ATHABASCA - There is an election on the horizon and now is the time for potential candidates to decide if they want to throw their hat in the ring for a four-year term on not only their local municipal council, but their local school board as well.
Before signing their own papers though, three trustees with Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) talked about their reasons for running and what it takes to shoulder the responsibility of providing not just education, but care, compassion and direction for the thousands of students across the division.
“This is my seventh year; mine was a by-election that came up one year into that term,” said current chair Candy Nikipelo. “I'm from this community. I was born and raised in this community. I've raised my kids in this community and my kids were part of the school system. When that byelection came up, I was chair of the Boyle School Council.”
And while Nikipelo had a good relationship with the trustee representing Boyle, she felt she could do more.
"I think that it is important to have a strong school board to represent your division, to be elected locally, and to hear the wants, wishes and needs of your constituents,” she said.
It was a similar situation for Anne Karczmarczyk, she had been active as a parent with the school and when a byelection came up, she ran and has been a trustee since 2016.
“No one should ever go into any sort of elected position thinking 'I am going to change something' because you're always part of a governance; in our case, you're one of seven,” she said.
Being one of seven used to be one of nine and that change was something Dennis MacNeil brought to the table when he was elected in 2009 after retiring from teaching and school administration for AVPS for 24 years.
“In my first term one of the initiatives that I took upon myself was to reduce the number of trustees from nine down to seven,” said MacNeil.
And even coming right out of the school onto the board MacNeil said there was a lot to learn.
“Coming out of the classroom and coming out of administration, you have a pretty good understanding of what happens within the schools however, when you move into trusteeship it's a slightly different learning curve,” he said. “We're dealing with policies, dealing more with the governance aspect of education and so you're no longer making decisions just for your own school or for your own classroom, you're now making decisions for the entire school division and you have to look at the bigger picture.”
Being part of making team decisions was echoed by Nikipelo and Karczmarczyk.
“I think everybody who runs kind of runs with the premise that they are going to change the world and maybe is not fully aware of the premise of a board,” said Nikipelo. “You maybe think that you have a little bit more power than you do; that you can make some changes, or that you're going to make specific changes to your schools.”
For Karczmarczyk it is also about looking at the bigger picture, that parents ask teachers or school administrators to take care of problems or issues that arise, but a lot has to happen first.
“You realize very quickly once you become a trustee, the flow of things,” she said. “There's a process, and you learn to appreciate what happens not just in your child's school but behind the scenes that allows them to do their job, so that was a definitely an eye-opener for me and I've really appreciated that.”
The amount of time it takes to be an effective trustee has no number of hours linked to it. It depends on how many subcommittees or outside committees you choose to sit on all three said — MacNeil, for instance, is also a director on the provincial board Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta (PSBAA). But there’s also the after-hours work.
“Your commitment is also learning the role, your commitment is also getting out there in the community and making yourself available at community events, being available to your constituents to talk,” said Nikipelo. “My phone is always ringing, I've got people texting me, I've got people e-mailing me, that's part of my job. That's not the paid part of my job, that is the people that have voted me in and put their trust and confidence in me to represent them.”
Beyond the schools and division however, there is an even bigger picture the trustees look at and how it impacts the local governance.
“Our school division was very much part of advocating for the new funding formula. That was virtually started with the rural caucus and members of the Aspen View school division so, that was something that we're very proud of,” Karczmarczyk said. “But you know, at the end of the day, it's our students and our school family and our community that's important; to try and provide them with the best opportunities for education and access possible and advocating for our school students and community.”
MacNeil noted trustees rely on the division office staff to make informed decisions and credits them for setting the tone in schools beyond providing the basics of the three R’s — reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic — for the four C’s; collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication.
“We're really blessed because we have not just great trustees, I'm not blowing my own horn here, but on our board, we have some really excellent trustees, but we also have an amazing superintendent,” he said. “And I think that's critical as well and I think that the oversight on the part of the board is pretty important, but the guys on the ground, especially (Supt.) Neil O’Shea and (deputy Supt. Dr.) Karen (Penney). They're the ones who really set the tone for the rest of the staff and that's a result of the board working collaboratively with division office.”
AVPS secretary-treasurer Aimee Hirtle is the returning officer for the division and said nomination forms are on the AVPS website or can be picked up from the division office but must be returned filled out by noon Sept. 21.
“So far, the only significant change made at the provincial level due to COVID is allowing candidates to submit their nomination papers by mail,” said Hirtle. “Depending on the state of the pandemic as nomination day and election day draw closer, there may be provincial direction for further COVID-related accommodations.”
She noted the $100 deposit has been waived by the division due to the extended nomination time.
“We recommended not to charge a deposit this year for operational reasons,” she said. “In past elections, when the nomination period was one day, it was relatively straightforward to collect deposits on nomination day, and return them following the election a month later. With a longer nomination period, deposits would have to be held and accounted for, potentially for several months, before they could be returned. The level of administration involved, in our opinion, did not warrant collecting the deposit.”
Hirtle said in her April 8 e-mail no one had declared their intentions yet, but Nikipelo and Karzcmarzcyk both said they were considering running again. MacNeil did confirm that he does intend to run again.
