TDSB trustees’ election intentions declared

More than a quarter of Toronto’s public school trustees won’t seek re-election this fall but the long-serving ladies of the board are aiming to continue.
Sixteen of the 22 trustees on the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) have registered to defend their seats in the October municipal election. However, four will instead compete for seats on Toronto city council while board chair and Etobicoke-Lakeshore representative, Bruce Davis, and Scarborough East rookie trustee Nadia Bello have said they are leaving the board and will not run for public office this fall.

Davis is the longest serving of the six departing trustees, having served three terms.

“I’m leaving after 10 years, I think that’s fair and it’s good,” said Davis, a communications consultant who is currently managing George Smitherman’s mayoral campaign. “I’m not calling for term limits but I think there’s a point at which you need some new blood.

“It also helps to make sure we represent the diversity of the city,” he added. “Now, the other side of it with some of our colleagues who’ve been around a while, they have some corporate memory.”

In the case of the TDSB’s five longest serving trustees, that corporate memory is of a combined 116 years of service.

The leader in longevity is Parkdale-High Park trustee Irene Atkinson, who has been a trustee for 34 years and was first elected to the former Toronto Board of Education in 1972. Her only gap in service was from 1981 to 1985 after she resigned as chair of the board to make two failed attempts to be elected an alderman.

“She’s virtually unbeatable,” Davis said of Atkinson.

Indeed, as of July 30, Atkinson is one of three sitting trustees who have no registered competitors, along with Howard Goodman (Eglinton-Lawrence) and Maria Rodrigues (Davenport). She previously won uncontested elections in 2003 and 1994.

“I was acclaimed twice, and I wouldn’t consider a third (time) as a problem,” stated Atkinson in an email.

While noting potential challengers have until Sept. 10 to file their nomination papers, she sent a reminder of her performance in the last election when she garnered almost 80 per cent of the votes cast.

“I have been around longer than anyone else and my record of accomplishments speaks for itself,” she stated. “People generally seem to feel that I am responsive, they get their problems attended to, and I have my eye on the big picture of programs and the problems of funding. I am a tireless advocate for reform of the (provincial) funding formula to recognize the real costs of quality public education. For some it is a family tradition to vote for me. At concerts, I run into the grandparents of the performing students.”

Trailing Atkinson in length of service are:

- Gerri Gershon (Don Valley West), who has won in every election since first being voted on to the former North York Board of Education in 1991.

- Sheila Cary-Meagher (Beaches-East York), who served on the old Toronto board from 1972 to 1980 for the Beaches community and then moved over to be Parkdale’s trustee from 1981 to 1985. After a 15-year break, she returned in the 2000 election and has been in her current spot since that time.

- Stephnie Payne (York West), who like Gershon, has won in every election since first being elected to the former North York Board in 1991.

- Sheila Ward (Toronto Centre-Rosedale), who was first elected to the former Toronto board in 1991 but then lost in the 1994 election. She regained her position in 1997 and has served continually since then.

Overall, 61 people have registered to run for TDSB trustee in the Oct. 25 election, about two-thirds the amount of candidates as the 2006 election.

“It’s not that appealing a job,” admitted Davis. “It’s important, it’s vital, but it’s not that appealing.”

Davis said parent activists should be natural candidates to run for trustee, but many shy away from the time commitment and long, late and sometimes very tense community and board meetings.

“I’ve been to some very heated meetings – in my own community even – where people will say some pretty harsh things,” recalled Davis, noting he knows one trustee who asked for police protection. “You know, it shouldn’t be this way but you do become hardened after a while to the personal attacks.

“But I thought what’s even more difficult is the trustees that are hard on each other,” he added. “It can be very, very brutalizing and I must admit, I’m not going to miss that one bit.”

Davis doesn’t believe money makes a difference in the quality of candidates putting their hat in the ring. When he started, trustees received a $5,000 taxable honorarium. It is now a $26,000 part-time salary with an additional $10,000 for the board chair and $5,000 for the vice-chair.

He estimates half of the trustees don’t have a full-time job and said two or three trustees work 50 to 60 hours at the school board, while some with full-time jobs put in 15-20 hours a week.

“I don’t think anyone that’s there (on the board) is motivated by the money,” said Davis. “I think in some cases it’s the difference between being on a pension and being able to be on a pension without as much anxiety.”

Posted in News, School board