Applications to fill 2 vacant seats on Waterloo Region District School Board can be filed until June 15

People who want to fill one of the two vacant seats with the Waterloo Region District School Board can now apply to do so.

The application deadline is 4 p.m. on June 15.

Trustees voted against appointing the runners-up in last fall's municipal election. The board had also previously rejected holding a byelection to fill the two seats.

The two seats are currently vacant because of the death of trustee Fred Meissner and the resignation of Marie Snyder.

Applicants will be reviewed by current trustees over a several-day process before being able to present their platforms to the public. The trustees will vote for the new trustees by secret ballot on June 28.

A motion to replace the secret ballot in the process with a public ballot was defeated. Trustees Bill Cody, Mike Ramsay and Cindy Watson had voted in favour of a public ballot.

There were four delegates at Monday's meeting. Trustee Joanne Weston ended one delegate's presentation early because she said he "gave too much context" about his distrust for COVID vaccines, a topic that was deemed not relevant to Monday's meeting agenda.

Other delegates shared their thoughts on the need for a democratic process and more transparency from the board, as well as a process that respects the needs of all public school students.

The Ontario Public School Board Association notes on its website that if trustees choose to appoint someone, it must be done within 90 days of the seat becoming vacant. 

They must appoint a person who is "eligible to serve on the board and who is willing to accept the appointment. The legislation does not set out any other criteria." It's up to the board to decide how they will decide who to appoint.

The room where Monday night's meeting was held was filled with parents and concerned residents who wanted to hear what the board would decide.

Ahead of the meeting, about 14 demonstrators were outside the school board's offices on Ardelt Avenue, holding signs and criticizing the board for what they said was a lack of transparency in the process to appoint new trustees.

The demonstration was organized by a group called the Enlightened Minds of Parents of Waterloo Region, which has criticized the school board in the past for enforcing certain pandemic measures and for not removing books with LGBTQ themes from school libraries.

Cristina Fernandes ran in last fall's municipal election for the Waterloo-Wilmot trustee seat and came in fifth. She said it would be smart for the board to "piggyback" off that fall's election.