Peggy Revell
With the fall municipal election fast approaching, Michael Lewis is the first person to file to run for a seat on the Rainy River District School Board.
“My particular interest in running for the school board is that I think we need a voice in Atikokan that we haven’t had for some time,” Lewis said about his decision to run.
“And that was demonstrated a couple years ago when we had an issue with the school board over a school bus, and whether we could keep that school bus in Atikokan or not,” he remarked.
“The school board decided ‘no,’ and at that particular time our current representative [Judy Eluik] didn’t voice her opinion and actually voted against Atikokan keeping the bus, and that’s been a sore point for us for quite some time,” Lewis added.
Lewis said he filed his intentions early so people in the community know he is running for the school board in this fall’s election—not for the Rainy River District Social Services Board, which he has been elected to for the past 11 years to represent the unorganized territories in the eastern part of the district.
For seven of those 11 years, Lewis has served as chair.
Lewis brings with him experience from a lifelong career in education—first teaching in southern Ontario for four years before moving to Atikokan in 1968 to teach.
From there, he became vice-principal for six years, principal for nine, and then became the director of education for the Atikokan school board for a year-and-a-half before it amalgamated with the Rainy River District School Board.
From there, Lewis went on to become director of education for the North Shore board—situated around Lake Huron—for 10 years, with the last of two of those being when the Espanola and North Shore boards were combined.
Retiring in 1997, Lewis came back to Atikokan, where he did consulting work as a supervisory officer with various school authorities, such as Mine Centre and Pickle Lake.
“And now I’m completely retired, which allows me to run for school board,” he remarked.
“I think my track record will hold well,” Lewis said.
“I’ve served in municipal politics, I’ve been a reeve in Atikokan, I’ve been on council, with the DSSAB, police boards, hospital boards, several other things because I believe in the community I live in.
“It’s been a very important community to me,” he stressed. “That’s why we went back to live there when I finally retired from Elliot Lake.
“My kids were born [here], they went to school [here].
“Those in Atikokan would know who I am, and they’re the only ones who can vote for me,” Lewis chuckled.
“However, a school board rep, once they’re elected, has to represent all the parents, all the kids who are in that school board jurisdiction, and I hope to be able to do that, with my expertise, my experience, and my penchant for speaking out upon issues that I think need to be spoken out about,” he remarked.
