Catholic trustees debate distribution dilemma

The necessity to re-examine trustee distribution throughout the Northwest District Catholic School Board region by provincial legislative decree, and a difference of opinion between northern and southern trustees, led to a stalemate at the ballot.
The Northwest District Catholic School Board held its monthly meeting here Saturday morning and one of the main topics on the agenda was the determination and distribution of trustees in the district.
Every election year, school boards across the province must re-examine the calculation, by mathematical formula, of the number of trustees for each board—based on electoral population and area.
The board then must distribute that number of trustees throughout the district, taking into account the electoral quotient for each area in the district as well as traditional Catholic areas and locations of schools.
The electoral quotient is the electoral population of each area or municipality multiplied by the number of trustees, then divided by the entire electoral population of the district.
In its calculations, the board determined, once again, that the number of trustees for the district should be seven. Trustees easily passed a motion, after examining the electoral quotient for each area in the district, that no area should be considered a low population area.
The west end of the district, which includes Stratton and Rainy River, had an electoral quotient over 0.5, allowing it to receive one trustee without a special declaration.
A point of contention then arose around how those seven trustees would be distributed.
In the past, the trustees were distributed as follows: three to Fort Frances and incorporated areas, two to Dryden and unincorporated areas, one to Sioux Lookout, and one to Stratton/Rainy River.
The electoral quotient for Fort Frances is 2.7, meaning Fort Frances is slightly over-represented. Dryden is 2.21 and Sioux Lookout is 1.53, meaning they are under represented.
It was suggested that one of the trustees be moved from Fort Frances to Sioux Lookout to create a more balanced north-south representation on the board, particularly since an eighth trustee representing district First Nations is also from the south.
“Since things are relatively the same as last time, I don’t see a need to change at this time,” said trustee Harold Huntley from Fort Frances, referring to the less than one percent decrease in the electoral group over the last three years.
“I think it’s fairly balanced.”
Trustee Bev Kondra, who participated in the meeting via conference call from Kelowna, B.C., countered that Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton is over represented since that area of the district only has an electoral quotient of 0.564.
“For the population, it’s not really balanced,” she argued.
Kondra, the trustee representing Sioux Lookout, felt it was unbalanced that the electoral population in Sioux Lookout, which hovers around 1,100, is only represented by one trustee yet the electoral population in Fort Frances, which hovers around 2,070, has three reps.
It was pointed out that having the population in Sioux Lookout being represented by two trustees, and nearly twice the population in Fort Frances being represented by the same number of trustees, also was an unbalanced approach.
“We need fairness through the system, north and south,” she said. “Sioux Lookout should look at getting two [trustees].”
“I remember last time around this was a really tense debate,” recalled current board chair Gerry Rousseau. “There was some animosity at the time. I think [now] we’re working a lot better as a board north to south.”
He voiced concern that relationship needs to be considered when making this decision.
Kondra also made the case that by being in Sioux Lookout, it is a difficult and isolated position and that having a second trustee would make it easier on her as well by having a colleague to share duties and travel with, or even just make the long trips with.
“I think there is two distinct areas,” reasoned trustee Rob van Oort.
“First there’s sheer numbers. Seven rounds up easier than five,” he said referring to the 2.7 in Fort Frances and the 1.53 in Sioux Lookout. “Bev has brought up some additional concerns regarding being alone and travel [that are valid].”
“I don’t think you hurt the board by moving trustees from three to two in Fort Frances,” said vice-chair Wade Petranik. “Because the regional flavour stays the same because there are still four trustees from the south and there would be four trustees from the north.
“If you look at representation by population, there is definitely an inequality there.
“The aboriginal representative still brings a regional perspective to the board,” he added.
However, when considering the regional distribution of trustees, the aboriginal representative isn’t typically taken into account, partly because it is an additional trustee through tuition agreements with the board and partly because that representative very likely could be from a more northern area in the next appointment.
Trustees also discussed what might happen if they were to juggle the distribution of trustees and there was a public outcry.
“If someone in the community [Fort Frances] sees the 2.7 and says ‘Wait a minute,’ how does it hold things up,” asked Huntley.
Education Director John Madigan explained any complaint regarding the distribution of trustees must be made before April 22 and that it would be overseen by the Ontario Municipal Board, which would hold a hearing.
“They may dismiss it or up hold it in whole or in part,” Madigan said.
Finally, a motion was put forth by Petranik suggesting the number of trustees in Fort Frances be reduced to two. This motion set aside the original motion calling for the board to accept the distribution as it was originally proposed.
The vote saw three for and three against, as two trustees were absent. The chair cast the deciding vote in favour of defeating the motion. The two trustees from Dryden and Kondra voted in favour while the three votes cast against came from the south.
The board then returned to the original motion and once again it was defeated three for from the south and three against from the north.
“We need to come up with a consensus or we’ll be here all day,” Petranik said after the second vote.
“Once we’ve considered an issue, we can’t consider it again at the same meeting,” he added after flipping through the bylaws.
The board must submit its decision to the province by March 31 so the board concluded they had to do something at the meeting.
It was decided the only way out of the stalemate was to make a motion to rescind the amendment to the original motion regarding moving one trustee from Fort Frances to Sioux Lookout, with a two-thirds majority then to pass a motion to reconsider the original motion, again with a two-thirds majority.
Both motions were carried with the support of Petranik and the original motion was reconsidered, with the challenge from him to “convince us.”
“I think numerically it is fairer to do it this way,” said Huntley in favour of the motion. “I really have a problem with this north/south stuff. We’re here for the kids, not for the parents [ratepayers].”
“I agree on the politics stuff,” said Petranik, “but Bev’s point of having two trustees is valid.
“It’s not so important as to uphold the gridlock,” he conceded moments later. “I will support [the motion].”
The motion was carried 4-2 in favour of accepting the trustee distribution as was recommended to the board: three for Fort Frances, two for Dryden, one for Sioux Lookout, and one for Stratton/Rainy River.
Before the hoopla began, Teresa Dennis, principal of St. Michael’s School here, gave a presentation to the board on the history of the school, which originally was built in 1962.
She profiled some of the dignitaries and programs the school has had over the years, including those currently being administered.
She reported students would be doing a centennial presentation to town council on April 14.
The board also recommended the self-evaluation process be made an annual process.
The board also was presented with a new board governance policy, which replaced the old one. The old policies were re-written in some cases and became administrative procedures.
This was a goal that was first conceived when the Northwest Catholic District School Board was created during the amalgamation of several northern Catholic boards.
“We’ve created something that we can leave as a legacy,” said Petranik.
The board also approved the doubling of high school bursaries because of the “double cohort” this year.
Madigan noted there was a request at one of the four high schools in the district to make available two rather than one $500 bursary since this year both the OAC and four year program students would be graduating.
Trustees were overwhelmingly in favour of do this and decided to find an additional $2,000 to be able to provide a second bursary at all four high schools.
Also Saturday, Rousseau was appointed as the regional director representing Region 2 of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association. It is a two-year term.