Support pouring in after unCanadian election practices

I am grateful to voters who keep sending messages of support or phoning to say that they are behind me. Thank you very much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Lale;
I am a former Grade One teacher I have always had an interest in the trustee elections. It was my intention to maintain the incumbent as he was a former student at my school (Terry Fox E. S.). However, the newspaper scandal so incenses me, I am changing my vote. I hope that many others see this as an opportunity to send a message about disgusting election practices. From your website, it is obvious that you will be an amazing trustee, having the children's best interests at heart.
Best of luck.

Scrutinize smear campaigns

It has been brought to my attention that hundreds of constituents have received libelous and defamatory material about myself, containing false statements and unfounded allegations, from an organization called Armenian National Committee of Ottawa. This organization does not exist on the internet, and another organization’s web address is given underneath their signage. Please scrutinize these smear campaigns. Don’t hesitate to call the provided telephone numbers and ask for evidence. This kind of dirty election tactics and ethnic hate and intolerance should have no place in the election process of a local representative to a school board. This is a racist hate propaganda to prevent a Canadian of Turkish origin from becoming an elected official.

These flyers that contain incoherently and unintelligibly written slander, are being distributed to the homes on the Voters' List. Voters' List is only available to candidates. Where did they get the voters' list from?

Please ask these people who they are and what their goal is. They have given two phone numbers on their flyer: 613-806-4343 and 613-614-4915. These are unlisted numbers. The first one does not answer. The second one is answered by a person who didn't seem to know that it was his mobile phone that was on the flyer. Who are these people? Please call them and ask them.

EMC Orleans reports the candidates' debate

Orléans-Cumberland public school trustees answer to residents

Posted Oct 20, 2010 By Charelle Evelyn

EMC News – Candidates vying to represent the Orléans-Cumberland area schools had one last opportunity to state their case before the voting public Oct. 18. Incumbent Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) Zone 8 trustee John Shea and challenger Lale Eskicioglu answered questions from residents and members of the Fallingbrook Community Elementary School Council for about an hour and a half Monday night.

Shea was first exposed to the position as a student trustee as a grade 12 student at Cairine Wilson Secondary School. “It drove my passion for education policy,” he said. In his opening remarks, Shea said that he was proud of the fact that over the past four years he was able to help make sense of the high school boundaries, which “looked like a patchwork quilt” and improved communication between the board and the school communities. “The last four years have been a wonderful pleasure,” he said. “I’ve never worked harder at anything.”

Eskicioglu, who started with a translation of her Turkish name, said that she was “humbled, honoured and tremendously privileged to run in the elections.” She outlined her history as an electrical engineer who has lived in four different countries, before quitting to “exercise (her) natural inclination to be with people.” Eskicioglu said that if elected as a trustee, there would be no such things as small problems. “I would not be a trustee to see or hear about a problem and not do something about it.”

As the floor opened for questions, the candidates were immediately faced with concerns from a woman who identified herself as an OCDSB employee and said that she was troubled by the fact that she did not see trustees spending enough time making visits to schools and schoolyards.

Shea said that he makes visits to school’s on a bi-weekly basis, mostly to meet with principals and teachers or parents if there’s an ongoing issue. He said that he has observed that among intermediate grades and in high schools, students are not always properly engaged or challenged and could benefit from new learning opportunities.

Eskicioglu said that if elected, she would want to participate in every aspect of education and see things with her own eyes.
When asked where the candidates see potential for the next round of budget cuts at the board, Eskicioglu said that she does not see any more room to make cuts.

“We no longer have flesh to cut and we’re down to the bone,” she said, adding that the provincial government does listen, especially as it gets closer to election time.

Shea agreed that the upcoming provincial election was a great time to “hold their feet to the fire” in terms of renegotiating the funding formula for school boards.

On the topic of full-day kindergarten, both candidates said that the implementation of the early-learning program seemed rushed, which has caused confusion among parents who have to decide whether to leave their children in day care or enrol them in junior kindergarten.

“The boards have been hamstrung with what we can do,” Shea said, while Eskicioglu said that her sympathies are with every parent who has raised concerns.

After being lobbied questions about other funding possibilities for maintaining childcare and if their priorities lie with the zone or the board as a whole, the candidates had time to answer one final question before turning the evening back over the school council’s regular business: Would the new transfer policy be revisited?

Shea, who was a proponent of the policy, which does not allow students to leap-frog over schools in their area, said that he is in favour of giving it more time but that he is open to reviewing it. He said that his own experience as a student showed them that students often transferred to other schools for no reason other than a perceived reputation. “I thought that was wrong,” he said.

