One of the biggest surprises of the last municipal election was the victory of then-York University student Tracy Thomas, 25, who won the Ward 5 seat on the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board when former trustee Rick Falco decided to run for council.
Thomas, the daughter of former trustee Thomas Thomas, counted 1960 votes in beating the odds-on favourite, Tina-Louise Gouveia of Malton, who trailed by some 700 votes. Gouveia had all of the volunteer connections with the board and the experience on Holy Cross and Ascension of Our Lord school councils. But she didn’t have the votes on the street, as it turned out.
Since her election, Thomas has been low-key, to say the least. She’s missed many meetings at the board, although never three consecutively, which triggers a provision under the Education Act where trustees must pass a motion to excuse the ongoing absence.
Thomas is starting a career and has not registered to seek re-election. It seems unlikely she will. Recent attempts to reach her by phone and by e-mail have proven unsuccessful.
It appears as if the community will be in better hands in the coming term.
There are three candidates registered for the Nov. 13 election, all of whom have extensive experience on their local school councils and the Central Committee for Catholic School Councils.
Hilda Andrade, Clarence Clarke and Rosemary Rosanova Shields know each other from their many years of school council and committee work.
Clarke was planning to run himself in 2003 but his school council co-chair at Ascension, Gouveia, beat him to the punch. There was no point in having two Malton candidates in the race in the sprawling ward.
“I’ve been at meetings where things needed to be said on behalf of Ward 5 and I couldn’t say it,” said Clarke, in explaining his decision to run. “I would like to lend my voice and make a difference,” said the man who was instrumental in having Ascension of Our Lord reconstructed.
Andrade has been involved with Catholic education for two decades, was on the original Central Committee of Schools and is outgoing chair of the school council at St. Francis Xavier.
She’s been thinking of running for a dozen years. Now her four children are old enough for her to do so. “I don’t believe we’ve been adequately represented,” she says, noting that many phone calls and e-mails to the incumbent have gone unanswered.
Like the other candidates, her sympathies lie with the board in the spitting match with the Province over its deficit. Ontario wants the trustees to slash programs for it, Andrade argues. If the “slash and burn” that took programs like music out of elementary schools in the early 90s are any guide, the system will never get them back, she complained.
Shields has kept her hand in school affairs since her daughter entered JK some 16 years ago.
“We need to have people on the board who really want to be there. We have not been well represented as a ward, through absenteeism and lack of communication back to the community.”
Shields would have run last time, except for her mother’s health.
She suspects there won’t be major policy differences among the three candidates. It will be more a matter of varying styles.
If this is the final roster of trustee candidates, it’s already clear that the ward will be the winner, no matter which one wins. As Shields puts it, “I think we’ll be much better represented in Ward 5 and have a real voice on the board.”