Sunday, April 11, 2010

The 14 Races no One Talks About...

Nation, before we get too far ahead of ourselves in the "Shark Week on Discovery Channel"-esque feeding frenzy that is the "will s/he or won't s/he" Aldermanic and Mayoral race speculation (too late), we'd be remiss if we didn't at least note that there are, in fact, 14 other races coming up in Calgary this October.

Those of you with children in the public or separate (Catholic) school system might argue, with merit, that these are far more important than who wins an aldermanic seat from a ward on the opposite end of town.

I speak, of course, of the election of school board trustees. People elected by the supporters of each board to represent the best interests of the children in those systems and, by extension, society as a whole (as those children will be our doctors, lawyers and - heaven forbid! - our politicians in the future).

As we've seen elsewhere recently in this province, and even in our own city in the not-so-distant past, choosing wisely is of critical importance. Rest assured that the Best Political Team in the Blogosphere (tm) is on the job, and prepared to cover these races with all the tenacity you'd expect from such a group of distinguished citizen media luminaries.

What these races require, though, is more than just good coverage, and people to come out and cast an informed ballot - what they require most is GOOD CANDIDATES. If you want to make a positive difference in your community, but the prospect of playing the dirty game of politics and raising tens of thousands of dollars to run for Alderman is intimidating (not that I can blame you), why not consider running to serve your community as a school board trustee?

Overviews of what the duties and qualifications are for school board trustees can be found on the websites for the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Separate School District, as well as very detailed information and free campaign workshops through the Alberta School Boards Association.

Want to make a real difference in your world?

Put your name on a ballot.

1 comment:

Kirk Schmidt said...

Damnit, ES... now you're making me think about it.