Trying to keep the end of the evening light, Eskicioglu chided her opponent. “John, give it up. It’s unpopular, everybody hates it.” She said that the answer to dwindling enrolment is not a strict transfer policy, but rather fixing the reputation of the schools. “Let’s bring the standards up so that people will want to go.”

The municipal elections take place Oct. 25.

Proud to receive Our Ottawa's Endorsement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday October 19th, 2010



OUR OTTAWA ANNOUNCES PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE ENDORSEMENTS



Today Our Ottawa announced its choice of candidates in the upcoming OCDSB Public School Board Trustees election:



Zone 2 (Kanata South / Kanata North) Christine Boothby

Zone 3 (Barrhaven / Knoxdale) Donna Blackburn

Zone 4 (Bay) Theresa Kavanaugh

Zone 5 (College) Pam Fitzgerald

Zone 6 (Rideau-Rockcliffe / Alta Vista) Bronwyn Funiciello

Zone 8 (Orleans / Cumberland) Lale Eskicioglu

Zone 9 (Rideau-Vanier / Capital) Rob Campbell

Zone 10 (Somerset / Kitchissippi) Jennifer McKenzie

Zone 11 (River) Shirley Seward (acclaimed)

Zone 12 (Innes / Beacon Hill-Cyrville) Chris Ellis



Our Ottawa has endorsed OCDSB Trustee candidates who have specific concerns with childeren encountering barriers to success. These candidates are known to do the extensive research needed to ensure that well-thought out choices are made. They will value and honour community input, rather than paying lip-service to it.



Our Ottawa advocates::

· Building communities through schools

· Engaging with community members and parents as an essential element of the decision-making process.

Tracking the achievement levels of disadvantaged students to identify needs and provide adequate, well-targeted resources



· Understanding and encouraging a diversity of opinion, with open and direct communication and dialogue, while discouraging decision- making in camera



· Teaching the whole child, rather than focusing on the EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) exam, which leads to concentration on literacy and numeracy at the expense of science, social studies, the arts, and physical education.



· Addressing the issue of over-crowding.


Working to ensure better student/teacher ratios.



Our Ottawa is a 200 member-strong group of community volunteers and leaders who have articulated a vision for the future of the City and want to unite their efforts to help elect strong City Councillors and School Board Trustees in the October Election.



For Media Inquiries CONTACT

itsourottawa@gmail.com

613-299-8491

Orleans Star - Trustee candidates' Q&A - Published on October 14th, 2010

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

Trustee for Zone 8: Orléans-Cumberland

Lale Eskicioglu

Q: Why do you want to be the school board trustee for your zone?

A few parents I know have brought some of their concerns with the education system to my attention and suggested that I seek a role which would enable me to work on these issues. Most of the issues were regarding the cuts that have been made to a variety of services and programs. I was motivated to run because our education system is too great to let crumble by unopposed reductions to many special programs, such as:

. programs for students whose first languages are neither English nor French;

. services for immigrant families;

. proper accommodation of our gifted students;

. learning tools for our students who have special needs; and

. adequate support for our teachers who have to educate our children who have all sorts of different backgrounds, temperaments and learning needs.

I believe I can play a part in keeping all the good programs in place, bringing back some of the cancelled ones and keeping up with the changing times by supporting new programs to improve our public education system. That's why I decided to run. I know I will make an excellent school board trustee.

Q: What would be the single most important issue you would like to tackle if you are elected trustee?

There is never one single most important issue. I can list a few that will have the highest priority for me:

- Stop the burnout and job-dissatisfaction within the schools by strengthening the human resources and providing all the needed repairs and renovations to the facilities. Teachers need more educational assistants and schools need more staff. Well-being of teachers and well-being of students go hand in hand.

- Provide adequate support for many of the special programs that have suffered reductions or cancellations. Provide sufficient ESL, support programs for our gifted and special-needs children. Work towards more extracurricular activities, support programs that bring arts and physical activity to our schools.

- Work together with all the trustees, staff and other school boards for efficient sharing of resources. Establish a positive dialogue with the provincial government to obtain funding for high quality public education.

- Improve literacy rates. Work with the families to bring numeric and literacy skills to the entire family.

- I will work towards improving bilingualism rates amongst OCDSB students by providing support to French Immersion programs and by supporting French classes within regular English programs.

