Catherine Wilson was recently elected to her fourth term as a trustee for the Medicine Hat Public School Division, but is lamenting a drop-off in voter turnout and suggests both the city and school board need to do a better job of engaging the community.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Amid the chaos of last month’s municipal election, Catherine Wilson was quietly elected to her fourth term as a public division trustee. After dismal voter turnout, Wilson feels like the election highlighted places where both the school board and the city needs to make improvements in order to boost civic engagement with what is historically the least prioritized municipal race.
Although voter turnout was higher in Medicine Hat this year than in other comparable municipalities, it was still poorer than previous years, and the trustee races saw staggeringly poor turnout.
In 2021, the leading public division trustee Pat Grisonich garnered 5,839 votes. Wilson, coming in third, earned 4,942.
This year, Wilson’s 2021 count would have earned her first place. Grisonich held on to the top seed – but won this year with just 4,573 votes. It’s a drop off of nearly 22 per cent. Wilson came in second place, with 3,432 votes.
The Catholic School Board experienced a parallel drop-off in voter participation, with 22 per cent fewer votes for this year’s top candidate, Chuck Hellman, than there was for the top candidate in 2021, Kathy Glasgo. Fewer than 1,700 Hatters elected Hellman to his trustee seat.
Part of the problem, Wilson says, was in the way the election was executed. With fewer polling stations and longer lines, Wilson says she watched people leave her lineup without voting. Worse, she says, election staff were not distributing school board ballots – on a separate sheet of paper – unless asked.
“I heard the two people in front of me discussing it, and they said they weren’t voting for school board. When they got to the table, they gave them mayor and council, but they never even offered them school board,” she said. “If they had offered, they might still have said no. But they didn’t even offer it.”
Wilson says she feels that putting trustees on a different ballot drastically reduces engagement with the trustee race.
In 2021, votes cast for mayor and council were on the same ballot, but school trustees remained on a separate ballot in that election.
According to the city, the Local Authority Election Act required separate ballots for all races this year.
Some voters, Wilson says, seemed under the impression that if they didn’t have children in the district, they weren’t eligible to vote. She’s eager to dispel that misunderstanding.
“Anyone can vote for us, even if they don’t have children and they’re supporting public education,” she said.
Although she believes changes to election procedure were certainly a major factor contributing to poor engagement, Wilson says the board is also taking some accountability and looking for ways to connect better with the community they serve.
“I felt that this was really disappointing,” Wilson told the News on Thursday. “For me, as chair of the school board, I’ve been thinking about how I can get the message out there that school board trustees are important.”
For example, a major part of the trustee’s role is attending school councils.
Wilson says she heard complaints from voters throughout the election that trustees were not accessible or visible enough. After the election, Wilson says the new board sat down to sift through complaints and develop mechanisms to address them.
One of the measures the board decided on was monthly reporting outlining which school councils trustees are aiming to attend. Another is spending less time in closed session and more time in public meetings.
“Things that people were complaining about – even though we had nothing to hide – it still made me reflect on what they want. We should be giving them what they want, because they vote us in there to be their voice. Let’s show them we are doing that.”
Over the past few months, education has made headlines across the province with things like the record-breaking teacher strike and a citizen initiative petition to alter the government’s policy of funding private schools from the public purse.
“I think now more than ever, what we really need to do is open up our eyes and take a look at the world of education,” said Wilson. “Our kids in our school system are going to be our doctors and our lawyers and our teachers. So how can we make sure that they’re doing a good job? Stay informed. Watch what your school trustees are advocating for and make sure they’re doing it right.”
