The demand to get an elected board in place by September for the Eastern School District seems to have cooled, much like the slow start to summer on P.E.I. At the annual meeting of the board Monday night in Hunter River, there was a mere scattering of people in attendance. Apart from one media member, two Central Queens school officials and one parent, no one else was on hand. If there is support for immediate board elections, it was not evident Monday night.
A petition had been circulated by the Rural Alliance over the past several months to bring pressure to bear on the government to call for elections this year after Education Minister Doug Currie disbanded the board in February for being dysfunctional. The petition didn’t get the expected response and the Rural Alliance then opted to try for an online petition. Obviously, that also hasn’t been very successful. The turnout at Monday’s meeting seems to have sealed the fate on the election issue this year.
The Rural Alliance had argued that democracy was taken out of the school system without trustees in place. Whose fault is that? The decision by Currie was supported by the home and school federation after months of public and private wrangling within the board. It certainly appeared that nothing was getting done and nothing was going to change. Currie said the bottom line was to ensure the best education for students, and who could argue with that logic?
The Rural Alliance petition was asking for legislation that would require the election of a new school board within 90 days of the education minister exercising his power to dissolve a school board. That is a good requirement for the future. But for the Rural Alliance to expect that a new elected board be in place before the start of the school year in September is simply not reasonable.
Patsy MacLean, who was named as the official trustee for the Eastern District in February, has held three monthly and one annual meeting since her appointment. And things seem to be moving along nicely. There is no bickering, business is being handled and public input is available. It seems that affairs of the district can be handled in this fashion until the next scheduled elections in June 2012.
Let’s face it: if Currie did call for elections now, they would be in the summer, and what kind of interest would result? The turnouts for the past number of elections have been embarrassing enough. Do we actually want to see that number get below the three per cent average we have seen in recent years?
Board elections would also be going against the provincial election Oct. 3.
Of course, the best option is to have a functional, elected board run the Eastern District. What we have is the next best option, at least for now.
The June 2012 vote gives the government, Rural Alliance and the home and school federation time to get interest organized. It would be great to see each zone contested. It would be great to see voter turnout get double digits. The education of our children should be worth at least a quick trip to the polls.
There are lots of issues to get people motivated. Eastern school closures, the board’s behaviour, and the state of education should be issues to get interest fired up at a high level. It will be interesting to see where that level of support will be next year.