Honoured to receive the endorsement of Elementary Teachers' Federation

I am very proud and happy to announce that I have received the endorsement of Ottawa Carleton Elementary Teachers' Federation (OCETF).

http://www.ocetf.org/media/27837/trustee_elections.pdf

These are all of the candidates endorsed by OCETF:

Zone 3: Donna Blackburn donnablackburn@sympatico.ca
Zone 4: Theresa Kavanagh theresakavanagh@rogers.com
Zone 5: Pam Fitzgerald pam_fitzgerald@sympatico.ca
Zone 6: Bronwyn Funiciello Bronwyn@re-elect-funiciello.ca
Zone 8: Lale Eskicioglu Lale@ReadLiterature.com
Zone 9: Rob Campbell rob@reelectrob.ca
Zone 10: Jennifer McKenzie jennifermck@sympatico.ca
Zone 12: Chris Ellis Chris@chrisellis.ca

I am very happy to note that the support for me is growing exponentially day by day. Here is a letter I have received from one of the parents:

Dear Ms. Eskicioglu,

I am very glad that you are running against John Shea in our zone and I wish you great success. I live in the Chapel Hill area. This morning I noticed many of your signs in Cumberland and near Sir Wilfrid Laurier but no signs in the Chapel Hill area. I would suggest that you place some on Jeanne D'arc going up the hill from the intersection of St. Joseph and Jeanne D'arc, and near the intersection of St. Joseph and Forest Valley. People in this area do not know that you are running. This is a heavy residential area and many parents are unhappy with John Shea here because he changed the boundaries so that the only option we have now is Cairine Wilson. Before we had the option of sending children to Gloucester and Colonel By. Also he has gotten great restrictions placed on school transfers and had put Gloucester and Colonel By on the list for possible closures, while keeping Cairine Wilson on a special status even though it was a school with low enrollment and a school that has performed poorly in EQAO and district wide assessments, compared to other schools in the area.

Opponent's claims

I was absolutely delighted to receive my opponent’s flyer in my mailbox the other day. It is a superb example of vagueness. For instance, he claims to have “approved the first strategic plan in the history of the OCDSB.” We don’t know which mysterious strategic plan he is referring to. First in the history of the board! I hope it was something good.

Under the title “About John,” my opponent lists only four items. The first one is the longest of the four and takes up %47 of the entire “About John” section. It says:

“Born and raised in Orléans and homeowner in Cumberland – a fifth generation east end resident”

This reminded me the days when my family and I arrived in Canada as immigrants. My daughter was born in Germany and she was three years old when we came.

The appointment we were given for the citizenship oath fell a couple of days after the federal elections of the time. We called the citizenship office and requested an earlier date so that we could vote in the elections. Although the ceremony dates are quite full and determined long time in advance, our request was immediately granted. They were pleased to do it, they said, to encourage us, as new citizens, to be involved citizens. That was when my conviction in Canada’s democracy was reaffirmed.

At the ceremony, after we took the oath, the citizenship judge told us that Canada was now richer than it was moments ago.

I believed it then, I believe it now. For the past twenty years, I strove to make Canada richer and richer everyday. And now, I am humbled and honoured by the privilege of being able to take part in elections so that I can become your next school board trustee.

Lale Eskicioglu

Just wanted to share with my voters an email I received last night from a community member. I am very honoured and proud, and I feel very privileged to be running for office, I meet absolutely wonderful people every day:

Hello Lale

I met you last night at the Cumberland Community Association and I was very impressed.

I also had a look at your web site. It is beyond words, including all of your achievements. You are full of potential.

Although we do not have any living children, I am convinced that you will be an asset to the community and wish you the very best in being elected as a Public School Board Trustee.

We would be happy if you wish to install a lawn sign on our property.

Charlotte Kerluke

What do I bring to the table?

On October 25th, Orleans and Cumberland will vote for their public school board trustee and one of the two candidates, John Shea or myself, will become the trustee for the next four years. Regardless of who gets elected, I know both John and I will continue to serve the community in a variety of capacities. In our work towards the betterment of our community, our roads will cross, and hopefully, on some of the projects we will work together as a team. Until the 25th, each of us will continue to spread our messages and tell the voters why we believe to be the best candidate.

I plan to work with the community for the advancement of our schools. I intend to listen, and listen often. I make a pledge to visit 5 teachers and 5 parents every week, for the next four years. That is every week! I will not wait until they come to me, I will go out to them and ask about their concerns and seek their advice. I will bring their voice to the school board.

I believe in equal education opportunity for all of our children. I would not be in favour of special treatment to one school only when all 12 trustees are in charge of all of the 12 zones of Ottawa-Carleton, and all of the 150 OCDSB schools in these zones. I would not allow favoritism to risk the quality of another school. I am, and always have been for fair treatment of all.

I will work towards increasing literacy rates by introducing literacy programs and encouraging reading. I will organize (as a personal initiative) reading sessions with kindergarten and grade one students, and each kid will receive a book at every session.

