School board elections: Electoral Division 8

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Provincial school board elections are coming up on Nov. 4, and campaigns are ongoing in four West Island Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) electoral divisions. Candidates are running for a spot on the school board council of commissioners who, during their four-year term, manage the LBPSB’s resources, including 3,000 full- and part-time employees, more than 28,000 students in 62 schools, and a $207 million budget.

Every week up until election day, The Chronicle will present the candidates. This week, we will look at Electoral Division 8.

Electoral Division 8 encompasses part of Pierrefonds-Roxboro and just over 2,900 Anglophone electors. The division includes one sole LBPSB building: Riverdale High School in Pierrefonds. Charles A. Kirkland Elementary school in Roxboro used to be part of the division, however it closed last you due to low enrollment.

Incumbent candidate Howard Solomon, who has been a school board commissioner for 14 years, almost decided not to run again this year. “But, I think I have a lot more to contribute, and I value public education,” said the 57-year-old Dollard des Ormeaux resident. “If I’m out, then I’m out. But if I’m in, I’m going to be giving a full commitment to it.”

Solomon, who has two daughters, now in their twenties who went to school in the public system, said he first became involved in education when his first child started kindergarten. His main priority has been, and will remain if re-elected, finances. “Anything that’s not a balanced budget means the kids in the future are going to have to pay for the mistakes of the present,” he said.

While he hopes it will be higher, Solomon expects voter turnout to be between 10 and 15 per cent on Nov. 4, because people feel too far removed from the many education decisions made by the government in Quebec City. “The farther removed the decision making power is from the electorate, the less interest the electorate has in the election,” he said. “But the public school system is a societal good. It’s essential for society that the school system works. Everybody should take an interest in that, and the minimum interest you can take is to get the right people in as commissioners.”

Dollard resident and Alliance of South Asian Communities (ASAC) founder Bashir Hussain, 70, knows Riverdale High School very well: ASAC’s West Island office opened in Riverdale this past May. One of Hussain’s main points he is focusing on is understanding between and education about different cultural communities. He pointed out that, at Riverdale alone, there are about 200 students with South Asian backgrounds. “Nowadays, it is important to avoid racial discrimination and to work together with different communities,” he said. “The world has changed. That’s why people need to know about different religions and cultural communities.”

Hussain, whose two children went to primary school in the public system, also wants to look at and reduce the school drop-out rate. “It’s at about 22 per cent in the English system,” he said. “It’s too high.”

Pierrefonds resident Nazia Nadeem, 37, sees the drop-out rate as a very serious problem as well. “It’s increasing in Quebec. This is a very big issue,” she said.

Along with finding out what is causing the drop-out rate, Nadeem said she is also focused on guaranteeing quality education for the English community, transportation, safe schools, communication and transparency between parents and school administration, and finding a way to make sure students respect their teachers. Nadeem, who has two young children attending elementary school in the public system and a third who will be in the coming years, is a student herself, completing an interior design and decoration course at the West Island Career Centre. In her experience, student attitudes is something that needs to be addressed. “Students must respect their teachers. In my opinion, it the most basic thing,” she said.

As a mother, she believes it is important for parents to get involved in their children’s education. She said she hopes people will exercise their right to vote on Nov. 4 and “send a message to the Quebec government that the English speaking community is a strong and vibrant community that wants to maintain the control of its schools. A vote for education is a vote for the future.”

Dollard resident Craig Berger, 49, has been the LBPSB’s parent commissioner for the elementary level for the past four years. With his youngest daughter graduating to high school this year, he decided to take his involvement up one step. “I’m a believer in the public education system, and I want to make sure we maintain that system,” he said. The father of two places guaranteeing a high level of education, equal opportunities in the special needs sector, attracting new students to the schools, and communication between the board and its stakeholders high on his list of priorities. “(Communication) is one of my bugaboos,” he said. “Sometimes the communication gets a little fuzzy, because too many times the parents aren’t getting the same message.”

In the big picture, Berger believes the public school system should prepare its students for higher education and for the “realities of life,” and the only way for this to happen is through a society that gets involved in it. “One message I think really needs to get out there is, people need to get out and vote,” he said. “I’d love for them to vote for me, but just vote.”

School board elections will take place across the province on Nov. 4. Citizens will vote in the electoral division they live in, and not necessarily where their children go to school. All Canadian citizens 18 years old and up residing in the LBPSB territory for at least six months can vote. For more information on the LBPSB elections, call the returning officer at 514-780-8683.