School board trustees rare breed, George Saarinen says

Thunder Bay's English school boards look much the same after this week's municipal election and some say its because the role of trustee isn't well understood.

Ellen Chambers is the only brand new face on the public board. She was one of only 11 people running for the board's eight seats. Nine candidates ran for six positions on the English Separate School Board, but none changed hands.

"I think we should have a discussion about, 'hmmm, people might not know what trustees do any more' and perhaps we should do something about that," Chambers said about the lack of interest in the school board election.

Chambers said the lack of public debates and media attention for the school board elections could be contributing to the shortage of candidates.

'It's not for the money'

But George Saarinen thinks there might be another reason that people are reluctant to take on the job of a trustee.

"You need passionate people, committed people," said Saarinen, who was elected on Monday to his third term on the public board. "It's not for the money."

Saarinen said he makes $7,000 per year as a trustee, but he must give up time, and pay, at his other job as a shift-worker to attend evening school board meetings and weekend seminars.

"I'm burning four weeks of holidays just to be a trustee," Saarinen said. "That's not [something] normal people [do]."

Trustees' roles were limited during the 1990s by the Harris government when boards were stripped of their taxation powers and their ability to set education policy was restricted.

Still, Saarinen says he relishes his job as an "ambassador" for education and sees trustees playing a big role in lobbying government on funding issues and policy-making.

Chambers, a retired teacher and union president, said she understands the limits of her influence as a trustee but looks forward to bringing her understanding of the classroom to the board table.

Chambers said she has "an understanding of what a new initiative might be on the classroom or what management is saying and how it could be conveyed."