Heather Wright/The Independent

One of Lambton’s longest-serving school trustees says the province is setting trustees up for failure.

Jane Bryce, the Lambton-Kent District School Trustee for Lambton Shores, Warwick and Plympton-Wyoming is reacting to speculation the province may eliminate the role of trustees.

In the wake of a number of spending scandals, the province appointed supervisors to take over five school boards while directing all 72 boards on notice put more cash in the classroom. Then, this summer, Education Minister Paul Callandra told the CBC he was considering getting rid of the office of trustee so the provincial governments would have more control of schools.

Bryce, who has been a trustee for 31 years, says the province has diminished the role of trustee over the years. “I think that their interference in what boards can do has really hurt the position,” she says. 

Bryce points to the moratorium on school closures. She says the past, it was the trustees responsibility to deal with school buildings. “That meant you’ve got buildings that are either overcrowded and you need to open schools or you’ve got buildings which are practically empty and you just don’t let them sit there… you answer the needs of the community.” Since 2017, their hands have been tied by a provincial moratorium on school closings. 

Bryce says instead of eliminating trustees, the province should return some of the power which they’ve clawed back over the years.

And she says she is worried about what would happen if the province did decide to eliminate trustees. She feels smaller communities would be left out in the cold as larger communities with louder voices would get provincial investments. 

“A trustees job is to advocate for their school board and advocate for students.. That was set by the province, what our job was supposed to do. So to be able to say ‘we’re going to eliminate trustees, that’s because they’re doing their job?’”

The Chair of the Lambton-Kent District School Board, Kelley Robertson, is also “deeply concerned” the province may eliminate school trustees.

“Our school board trustees are your local voice of public education. Removing trustees would silence the local democratic voices in education at a time when parents and communities are asking for more engagement,” Robertson added in an email to The Independent.