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Three candidates vie for vacant Protestant trustee position

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The candidates have stepped forward to contest the Protestant Separate School District No. 6 school board trustee position left vacant last month by the retirement of Morag Pansegrau.

Kim Bugeaud, Judy Huisman and Merrin Nuc registered Monday with returning officer Tom Lysyk.

Of the three, the Gazette was only able to speak to Huisman and Nuc. Bugeaud did not return phone calls made to her home.

The interest in St. Albert’s educational matters is long-standing for both Huisman and Nuc, but they come at it from different angles.

Huisman, 61, previously served two terms as a St. Albert Protestant School Board trustee from 2000 to 2004 and again in 2007-2010.

“I miss it and want to go back,” she said. “It takes courage and patience to be a trustee and most important, you have to believe in the post.”

Huisman’s need to support education began at her children’s schools. She served on parent councils at Sir George Simpson and Bellerose schools and was chair of the District 6 Council of School Councils. The Council of School Councils invites parents from each school council to meet to discuss the overarching needs of all the schools in the Protestant district.

Huisman listed her two top concerns as the upcoming settlement of the teachers’ contract in 2012 and government funding to the schools.

“We have to pay close attention to the negotiations for the teachers’ contract. I am also concerned with the government’s funding. Funding for education has to be ongoing and we need to keep that issue in the forefront,” she said.

Retired teacher

Nuc, 65, grew up and attended school in St. Albert and later spent most of her teaching career here before retiring last June.

“I’ve been in education my entire life and am now retired. I retired from Muriel Martin but I previously taught at W.D. Cuts and Sir George Simpson schools,” she said, adding as a side note that she was a student in the first ever Paul Kane graduating class.

Nuc taught mathematics for several years, but finished her career teaching French as a second language.

Nuc has looked at education as a parent and grandparent, whose children attended St. Albert schools. She has also listened to her children’s views about school.

“My grandson loves school and I wish every child could experience that. I think every child is capable of that,” she said.

The advance vote for the position of trustee will be Wednesday, Nov. 30 from 4 to 8 p.m. The regular poll is Monday, Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Both votes take place at the district office at 60 Sir Winston Churchill Ave.