The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will hear short presentations from candidates who want to come forward to replace a trustee who has resigned.
Candidates will have until Sept. 20 to apply using a form that will include a copy of their resume, a declaration that they’re legally qualified for the job and an explanation for why they want to be appointed. The vacancy is to be posted on the board website and advertised elsewhere.
A decision will be made at a meeting in mid-October.
Alysha Aziz, a first-term trustee, resigned on July 26 for personal reasons. Aziz had represented Zone 2 in Kanata since she won the October 2022 election, beating her closest challenger, Ashley Darling, by 165 votes.
There were five other candidates on the Zone 2 ballot in the last election and the board will let them know of the vacancy, said Supt. Janice McCoy.
“As we looked at the process, there were some guiding principles that we wanted to ensure we were adhering to,” she said. “We wanted to ensure that the process was fair, that it was transparent, and also looking at the some of the challenges in terms of what might happen if we had a number of candidates.”
OCDSB trustees said they also want to be able to ask the candidates some questions.
“I feel that it would be very beneficial to both any future candidates as well as the current board to ask some predetermined questions in order to see how the potential candidates would do in a scenario-based question,” said trustee Amanda Presley. “I myself have never conducted an interview process without asking someone questions, nor have I ever been part of a process where I wasn’t asked any questions.”
How the process of asking questions will be determined by the number of candidates. In June, the Durham District School Board appointed a trustee after a process in which 40 candidates vied to fill a vacancy. In the past, most OCDSB vacancies have attracted between eight and 16 candidates, said board chair Lynn Scott.
Filling vacancies at school boards is governed by both the Education Act — which stipulates that candidates must be over the age of 18 and qualified to vote in a school board election — as well as school board policy. Under the Education Act, a school board may hold an election to fill a vacant seat. But, as a matter of policy, the OCDSB does not exercise the option.
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