Pearson school board elections: Electoral Division 18

Lying within the boundaries of Senneville, western Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Baie d’Urfé, and a part of Beaconsfield south of Highway 20 up to St. Charles Boulevard, LBPSB Electoral Division 18 is unique: it is the only division in the West Island that encompasses all levels of education the board oversees. Dorset, Christmas Park, and St. Edmund Elementary schools, Beaconsfield and Macdonald High schools, as well as the Cartier Place adult education centre and the Gordon Robertson vocational training centre are all found in Electoral Division 18.

“I believe that the ward requires a strong candidate to advocate for them, with a strong background in all areas the schools there require,” said Beaconsfield resident and first time candidate John Hachey, 60. Hachey has experience in the education sector as a former elementary and high school principal, and as past John Abbott College vice president and board member. Hachey is also no stranger to elections: he was a Lachine city councilor before the agglomeration in 2002 and ran with Jean Charest’s Progressive Conservatives in the mid-1990s.

“I believe in the public school system. And I believe it’s more than ‘just as good’ as the private (system),” said Hachey, who was also the founder of the Quebec Student Debating Association. “Some of the best debaters I’ve seen, who have gone on to become very successful in life, are from the public system.” His two sons also attended public elementary and high schools

Hachey, who is currently working on a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) home in Beaconsfield, believes it is important to integrate environmental concerns in both the schools’ curriculum and infrastructure. He says he has a strong commitment to the English-speaking community, and believes in transparency for the school boards.

“We’re supposed to be working as a team to make things better,” he said.

Incumbent Don Rae, who has been Electoral Division 18 school commissioner since 2003, boasts a 95 per cent attendance rate for the board’s monthly council meetings.

“I have the time, I have the energy, and I have commitment,” said Rae, who is a retired engineer and businessman. Rae, whose three children and nine grandchildren all attended public schools, was a volunteer parent, schoolyard and bus monitor, private chemistry and math tutor at Howard S. Billing and Macdonald High schools and Allancroft Elementary school. Rae was also the Conservative candidate in Pierrefonds-Roxboro in the 2006 federal election.

Some of Rae’s main priorities include improving the schools’ infrastructure, promoting fair access to English schools, making sure graduates are completely bilingual, and getting English translation for the textbooks used for the education ministry’s curriculum reform.

“Our teachers are using the old books,” Rae said. “Some of them are translating the French ones on their lunch breaks, or on bus rides...But that shouldn’t be. We need the English translations.”

While Beaconsfield resident Judy Kelley, 52, has not run in any federal or provincial elections like the two other Division 18 candidates, she is still very close to Quebec politics: her husband is Geoff Kelley, is the Liberal Jacques-Cartier MNA.

Kelley, a mother of five, is an English teacher at Lasalle College. She is involved on the Cégep à distance on-line course program, and is on the committee of the college-level English exit exams. She also used to be on the Beacon Hill Elementary school governing board.

“It seemed to be the right time in terms of my personal ability to commit to this,” said the first time school board candidate. “Especially with the last provincial election, there were a lot of questions about school boards and what they do. I don’t agree with the ADQ stand at all. I’m so much in favour of the school boards.”

Kelley pointed out school infrastructure, guaranteeing bilingual graduates, provided adequate services for special needs students and their teachers, and the “cyberworld” issue - the Internet and cell phones, for example - as some of her main focus points.

“But, in terms of a platform, there are so many issues that need to be dealt with. So, to say I’m just running on one of them is not who I fell I am,” she said.

As for voting day on Nov.4, all for Division 18 candidates hope the community comes out in large numbers.

“Getting the vote out is always the concern with school board elections,” Hachey said. “I’d love to see that people really value the education system...People need to ask, what is the best for my community, what is the best for my child?”

School board election 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. Electors can check voter registration details and their school board affiliation by calling the Director General of Elections at 1-888-353-2846. For more information on the LBPSB elections, call the returning officer at 514-780-8683.?