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.