Elections bring new faces to school boards

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Four new trustees will join the public school board after ousting some longtime officials in this year’s election.

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The Upper Canada District School Board, the region’s largest board covering 12,000 square kilometers, is divided into 10 districts, each represented by a trustee. This year, four new faces will join the Board and six incumbents have been either re-elected or celebrated.

In the Brockville and Augusta area, which is Ward 5 in the board’s system, acting trustee John McCrea was ousted by Michel LaBonte, who received 3,044 votes to McCrea’s 2,722.

LaBonte, 64, has lived in Brockville since 1980 and recently retired from a 30-year chemical engineering career with Invista in Maitland.

In his spare time, LaBonte told this newspaper, he has attended every board meeting since September 2017.

“I’m honored and want to thank voters in Brockville and Augusta Township for their support and encouragement,” he said Tuesday.

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“I will work hard to effectively represent our students, their families and our staff, and to serve as a trusted trustee to the entire Board. We have a great education system and I hope I can help make it better.”

Elsewhere on the board, in Ward 1, which includes Beckwith, Carleton Place and Mississippi Mills, incumbent Donald Cram lost to Lynda Johnston by a vote of 2,121 to 671. Cram currently sits as vice chairman of the board.

In Ward 2, which includes the Drummond/North Elmsley, Lanark Highlands, Montague, Perth and Tay Valley areas, acting trustee William MacPherson lost to newcomer Carole Dufort. Dufort received 4,625 votes, McPherson 2,660.

In Ward 3, the Merrickville-Wolford, Rideau Lakes, Smiths Falls and Westport areas, incumbent Jamie Schoular won another term. Colleen Mariona, who challenged Schoular, received 2,492 votes while Schoular received 3,925.

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In Ward 4, which includes Athens, Elizabethtown-Kitley, Front of Yonge, Gananoque and Leeds and the Thousand Islands, current Trustee and Chairman of the Board John McAllister was easily re-elected with 3,838 votes. He was challenged in that pick by Chris Buczynski and Mike Kench, who received 1,144 and 1,301 votes, respectively.

Ward 6 covers Edwardsburg-Cardinal, North Grenville, Prescott and has been represented by Lisa Swan for several years. She won another term by 3,558 votes after being challenged by John Palmer and Heidi Piper-Ward, who received 1,383 and 1,905 votes, respectively.

In Ward 7, which includes North Dundas and South Dundas, trustee Larry Berry faced no challenger and was celebrated.

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Ward 8 is the area of ​​Cornwall where longtime trustee David McDonald was elected to a further term by 2,349 votes after being challenged earlier this year by Ryan MacKay who received 1,968 votes.

In Ward 9, covering North Glengarry, South Glengarry, North Stormont and South Stormont, newcomer Curtis Jordan won by 4,306 votes while opponent Andrew Shanks received 2,178. The current trustee of that ward, John Danaher, did not run again.

In Ward 10, which includes Alfred-Plantagenet, Casselman, Champlain, Clarence-Rockland, East Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury, Russell and The Nation Municipality, current Trustee Corina Parisien faced no challengers and was celebrated.

At the Eastern Ontario Catholic District School Board, three people competed for a spot in the region covering Brockville, Smiths Falls and Leeds counties.

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Chris Cummings, a former three-year Smiths Falls councilman, won a seat on the board by 874 votes. His opponents Quentin Ferrant and David Freedom received 288 and 521 votes respectively.

Acting trustee Paula Hart no longer stood.

In Lanark County, current trustee Jennifer Cooney won another term against challenger Max Benda.

Several of the board’s trustees were celebrated, including Grenville County and Elizabethtown-Kitley Township Trustee Brent Laton, Dundas County and Stormont County Trustee Karen McAllister, and Prescott County and Russell County Trustee Sue Wilson.

The City of Cornwall and Glengarry County Board Representatives, Todd Lalonde and Ron Eamer, both did not run in this election.

Lalonde’s place as representative of this region will be taken by newcomer Karen Torrie-Racine, who was hailed in her seat.

At the local French-speaking public school board, Le conseil des écoles publiques de l’est de l’Ontario, the two local trustees, Rachel Laforest and Colette Stitt, were both feted.

Local trustee Diane Burns was also celebrated for her role at the French Catholic school board, the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est.