Peggy Revell
Local businessman David Kircher has filed papers to run for one of the two Fort Frances seats on the Rainy River District School Board in this fall’s election.
“It seems to be a natural progression of where I’ve been,” Kircher said about his decision to run.
This includes a year-and-a-half of organizing petitions and writing letters to the board concerning a variety of issues, such as almost $300,000 that went missing from Fort Frances High School a few years ago and a faulty drinking water monitor at Sturgeon Creek School.
“When I first started, I didn’t have any intention of running for trustee,” Kircher admitted.
“However, in my opinion, the board that exists today has abrogated all of its responsibility to management,” he charged, arguing constituent aren’t being represented.
He also doesn’t feel the board is supportive of staff and student achievement because of this.
“It seems to be a management-driven agenda,” he remarked.
“And [with] the operational practices that I’ve seen over the years, and I’ve raised the issues of them all, the board has obviously decided to support management in everything and anything that they do.
“I’m hoping if I’m fortunate enough to be elected that I can bring the issues that I’ve been raising to the board table because the trustees are holding the whole education system in the district in trust for the beneficiaries, which are students and parents,” Kircher stressed.
“And they seem to have lost that fiduciary aspect to their position.”
Born and raised in Fort Frances, Kircher graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BA in Economics.
He went on to buy Tichborne’s Real Estate Ltd. here in 1980, which he has owned and operated since.
“I’ve been involved in many business kinds of things, managerial kinds of things, so probably I am coming from a business background, not an education background,” he noted.
Kircher also has a son who recently graduated from Fort High and now is enrolled in his second year for chemical engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston.
“I’m very much in favour of education, and it is vitally important for anyone this day and age to have a good education and a proper education, particularly one that suits their skills,” he reasoned.
“There’s lots of things that still need to be addressed in terms of operational practices that the board has let develop and continue without holding management accountable for their practices,” Kircher said.
“That has to change,” he stressed.
“I would hope that we would have more people running for trustees than the number of trustees needed so that there will be a campaign, and during a campaign the issues can be raised and discussed, which I think would be a good thing,” Kircher added.
“It would be a shame if all the trustees were acclaimed again this year.”
