The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and its Catholic (WCDSB) equivalent decided to stay the course for the 2018 year by last week re-electing trustees Scott McMillan and Wendy Price as their respective chairpersons.
For McMillan, an Elmira resident and relative newcomer to the board, this will be his second year as chairperson. In a sign of the positive influence of McMillan’s conciliatory tone, the oft-times fractious board members chose to unanimously back McMillan for the position.
“I was the only one nominated this time, and hopefully that’s an endorsement from the other trustees that they like the direction that the board’s going,” said McMillan. “Hopefully we can continue going in a good direction.”
The board has had a number of public spats with one another. Most recently, trustee Mike Ramsay was embroiled in a “code of conduct” violation that he described as “retribution” by other members of the board.
Ultimately, Ramsay was cleared of all charges in June after an investigation; however, in the same month, the members of the board (excluding McMillan as chair and a few others) admitted in an anonymous survey that they worked poorly together.
“It’s got its challenges for sure,” said McMillan of his position as chair.
“I think last year certainly provided some unique challenges with the code of conduct complaint that we had and trying to get trustees to work together. And I think generally we’ve been able to move forward together and try to settle some differences and hopefully come together as a bit more of a cohesive unit.”
McMillan sees Waterloo Region schools moving in a positive direction, with better EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) scores and higher graduation rates, and he is hoping to continue pushing forward on those fronts. He credits the board for collectively working to put their differences aside to focus on the betterment of the school system.
According to the 2016-17 EQAO report for the WRDSB, 54 per cent of Grade 9 students were at or above the provincial standards in applied mathematics, up from 40 per cent two years ago, and above the provincial average of 44 per cent. Grade 9 students in academic maths, meanwhile, have consistently performed over 80 per cent for the past four school years, in line with the provincial average.
At the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, trustee Wendy Price was re-elected as the board’s chair. A teacher of almost 30 years at the Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School in Cambridge, Price went almost immediately from the classroom to the boardroom after she retired from teaching in 2010.
“I still have a passion and an interest for Catholic education,” said Price about her continued involvement with the school system. “I’m a big believer in being able to work with our students to teach them to be critical thinkers and to have a moral compass.”
Price was initially elected to the chair in September of this year, when the previous chairperson had to step down due to medical reasons. With eight years of experience as a trustee of the board, the Cambridge and North Dumfries representative is hoping to build upon with the schools’ success.
“Well hopefully we’ll continue to work on our achievement rates with our students and continue to look at our graduation rates and continue to improve them. They’ve done very well and we hope that we will continue to do that,” she said.
EQAO results for the Waterloo Catholic schools show 55 per cent of Grade 9 students in applied mathematics performing at or above the provincial level, down from 59 per cent last year, but still above the provincial average of 44 per cent. In academic mathematics, 83 per cent of students met provincial standards for the past four years.
McMillan and Price are expected to serve as chairs of their respective boards until the end of their terms in late 2018, when trustees will be on the ballot in the municipal election.
“We’re coming into an election year and I think it’s important that people pay attention to trustees,” said McMillan. “It’s an important position and its one that not a lot of people know about. But trustees do a lot of good work.
“Make sure you’re educating yourself on who the candidates are and then get out and vote,” he added. The municipal elections are scheduled for October 22, 2018.
