Monday, October 26, 2009

smith v. board of education (part 1)

This post is the first of a multi-part series that will be published over the next week. Part 2 was posted on October 28, 2009Part 3 was posted on October 30, 2009, and Part 4 was posted on November 3, 2009.

Since the selection of Danielle Smith as leader of the Wildrose Alliance, a number of readers have suggested that I take a closer look at her time as a Trustee with the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) from 1998 to 1999. Not completely knowing what I would discover as I dug through the ProQuest archives, I uncovered what I consider to be a collection some of the most bizarre shenanigans that I have ever seen from Canadian elected officials. My sources largely included articles published by the Calgary Herald and the National Post.

In the first of a multi-part series that will be posted over the next week, here is a summary of what I found:

October 19, 1998: The face of the long-time Liberal-dominated CBE was changed with the election of two new conservative trustees. Elected on the joint platform “Campaign to Make Public Education Work,” Peggy Anderson and Danielle Smith advocated for fiscal prudence and more parent choice, including Charter schools. Both had strong ties to the Reform Party as Anderson was a constituency assistant to Calgary-Southeast Reform MP Jason Kenney and Preston Manning; and Smith, then 27-years old, had interned with the Fraser Institute and was the Executive Director of the Canadian Property Rights Institute (pdf).

Other trustees elected that year included liberals Jennifer Pollock, Judy Tilston, and Liz LoVecchio, and moderates Teresa Woo-Paw, and Lynn Nishimura. In their previous terms, incumbents Tilston and Pollock had publicly clashed with provincial government over school board autonomy and funding.

October 20, 1998: Following the election, a Herald editorial described the CBE as:
‘...a board coping with financial woes, ongoing feuding with the province, the allocation and utilization of scarce resources, the pressure from parents to provide more alternatives under the umbrella of the public system and the need to raise standards and improve the quality of education.

The Calgary public school board's new roster of trustees has a wonderful opportunity before it to set an example for the community at large by demonstrating an open-mindedness to look for alternative solutions while fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect and collegiality.’
October 27, 1998: Woo-Paw was selected as chair and LoVecchio as vice-chair. Former chair Tilston declined re-nomination. Smith told the Calgary Herald that:
"I look forward to a year of thorough debate . . . within a diversity of opinion."
December 4, 1998: Due to budget and resource pressures, Tilston suggested sharing space with Calgary’s Catholic Schools. Smith supported the idea of sharing space with community groups, but told the Herald that she though that "the Catholic board has some legitimate concerns," about "moral decisions" made by the public CBE.

December 6, 1998: Smith proposed the closure of up to 30 schools due to excess space in older, inner-city classrooms. Smith suggested that the money earned from selling or leasing older schools could be used to build new schools and stem the exodus of public school students to Catholic, private, charter and home schooling. Contradicting Smith, LoVecchio told the Herald that she didn't "know where she's getting her numbers," explaining that when a CBE facility is leased to a non-profit group or private school, the Department of Education excludes those students from the board's utilization rate.

December 7, 1998: Calgary Herald editorial:
'Trustee Danielle Smith's contention that the CBE will close schools and then lease the buildings is also fatally flawed. Even if such buildings are rented to day cares, private schools or other users, Alberta Education still applies the space against the CBE balance sheet, but not the students. Previous decisions to lease old schools instead of sell them has simply exacerbated the CBE's poor utilization rate.

No matter how hard trustees try to wiggle around it, there's only one solution -- some schools must close.'
This post is the first of a multi-part series that will be published over the next week. Part 2 was posted on October 28, 2009Part 3 was posted on October 30, 2009, and Part 4 was posted on November 3, 2009.

14 comments:

  1. What a great first posting on this subject Dave! I look forward to the rest of them!

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  2. Good Post Dave,
    However I am unsure of the relevence outside of a history lesson. This is a 12 yr old inneficiency in the school board, and certainly much has changed since. I would also have to conclude Danielle Smith has greatly changed since her time on this board as well as Jennifer Pollock and Teresa Woo-Paw. I look at the difference in your opinions in the past two years and would have to give anyone benefit of the doubt after a decade.

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  3. Josh: Thanks, I'm looking forward to posting the rest. It was an interesting side-research project.

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  4. Alberta Altruist: Thanks for the comment. This series isn't meant as an attempt to paint any of the individuals involved as a bad people. 1998-1999 is fairly recent history, and as a history lesson it is an interesting story that I'm not sure many people remember in full.

    It's completely fair to suggest that the former trustees Smtih, Pollock, Woo-Paw, and others may have different opinions than they did twelve years ago. People grow.

    I'm looking forward to your comments in the upcoming posts.

    Cheers,

    Dave

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  5. Great post Dave. I want to read parts 2 & 3 now!

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  6. Danielle Smith is not a leader!

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  7. Maybe she should have kept the glasses.

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  8. Hi Dave

    Good topic for some blogs. She might be hero of the moment in high heels, but that's just because she is shaking things up politically rather than representing a broad cross-section of Albertans.

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  9. Keep an eye out for the rooting in the garbage for notes bit.

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  10. Thanks Dave for an interesting and informative post. And for taking the time to research this. Look forward to the next installment.

    As to people changing, of course they do, but they are still responsible for their actions and behavior and the resulting consequences, especially if they have chosen to serve in public office. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't be given a chance, but the people they are asking to support them should at least know where they are coming from.

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  11. Trish Audette, Rick Bell, Graham Thompson, Jason Fekete....wakey, wakey, eggs and bakee

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  12. Why does/did "Alberta Education still appl[y] the space against the CBE balance sheet" if the building is leased out?

    (For that matter, what exactly is "utilization rate" and what is/was the penalty for having a bad one?)

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  13. Such an amazing post really admired this thanks for sharing...!

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