anne Williams (Barbieri) (email)

Ward 6 (Saint-Henri/Pointe-Saint-Charles/Westmount)

  • Daniel Andrelli (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent) (email)
  • Richard Lalonde (Barbieri) (email)

Ward 7 (Westmount/NDG)

Ward 8 (Côte-des-Neiges/Snowdon/Outremont)

  • Ellie Israel (Spiridigliozzi) (email)
  • Kurtis Law (independent) (email)
  • Donald A. Reid (independent) (email)

Ward 9 (Mount Royal/Saint-Laurent)

  • Bryce Durafourt (independent) (email | website) (this kid's been around, running for mayor and city council)
  • Elizabeth Leaman (Barbieri) (currently parent commissioner for elementary schools) (email)
  • Mario Pasteris (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Ward 10 (Saint-Laurent)

  • Bernard Praw (Mancini) (incumbent) (email)
  • Costa Saisanas (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Ward 11 (Saint-Laurent/Cartierville)

  • Stratis Kossivas (Barbieri) (email)
  • James Kromida (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent) (email)
  • Darrell Seal (independent) (email)

Ward 12 (Ahuntsic)

  • Joseph Petraglia (Barbieri) (incumbent) (email)
  • Riccardo Pivetta (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Ward 13 (Park Extension/Plateau)

  • Adam Beach (independent) (email)
  • Julien Feldman (Barbieri) (email)
  • Ilias Hondronicolas (independent) (email)
  • George Vogas (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent) (email)

Ward 14 (Saint-Michel)

  • Rocco Barbieri (Barbieri party leader) (incumbent) (email)
  • Antoinette Corrado (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Ward 15 (Montreal North)

  • Michele Benigno (Barbieri) (email)
  • Sylvia LoBianco (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent) (email)

Ward 16 (St. Léonard)

  • Dominic Spiridigliozzi (Spiridigliozzi party leader) (incumbent, chair)

Ward 17 (St. Léonard)

  • Frank Verrillo (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent)

Ward 18 (Rosemont)

  • Agostino Cannavino (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent)

Ward 19 (Rosemont/Hochelaga-Maisonneuve/Downtown/Plateau)

  • Angela Mancini (Mancini party leader) (incumbent) (email)
  • Sylvie Vogels (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Ward 20 (Rosemont)

  • Frank Di Cesare (Spiridigliozzi)

Ward 21 (Anjou/Pointe-Aux-Trembles/Montreal East)

  • Elena Celsi (Mancini) (email)
  • Ted Donnini (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Ward 22 (Rivière-des-Prairies)

  • Stephen Bertone (Barbieri) (email)
  • Rosa Cerrelli (Spiridigliozzi) (incumbent) (email)

Ward 23 (Rivière-des-Prairies)

  • Angie Bertone (Barbieri) (email)
  • Patricia Lattanzio (Spiridigliozzi) (email)

Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (20/21 seats contested)

Parties
Coverage
Candidates

Ward 1 (Outremont—PDF map)

Ward 2 (Mount Royal/Saint-Laurent East—PDF map)

  • Denise Rochefort (Lamarche-Venne)
  • Jean-Paul Lauly (Éducation et avenir)

Ward 3 (Northeast Saint-Laurent—PDF map)

  • Mohammed Benzaria (Éducation et avenir)
  • Taki Kérimian (Lamarche-Venne)

Ward 4 (South Saint-Laurent—PDF map)

Ward 5 (North Saint-Laurent—PDF map)

  • Mustapha Hennous (independent)
  • Diane Lamarche-Venne (Lamarche-Venne party leader)
  • Norma Lanctôt-Ponzoni (Éducation et avenir)

Ward 6 (Pierrefonds-Roxboro East—PDF map)

  • Carole Legault (independent)
  • Nathalie Morin (Éducation et avenir)
  • Catherine Thomas (Lamarche-Venne)

Ward 7 (East Dollard-des-Ormeaux—PDF map)

Ward 8 (North Pierrefonds/West Dollard-des-Ormeaux—PDF map)

  • Ibrahim Abdelatiff (Éducation et avenir)
  • Guylain Desnoyers (independent)
  • Félix Méloul (Lamarche-Venne)
  • Amany Naguib (independent)