Current board of trustees has been divided and was not able to work as a team. I will bring a uniting positive attitude. My personality is suitable for this. I not only believe that the trustees must work together, but also all four of the school boards must work together. My inclusive outgoing character, and my 30 years of experience in the society as an engineer, as a parent and as a community worker, will help me bring people together. Once we start working for the benefit of all our children and our common future, then we will be able to work together with the government as well.

Funding is insufficient and I propose to work with other school boards to make better use of the resources. Some programs can be rotated between schools (across school boards) and certainly transportation can be more effective if all school boards work together. I also intend to make a better case before the provincial government. All these require experience in the work force and in the society, interpersonal skills and guts. I have these. This is how I plan to do a better job than what has been done in the previous 4 years. I am asking the voters to judge me on these points:

1. I am passionate about public education.
2. I am for debate.
3. I am for accountability and transparency.
4. I am trustworthy, honest, open, direct.
5. I am a community builder, people's person, always the peacemaker, the uniting factor.
6. I am a team player, and I don't mean "team" as in “us against them.” I mean team as the board in its entirety, together with staff, together with other school boards, together with the community.
7. I am well-educated, well-read and have international, multicultural experience.
8. I am creative, future-minded and environmentally-conscious.
9. I have the personality, the experience, the inter-personal skills and the guts to discuss and negotiate with the provincial and federal governments who have the power and the funds.
10. I promote love of learning. I will bring reading back into the lives of our youth. I support English as a Second Language (ESL) and Multicultural Liaisons Officer (MLO) programs. I support special programs for special needs. I support nurturing every child to reach his/her full potential by providing the right assistance and the required tools. I would like to see more EAs for our schools. I promote genuine learning and student well-being.


http://eskicioglu.ca

My supporters

Here is a partial list of distinguished people who have endorsed me thus far in my bid for public school board trustee:

Cynthia Bled,
Former Trustee, Ottawa Board of Education
President, Canadian Future Achievers
~
Dr. William Cowie
Professional Training Division
Norman Paterson School of International Affairs
Carleton University
~
Captain Mehmet H. Danis
Doctor of Dental Surgery , MSc., BSc.
Dental Officer, Canadian Forces
Endurance Athlete, Inspirational speaker and Ambassador Athlete for Impossible to Possible©
~
Steven Davis, Grandparent
~
Dr. Jennifer Dickson, CM (Order of Canada), RA, Author, Artist
~
Colonel (retired) Michel W. Drapeau, lawyer
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Former Progressive Conservative Candidate in the 1997 General Election
~
Berrin Ermutlu
Corporate Governance Rating Specialist
MS, Health Care Management
~
Paul Heinbecker, Retired public servant and diplomat, Former Canadian Ambassador to United Nations
~
Hon. Gar Knutson, P.C., Former Cabinet Minister and Member of the Parliament
~
Dr. Murat Saatcioglu, Vice-Dean (Research and Development), Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa
~
Omur Sezerman, President and Chief Executive Officer of OZ Optics Limited
~
Dave Smith, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre
~
Ron Sweetman, FCMC, FCA, Founder member of L'Atelier de Musique Experimentale, Jazz Ottawa and Music Now
~
Scott Taylor, Editor, Esprit de Corps Magazine
~
Meltem Tuna, Parent
~
Yaman Uzumeri M.A.Sc., P.Eng.
~
Ozan Boz, Musician
~
Mick Armitage, Waterfront Estate Developer, Musician and Band Leader, Contractor - QETE DND

My Priorities as a Public School Trustee

Trustees, teachers, parents and members of the communities all have critical roles to play in helping young people to achieve their best.

As a trustee of the public school board my priorities will be:


- Quality of education;


- Well-being of students, teachers and staff;


- Reinforcing human resources;


- Strength and continuation of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Multicultural Liaison Officer (MLO) programs;


- Equity and academic excellence opportunity for all;


- Stability of our school system;


- Increasing the bilingualism rate amongst graduates of Ottawa public schools;


- Making better use of technological advancements;


- Expanding use of school buildings for both students and members of the community;


- Moving towards eco-friendly solutions that are more economical;


- Accurate representation and following through the concerns of Orléans and Cumberland, establishing better communication between Zone 8 and the school board;


and


- Working with all of the other trustees as a team with the goal of higher quality in public education.



I am committed to supporting our students in achieving their academic best by providing them the necessary support for their learning, and aiding them to establish their self-esteem and social responsibility. I am also committed to strengthening human resources and to providing our teachers and staff with the healthy and safe working environment they deserve.


