St. Albert Protestants will get to grill trustee candidates next week in a public forum, but local Catholics will have to settle for a questionnaire.
The St. Albert Protestant Separate Local No. 73 is holding a trustees' forum Wednesday for this year's school board election, says event moderator Bernie Poulin. Seven of the eight candidates plan to be there with only Shannon Homeniuk unable to attend due to a family commitment.
This is the first forum the local has held since 2004, Poulin says, as all candidates were acclaimed in the last election. Just 50 people attended the last forum, which faced stiff competition from the city council forum that same night. "I hope we get a good turnout and that the candidates get a chance to make themselves known," he says.
The Catholic board doesn't usually hold a forum for its elections, says Brett Arlinghaus, vice-president of the Greater St. Albert Catholic Teachers' Local No. 23, and hasn't planned one for this year. Instead, candidates will get a written 10-point questionnaire and have their answers publicized a week before the election.
Laid-back affair
St. Albert's forum is usually a pretty relaxed event, Poulin says, with an emphasis on meet-and-greet. "We hope to help [people] decide who the best five out of the group are."
Candidates will have five minutes to describe themselves and their platform, after which there will be 30 minutes of questions from the audience. Candidates will have one minute each to answer. Residents will then have 30 minutes to talk one-on-one with candidates at individual tables.
Poulin wasn't sure what topics would pop up at the forum, but suspected the School Act would be one of them. That provincial law is undergoing its first major revision in 20 years, and could substantially change the roles of trustees in Alberta.
Another topic may be local versus provincial bargaining. The local board has traditionally negotiated wages directly with its teachers, Poulin says, but that didn't happen in 2007, as the province stepped in with a five-year deal. That deal is set to expire in 2012. "Is there going to be another five-year agreement?"
The St. Albert forum is at 7 p.m. on Sept. 29 in the atrium at Bellerose Composite High. For details, call Poulin at 780-797-2344.