Ward 9 (Île-Bizard/Sainte-Geneviève/Pierrefonds centre—PDF map)

  • Marie France Bourret (independent)
  • Suzanne Marceau (Lamarche-Venne)
  • Nathalie Hervé (Éducation et avenir)

Ward 10 (Pierrefonds West/Kirkland North—PDF map)

Ward 11 (Senneville/Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue/Baie D'Urfé/Beaconsfield/Kirkland South—PDF map)

  • Sonia Gagné-Lalonde (independent)
  • Hela Labene (independent)
  • Réal Ouellette (Éducation et avenir)

Ward 12 (Pointe-Claire—PDF map)

  • Claude Cuillerier (Lamarche-Venne)
  • Sébastien Francoeur (Éducation et avenir)
  • Susan L. Stokley (independent)

Ward 13 (Dorval/Île Dorval/Lachine West—PDF map)

Ward 14 (Lachine East—PDF map)

Ward 15 (Côte-Saint-Luc/Hampstead/Montreal-West—PDF map)

  • Sarita Benchimol (independent)
  • Nadim Saadé (independent)

Ward 16 (LaSalle West—PDF map)

  • Marie-Josée Boivin (Lamarche-Venne)
  • Claude Martineau (Éducation et avenir)

Ward 17 (LaSalle North—PDF map)

  • Jocelyne Bénard Rochon (Éducation et avenir)
  • Monique Vallée (Lamarche-Venne)

Ward 18 (LaSalle South—PDF map)

Ward 19 (Verdun West—PDF map)

  • Jean-Marc Crête (Éducation et avenir)
  • Pierre Lavoie (Lamarche-Venne)

Ward 20 (Verdun centre—PDF map)

  • Francyne Arbour-Blier (Éducation et avenir)
  • Pierre Labrosse (Lamarche-Venne)

Ward 21 (Verdun East—PDF map)

  • Olivier R. Langlais (Lamarche-Venne)
  • Marc Touchette (Éducation et avenir)

Commission scolaire de Montréal (8/21 seats contested)

Parties
Candidates

Ward 1 (Cartierville—map)

  • Viken Afarian (independent)
  • Jocelyne Cyr (MÉMO)

Ward 2 (Bordeaux-Ahuntsic—map)

Ward 3 (Ahuntsic—map)

  • Diane De Courcy (MÉMO)

Ward 4 (Saint-Sulpice/Saint-Michel Nord—map)

Ward 5 (Park Extension/Villeray—map)

Ward 6 (Villeray/Petite-Patrie—map)

Ward 7 (Saint-Michel Sud—map)

  • Tomas Arbieto Ascue (MÉMO)

Ward 8 (Rosemont Nord—map)

Ward 9 (Rosemont Sud—map)

  • Marie Depelteau-Paquette (MÉMO)

Ward 10 (Louis-Riel/Nouveau-Rosemont—map)

  • Jean-Denis Dufort (MÉMO)

Ward 11 (Tétreaultville—map)

  • André Bonin (independent)
  • Catherine Harel-Bourdon (MÉMO)

Ward 12 (Mercier—map)

  • Christian Giguère (MÉMO)
  • Simon Vincent (independent)

Ward 13 (Hochelaga-Maisonneuve—map)

  • Daniel Duranleau (MÉMO)

Ward 14 (Plateau Mont-Royal—map)

  • François Vaillancourt (MÉMO)

Ward 15 (Les Faubourgs—map)

Ward 16 (Saint-Louis/Mile End—map)

  • Louise Mainville (MÉMO)

Ward 17 (Westmount/Côte-des-Neiges Sud—map)

  • Georges Toda (independent)
  • Akos Verboczy (MÉMO)

Ward 18 (Côte-des-Neiges/Snowdon—map)

  • Khokon Maniruzzaman (MÉMO)
  • Teklad Pavisian (independent)

Ward 19 (Saint-Henri/Petite-Bougogne/Pointe-Saint-Charles—map)

Ward 20 (Ville Émard/Côte-Saint-Paul—map)

  • Daniel Bélanger (MÉMO)

Ward 21 (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—map)

  • Marie-José Mastromonaco (MÉMO)

Related Posts

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