Voters suffering election fatigue need to realize the importance of casting a ballot in their local school board trustee contest, says a parents’ lobby group..John Hilton-O’Brien, of Parents for Choice in Education (PCE), said Wednesday decisions made by school boards affect everyone..He said only a quarter of voters in the October 18 province-wide municipal elections will cast a ballot for school trustees..“Trustees can also have a significant impact on parental choice in education, both within their own school division and beyond,” states the PCE’s website..“Even if you have don’t have a child in school, or a child in the public or Catholic school system, all Albertans of voting age get to cast a vote in trustee elections because we all pay taxes to fund the system and all reap the consequences of how it is managed, whether wisely or poorly.”.Since March, PCE has held two dozen seminars for potential school board candidates showing them the basics of campaigning..It now has an Alberta Voter Guide: 2021 School Trustee Election for people to collect information on the school board race in their community..The group’s website has a listing for most of the school board races in the province and candidates’ answers to questionnaires..The issue of school boards’ policies on secrecy is high on PCE radar..Hilton-O’Brien said the issue started when the Jim Prentice government ordered schools to allow gay-straight alliances if a student wanted them. He said the Rachel Notley government brought in Bill 24, in which parents would not be told if their child wanted to belong to such a group. The Jason Kenney government withdrew the bill, but Hilton-O’Brien said by that point many school boards had already entrenched secrecy policies..“Removal of the bad law didn’t solve the problem. Children as young as five may still be exposed to heavily sexualized material in school through clubs and activities, and teachers are still not allowed to inform the parents. This isn’t provincial law anymore: trustees are choosing to continue this policy,” said the group’s website.
