Kate Baggott's Blog: Cornfields of the Sea - Posts Tagged "vote2014"
Writer-Citizen: DSBN Trustee Candidates & Voting Strategy
Yes, this is a writer blog but I am a citizen with children in the District School Board of Niagara public school system. There has been a woeful lack of coverage of the school board election, so I used my role as a general busybody and citizen to interview the 9 candidates competing for the 4 seats representing St. Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake. 6 of the 9 candidates responded to my questions in full and the 3 who didn't appeared at the Meet and Greet event on October 17th that I wrote about this morning.
There are 4 trustee seats available that will represent the citizens of both St.Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The only two candidates I feel completely comfortable endorsing are Jennifer Ajandi and Linda Crouch.
I do not feel completely comfortable endorsing Gary Atamanyk because of his age. That may or may not be important. I'm not completely comfortable endorsing Alex Bradnam because I don't think he's been scrutinizing how events unfold and how Ministry of Education directives are applied at the board offices closely enough.
That said, I have no confidence that the DSBN will be able to meet the challenges it currently faces if Lora Campbell and Jonathan Fast are re-elected and keeping them out is a priority.
I haven't decided whether I will adopt a bullet voting strategy and support only Ajandi and Crouch in the hopes that they will have a better chance of getting in, or if I will support Ajandi, Crouch, Atamanyk and Bradnam to try and keep Fast and Campbell out. I'm researching both approaches and discussing the merits of both strategies with everyone. I hope you'll join in and send me a tweet or FB comment on this issue just like you have over the past few weeks.
UPDATE: After consulting with other citizens engaged in this campaign & looking at the results of the 2010 election, I have decided to endorse four candidates for the four seats: Jennifer Ajandi, Linda Crouch, Gary Atamanyk and Alex Bradnam represent the very best choices on the slate.
If you are uncertain about any of them, under vote and support only the 1, 2 or 3 you are absolutely comfortable with. It is better to under vote than to vote for a candidate you know nothing about.
This post reflects whom I've decided to endorse and this summary post explains why. As usual, here is a list of all the candidate information posts I wrote to cover the race:
There are 4 trustee seats available that will represent the citizens of both St.Catharines and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The only two candidates I feel completely comfortable endorsing are Jennifer Ajandi and Linda Crouch.
I do not feel completely comfortable endorsing Gary Atamanyk because of his age. That may or may not be important. I'm not completely comfortable endorsing Alex Bradnam because I don't think he's been scrutinizing how events unfold and how Ministry of Education directives are applied at the board offices closely enough.
That said, I have no confidence that the DSBN will be able to meet the challenges it currently faces if Lora Campbell and Jonathan Fast are re-elected and keeping them out is a priority.
I haven't decided whether I will adopt a bullet voting strategy and support only Ajandi and Crouch in the hopes that they will have a better chance of getting in, or if I will support Ajandi, Crouch, Atamanyk and Bradnam to try and keep Fast and Campbell out. I'm researching both approaches and discussing the merits of both strategies with everyone. I hope you'll join in and send me a tweet or FB comment on this issue just like you have over the past few weeks.
UPDATE: After consulting with other citizens engaged in this campaign & looking at the results of the 2010 election, I have decided to endorse four candidates for the four seats: Jennifer Ajandi, Linda Crouch, Gary Atamanyk and Alex Bradnam represent the very best choices on the slate.
If you are uncertain about any of them, under vote and support only the 1, 2 or 3 you are absolutely comfortable with. It is better to under vote than to vote for a candidate you know nothing about.
This post reflects whom I've decided to endorse and this summary post explains why. As usual, here is a list of all the candidate information posts I wrote to cover the race:
Cornfields of the Sea
When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to be part of a writing workshop with author Barbara Greenwood. Every member of the workshop was to write a short story for a group anthology. I thought w
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