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Edmonton civic election: Edmonton Public school board candidates set out platforms

A guide to who's running for election in the nine wards of the Edmonton Public School Board.

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With 212 schools and approximately 99,000 students, Edmonton Public Schools is the second-largest school district in Alberta.

The public school board trustees elected in nine city wards oversee the district’s $1.12-billion budget and hire and supervise the superintendent of schools — the education system’s version of a chief executive officer. School trustees also write and debate policy, lobby governments, decide which school construction projects are priorities, choose names for schools, and meet with parents and school councils, among other duties.

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Anyone eligible to vote in the Edmonton civic election who does not declare they are Catholic can vote for a public school trustee.

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The school district has taped video interviews with participating candidates.

To see candidates’ responses to an Edmonton Public Teachers local 37 questionnaire, click here.

To read candidates’ responses to the Capital Club’s candidate survey, click here.

To see candidates’ responses to a Parents for Choice in Education survey, click here.

Edmonton Public school board ward map
Edmonton Public school board ward map

Who is running?

Ward A — map

Ahmed (Knowmadic) Ali
Ahmed (Knowmadic) Ali Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

Ahmed (Knowmadic) Ali (Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Ali is best known as the spoken word poet Ahmed Knowmadic who works with youths to help promote healthy lifestyle habits, building relationships, empathy and equity. He co-founded the spoken word collective Breath in Poetry and is Edmonton’s current poet laureate.

Perry Chahal
Perry Chahal

Perry Chahal (WebsiteFacebookTwitter)

Chahal is an entrepreneur, adviser and lecturer. He ran to be an independent elected Alberta senator in 2013. Chahal ran unsuccessfully for Ward A trustee in 2010.

Thomas Deak
Thomas Deak

Thomas Deak (Website, FacebookTwitter)

Deak works in the oilfield service sector as a quality assurance manager, but is currently on paternity leave. He has worked in customer service, business and conflict resolution. He lives in the Dunluce neighbourhood.

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James Gault
James Gault

James Gault (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Gault works as a correctional officer in a provincial jail. He is the former leader of the now-defunct New Reform Party in Ontario and ran in a 2015 Ontario provincial byelection. Gault is an advocate for parents being the primary educators of their children.

Cheryl Johner
Cheryl Johner

Cheryl Johner — incumbent (WebsiteFacebookTwitter)

Johner is seeking a third term after winning the seat in 2010 and 2013. In 2012, she unsuccessfully sought nomination as the provincial Progressive Conservative candidate for the Edmonton-Calder riding. She works as a life coach.

George Lam
George Lam

George Chung Yan Lam (Website )

Lam is a former civil engineer and a chaplain. He came in fourth place in the 2007 mayoral race.

Joseph Luri
Joseph Luri Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

Joseph Luri (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram )

Luri is a cultural ambassador at REACH Immigrant and Refugee Initiative and leads a domestic violence program through the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers. The community organizer and Sudanese immigrant has worked with many cultural communities, and helped teen newcomers steer clear of crime.


Ward B — map

Michelle Draper
Michelle Draper Supplied

Michelle Draper — ACCLAIMED — incumbent, chairwoman (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

First elected in 2013, Draper will serve a second term on the board. Her colleagues selected her as vice-chairwoman in January 2015, and chairwoman in February 2017. She is trained as a teacher and runs a research and program evaluation consulting company, AndersonDraper Inc.

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Ward C — map

Orville Chubb
Orville Chubb

Orville Chubb — incumbent (Website, Twitter)

First elected in 2013, Chubb is looking for a second term on the board. He’s the publisher of Avenue Magazine and founder of Odvod Media Corp, a communications and marketing company. For a decade, he was executive director of a foundation that created the Community Christian Education alternative program with Edmonton Public Schools.

Shelagh Dunn
Shelagh Dunn

Shelagh Dunn (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Dunn is a psychologist and small business owner who struck a community advocacy group that seeks to preserve and maintain community schools. She has worked as a counsellor in schools and post-secondary institutions, researched school bullying as part of a PhD in educational psychology, and served on her children’s school council.

Kurt Kronebusch
Kurt Kronebusch

Kurt Kronebusch (Facebook)

Kronebusch is trained as a civil engineer and president and director of KHI Vending and Distribution Services. Involved with Scouts Canada for the last 13 years, he is currently a group commissioner. Kronebusch has also chaired a school council and a playschool board, and served on a parent advisory and school consolidation committees.

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Jon Hoffman
Jon Hoffman

Jon Hoffman (WebsiteTwitter, Facebook)

Hoffman works for House of Prayer Edmonton ministry. He has also worked as a pastor with young adults, finance director of the NAIT Students Association, and a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.


Ward D — map

Jeff Behrens
Jeff Behrens

Jeff Behrens (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Behrens is working on a PhD in ethnic and religious conflict resolution. He has worked at the Alberta legislature in several non-partisan roles, and as a legislative assistant to the Progressive Conservative capital region caucus. He now works at the University of Alberta as a student adviser and administrative assistant.

Trisha Estabrooks
Trisha Estabrooks

Trisha Estabrooks (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Estabrooks was a reporter, editor, and host for CBC for 17 years. Now, she’s a freelance writer and co-hosts a podcast about women in politics called The Broadcast. She’s also worked as a trainer for Journalists for Human Rights in West Africa.

