Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees Lyra Evans and Donna Blackburn were frequently at odds during their time on the board, but there’s at least one thing they agree on.
School trustees aren’t in it for the pay, which is bad and about to get worse. Both say they did it to make a difference, but that’s about to get a whole lot harder due to recent provincial changes stripping trustees of much of their power.
“When you remove all of the functions of a trustee, you remove the budget, you remove the policy oversight, you remove the director of education oversight, the people who are involved in being a trustee to make a difference, to make change to better their community, don’t see a path to be able to do that,” said Evans.
That’s part of her explanation for why four OCDSB trustees are now in the running for a seat on Ottawa City Council.
Evans had signalled her intent to run in Rideau-Vanier, where she lives, even before nominations formally opened, saying she had already accomplished everything she set out to do on school board.
Then, Cathryne Milburn registered on the first day of nominations to run in Beacon-Hill Cyrville, which she represents on school board, though she said she lives just outside its borders.
“This seemed like the logical time to make the switch, especially after learning governance through the school board, but also representing the community that I love so much for the past four years,” said Milburn, who has also spent seven years working for the city in various areas, most recently in transit services.
Days later, Donna Dickson joined the race in Gloucester-Southgate. She lives in Orléans but said she grew up in South Keys and still has close family connections with the ward. She has run a non-profit to help youth after her son Ashton was shot and killed in downtown Ottawa.
“I really had to look at how things were proceeding just as a trustee and I felt that change needed to happen from outside the school to make the change work for the students,” she said. “In Ottawa there’s a lot of division where we don’t need to have that.”
Elected OCDSB trustee for Zone 8 Donna Dickson is running for council in Gloucester-Southgate. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)
Finally, Donna Blackburn registered this Monday to run in Barrhaven West. Her professional background is in social work and she said she lives in the ward.
“For me, this is a natural progression,” Blackburn said. “I’ve served as trustee for 16 years and it’s time to take what I’ve learned at the school board and bring those skills and experience to the city because we’re at a time in the city where there’s a lot going wrong.”
Role of trustees ‘diminished’
Blackburn had initially said she wanted to remain on school board for as long as possible, but she noted that Education Minister Paul Calandra has signalled that trustees might be out of their jobs for a while yet.
“I have a passion for making a difference in Barrhaven, and not being able to do that is not something I’m interested in,” she said.
“No doubt, the role of trustee has been diminished to a great extent and that’s very unfortunate.”
The OCDSB has been under supervision since last year, a decision that has sidelined its trustees by suspending their meetings, honorarium payments and decision-making role. Calandra has given no timeline on when that will end.
This April, the province announced sweeping changes that will limit the role of trustees even after supervision, including by restricting their role in budgeting and requiring the minister to sign off before they can fire the CEO.
Milburn said those changes may have been a contributing factor in pushing her to make the switch, though she said they weren’t the primary reason for a decision she was already pondering.
Elected OCDSB trustee for Zone 12 Cathryne Milburn is now seeking a city council seat in Beacon Hill-Cyrville. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)
“Watching the restrictions and really being told that when a budget is coming forward to the school board, all it is going to be now is a checkbox and the minister of education is going to push it forward no matter what is a really upsetting change in education,” she said.
She said she hopes new candidates still step in to seek office as OCDSB trustees, even in the face of the provincial restrictions.
In fact, some are. There is currently at least one candidate for each of the 12 seats, and some have two or three names in the running so far. If elected, they will receive no pay and have no responsibilities until supervision ends.
Looking to leave history of infighting behind
The province justified its decision to put the board under supervision by pointing to fiscal challenges that left the OCDSB chronically unable to balance its budget.
But many of the trustees now running for council say the responsibility for that rests at the door of the ministry — and shouldn’t be held against them in their bid for city hall.
“School districts across the province of Ontario are woefully underfunded, particularly in special education,” Blackburn said.
“That’s why there are deficits. That has nothing to do with mismanagement on behalf of the trustees. And if you go look at how many supervisors have balanced the budget, none of them [have succeeded].”
Dickson said she was frustrated by a lack of ministry resources to help kids, but also by what she described as dysfunction on the board, as trustees got bogged down in disputes over geopolitical issues and filed a flurry of integrity commissioner complaints against each other.
“We lost two and a half years, almost three years on that. It’s really sad,” she said. “It gets frustrating when you’re sitting until midnight having a meeting about the same thing and nothing’s being accomplished.”
But the trustees don’t plan on transplanting any of that history to council should they be elected. Dickson hopes that a strong mayor will keep councillors in line, and said that city council meetings already strike her as better organized.
“I’m willing to work with whoever is elected to get the objectives that I have accomplished,” said Evans.
Elected OCDSB trustee for Zone 6 Lyra Evans is running for city council in Rideau-Vanier. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)
“I always go to the table with a positive attitude and with a collaborative attitude,” said Blackburn. “So it’s not something I worry about.”
Ottawa already has several former trustees on council, including Shawn Menard, Cathy Curry, Riley Brockington and Theresa Kavanagh.
This year’s municipal election is on Oct. 26.