School board election results in

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Just under 3,000, or 12.5 per cent, of the 23,197 electors registered in the seven Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) electoral divisions contested in Sunday’s provincial School Board Elections came out to mark their ballots. About 1,900 West Islanders voted in the area’s four contested divisions, resulting in two new candidates being elected to the LBPSB’s council of commissioners.

In Roxboro/Pierrefonds’ division 8, Craig Berger received 171 votes to beat incumbent Howard Solomon, who garnered 165 votes. Nazia Nadeem received 75 nods, while Bashir Hussain received 14. Voter turnout was at 14.4 per cent, with 426 electors out of 2,965 making their mark.

In West Island Southwest division 18, Judy Kelley got 525 nods, while incumbent Don Rae received 191. Former division 18 candidate John Hachey bowed out of the race before election day. Just under 21 per cent, or 716 of 3,366 people came out to vote.

Dorval’s division 6 commissioner, Barbara Freeston, will sit for another four-year term after receiving 243 votes. Gordon Neysmith garnered 170 nods from the 419, or 11.8 per cent, of the 3,541 who came out to vote.

In Pierrefonds/Ile Bizard’s division 12, incumbent Sylvia Di Donato beat her opponent Bart Sellitto with 231 votes. Sellitto received 139. In total, 390, or 10.4 per cent, of the 3,566 registered voters came out on election day.

While voter turnout was not as high as the 52.9 per cent in 1998, when the move from confessional to linguistic school boards was made, some commissioners believe this year’s numbers show promise.

“I was very pleased to see people go out to the polls, compared to last time,” said division 18 commissioner elect Judy Kelley, referring to the 7.4 per cent turnout in 2003. “I think the media and the publicity also helped get people interested.”

Craig Berger, commissioner elect in division 8 and former parent commissioner, said he was also pleased to see the nearly five per cent rise in voter turnout.

“But you always wish more people would have taken interest,” he said. “I think there’s still more work to do to get parents, and the entire community interested in school board elections.”

During their four-year term, the seven commissioners elected on Sunday, along with the 14 acclaimed on Sept. 30, will sit on the LBPSB’s 23-member Council of Commissioners, which includes two parent commissioners, and will 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.