 

 

Kevin O’Connor
Kevin O’Connor

Kevin O’Connor (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

O’Connor is an Edmonton public school teacher who has instructed all grade levels and taught at the University of Alberta’s faculty of education. Once a high-school dropout, O’Connor is interested in improving the education system to prevent students from falling between the cracks.

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Tamie Perryment
Tamie Perryment Supplied

Tamie Perryment (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Perryment has spent a career in community organizations and the non-profit sector, often with vulnerable people. She has worked at the Bissell Centre, as a child protection worker, as a senior manager at the Alberta Conflict Transformation Society, and as community funds and development manager for the Ben Calf Robe Society.


Ward E — map

Sam Filice
Sam Filice

Sam Filice (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Filice is a retired teacher who spent 34 years in the profession, 29 of them at Edmonton Public Schools. The high-school teacher taught special education, social studies, psychology, sociology, and career and life management. He has volunteered with organizations such as Project Ploughshares and Amnesty International.

Ken Gibson
Ken Gibson

Ken Gibson — incumbent (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Gibson has served three terms as Ward E trustee, from 2004-07, 2007-10, and 2013-17. He has been executive director of the Alberta Construction Association for the last 15 years, and spent 14 years as project manager of Trade Up Alberta — Careers in Construction.

Chris Hurley
Chris Hurley

Chris Hurley

Hurley has volunteered as a team manager, president, and coach with the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association and junior-level hockey for approximately 25 years. He works as a salesman of hydraulic oilfield components. After stepping in to resolve issues with bullying among teammates, the grandfather wants to bring that skill set to the school system.

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Ward F — map

Michael Janz
Michael Janz

Michael Janz — incumbent (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Janz is seeking a third term on the board following his election in 2010 and 2013. He was board chairman from January 2015 to February 2017, when he stepped out of the role to spend time with his newborn son. He is a manager with Boys and Girls Club Big Brothers Big Sisters Edmonton, and previously served as president of the University of Alberta Students’ Union, and on the Edmonton Public Library board.

Yemi Philip
Yemi Philip

Yemi Philip (Website, Facebook)

Philip is a lawyer with the firm of Durocher Simpson Koehli & Erler LLP. She is a Sunday school and children’s church teacher, and has volunteered with the Maskwacis Outreach School. She went to law school in Nigeria, and has lived in Alberta for the last decade.


Ward G — map

Tyler Duce
Tyler Duce

Tyler Duce (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Originally from Golden, B.C., Duce moved to Edmonton to attend university, where he graduated with a political science degree from MacEwan. He now works as a roofer. Doing humanitarian work in Chile, where people struggled with literacy, prompted him to run for school board. He was a Jason Kenney delegate during the 2017 Progressive Conservative leadership race.

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Bridget Stirling
Bridget Stirling Supplied

Bridget Stirling — incumbent (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Stirling is a PhD student in educational policy studies at the University of Alberta. She has worked in communications and as a magazine writer for the university, and as a sessional lecturer for MacEwan University. President of the Edmonton Gold Bar NDP from 2010 to 2015, Stirling also co-founded the Child-Friendly Housing Coalition of Alberta, and is a frequent community volunteer.


Ward H — map

Neda Asadi
Neda Asadi

Neda Asadi (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Asadi co-directs the Alberta Association for Migration Studies, which does consulting, research, and outreach on integration of newcomers to Canada. While doing her PhD at the University of Alberta, she studied how well Alberta and B.C. schools accommodated refugee students — an interest sparked by her own experience of frequently moving between countries and schools.

Nathan Ip
Nathan Ip Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

Nathan Ip — incumbent (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Ip is looking for a second term as trustee in southwest Edmonton. Currently co-owner of a new infill building company, Ip has worked as a co-ordinator of an inclusive post-secondary initiative at MacEwan University and Inclusion Alberta. He has served on the boards of the Edmonton Food Bank, Our House Addiction Recovery Centre, and on a Chinatown revitalization task force.

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Ward I — map

Sherry Adams
Sherry Adams

Sherry Adams — incumbent (WebsiteFacebook, Twitter)

First elected in 2013, Adams is pursuing a second term. Adams is a pastor at Fusion Fellowship of Edmonton and has bachelor and master’s degrees in theology. She has also coached university sports and run a non-profit community arts program for children in poverty.

Sajida Asghar
Sajida Asghar

Sajida Asghar (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Asghar has been an elementary school principal and a math and science teacher. She volunteers at the Sakinah Circle School and Al Mustafa Academy, visiting patients at the Grey Nuns Hospital, and has worked with Islamic Circle of North America Relief and Hope Mission to provide food and starter kits to homeless people and those displaced by the Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016.

Saira Wagner
Saira Wagner

Saira Wagner (Website, Facebook, Twitter)

Wagner is currently a stay-at-home mom to two children. She has previously served as a finance officer in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. She holds a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor of commerce in international business and finance from the University of Alberta.

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Projected number of eligible public school board voters: 469,337

Not sure what ward you’re in? Try the city’s “Where to vote” tool.


Events

Ward C

Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m. Trustee candidates forum, North Glenora Community League, 13535 109A Ave. NW

Ward D

Sept. 25, 7 p.m. School trustee and city councillor candidate forum, Grace Lutheran Church, 9907 114 St. NW


Journal reporter Janet French is covering the Edmonton Public School Board during this campaign. You can reach her with questions and tips at jfrench@postmedia.com or on Twitter @Jantafrench. The election is Oct. 16. This story will be updated as the campaign goes on.

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