I would like to do my part in making school councils more effective and improving the communication between parents, community members and trustees. I believe in engaging the community. I will strive to be the best possible representative of my constituency and in improving communication channels between all involved parties. I know I will be an asset to the school board in establishing positive working relationships with students, parents, teachers, staff and the board of trustees.


In these tough economic times, it is essential that we maintain the stability and quality of our education system. I believe it's time for innovative approaches to preserve and improve the existing programs and to expand on those that are most needed. English as a Second Language (ESL) and Multicultural Liaison Officer (MLO) programs, and special education are vital not only in maintaining the opportunity equity amongst the students but also in maintaining the health and well-being of teachers. I would like to see more assistance and support for teachers. This way we can prevent the risk of losing valuable staff to burn-out, stress and other health problems. The well-being of our teachers and staff is the well-being of our students, and our students are the future of Canada.


Adapting to the changing times, I would like our schools to be equipped with the new technologies and our students benefiting from the advancements in computer and communication sciences.


From air quality to playgrounds, everything regarding our facilities are my top priority. Our buildings need to be well maintained and better fitted for environmental wear and tear. I would encourage ecological sustainability and long-term money saving projects such as upgrading to better efficiency heaters and insulation.


These are some of the issues I would like to focus on. I wish to hear your comments, concerns and opinions. Please do not hesitate to write to me (Elect-Lale@Eskicioglu.ca) with your views and questions.

Mes priorités en tant que conseiller des écoles publiques

Les conseillers et les conseillères ainsi que les parents et les membres de la communauté ont tous des rôles critiques à jouer pour aider les jeunes à atteindre tout leur potentiel.

Quand je serai élue au Conseil de l’Ecole Publique d’Ottawa, mes priorités seront:

Qualité de l’éducation;

Bien-être des étudiants, des enseignants et du personnel scolaire;

Egalité et opportunité d’excellence académique pour tout le monde.

Stabilité de notre système scolaire;

Représentation fidèle et poursuite des préoccupations concernant l’école publique à Orléans et au Cumberland, établissement d’une meilleure communication entre la Zone 8 et le conseil de l’école;

Vigueur et maintien des programmes d’Anglais Langue Seconde et d’Agents de Liaison Multiculturelle;

Amélioration du taux de bilinguisme parmi les étudiants sortant des écoles publiques d’Ottawa;

Utilisation adéquate des progrès technologiques;

Progression vers les solutions plus écologiques et économiques.

Collaboration avec tous les autres conseillers et conseillères en équipe afin d’atteindre un meilleur niveau en éducation publique.

Created my website

When you are running for office, first thing you must do is to create your election campaign website. I worked on mine for a long time because:

1. I coded it myself, in HTML, the old-fashioned way.
2. I wanted to get most of the content in before launching it (as opposed to announcing it first and then having many "under construction" pages.)

I know I will be updating it everyday until October the 25th, but right now it is ready to go out in public. Please check it out: http://eskicioglu.ca

Your comments and ideas are very welcome. I hope you will like the endorsements page. If you wish to add your name to my list of supporters, just let me know, I would be very honoured and delighted.

Lale Eskicioglu
ps: Next step in an election campaign is to buy a comfortable pair of walking shoes. Shopping is scheduled for this weekend.

As I am going through a very exciting summer, I thought it would be fun to share my election campaign experience in here.


I am asking for the vote of Orléans and Cumberland residents on 25th of October. As a parent, an engineer and a community volunteer, I think I will win the hearts of the voters. In the following months, I am hoping to show Orléans-Cumberland that I am passionate about public education, I am a hard-working, dedicated person and I will be bringing international experience to the table.


I have been living in Ottawa for over two decades. My daughter, who is now studying Law at the University of Ottawa, has been a student in our public schools and was the first reason for my commitment to our public education system.


As an Electrical Engineer with fifteen years of work experience in high-tech industry and the Government of Canada, I have taken on roles as a project architect, designer and planner, and I have provided services to various government and private sector organizations such as the Prime Minister's Office, Canada Post, Agriculture Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Correctional Services, Revenue Canada, Marconi and Mitel.


I am an avid reader and my website ReadLiterature.Com has been promoting reading for the past ten years. I am also a regular contributor to the multi-lingual community newspaper Bizim Anadolu.


On 25th of October, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will have a multicultural, compassionate and harmonious personality in the board room. I will work with other trustees, with educators and parents, and with the communities towards the quality of education, student achievement and the well-being of both students and teachers. I know voters will vote for a fresh voice, a world experience, professionalism, integrity and a unifying, positive attitude.


LALE ESKICIOGLU, the best candidate for Orléans and Cumberland

Elect-Lale@Eskicioglu.ca