Longtime school advisory committee member looks to move to board level
When Lawrence Alexander’s daughter started kindergarten he started volunteering with the school advisory committee at her school. Now that she is heading to McMaster University he feels it is a good time to transfer his involvement to the Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) as a trustee.
A continuous member of the school committee at his daughter’s schools since she started kindergarten, Alexander has served as chair of the parent committee at St. John’s Elementary in Grimsby, and for the last four years chair of the parent committee at Blessed Trinity. “I’ve been asked a number of times if I would consider running,” says Alexander, joking that, “It would be bad mojo to run against a priest.”
Although Father Paul MacNeil, the Catholic school board trustee for the past eight years, and current chair, is not seeking re-election this time around, Alexander says his decision to run has much more to do with the fact that his daughter’s graduation means his direct involvement at the school level is coming to an end, so now is the time to transition to involvement at the board level.
Alexander says he sees volunteering your time as the greatest sacrifice you can make, noting you can always make more money and your body can always produce more blood, but time is finite so being willing to give your personal time is a great gift.
“It’s important to serve in some way,” he says.
“I’ve always been able to do that at the school.”
The Grimsby resident says his experience at the school level for more than a dozen years means he has an understanding of what schools need and where the shortcomings may be.
“Hopefully I can bring change for the better.”
No one should think government should be run as a business,
but it does have to be fiscally responsible, says the chef and owner of two Niagara restaurants.
“I do see that as an issue,” he says of fiscal responsibility at the NCDSB.
“I’m not pro-union or pro-management but when the board is cutting staff, cutting department heads and locking out staff but giving staff at the board office a five percent raise, that’s a concern to me.”Noting he supports paying teachers a decent wage, as well as firefighters and police officers and other vital government employees, he says the taxpayers only have so much money in their wallets, so cuts will need to be made to allow for those salaries. Shrinkage, he says, should come from the top down —pointing out Blessed Trinity lost three department heads in the most recent budget but there no cuts at the board level.
He added those necessary cuts may lead to renewed discussions about amalgamation. Although Premier Ford has not mentioned amalgamation of the Catholic and public school boards, it has been discussed by previous Ontario PC Party leaders, so that is a concern says Alexander.
“With the new political regime in Toronto I believe there will be push to merge the two boards for financial reasons,” he says.
“Our children still need faith-based education.”
Alexander says he is not necessarily opposed to the boards’ amalgamating as long as the opportunity for students to choose faith-based schools continues to exist. Ford’s recent changes to sex education curriculum are also a concern for Alexander. The curriculum introduced by the Wynne government in 2015 is appropriate he says, especially when you compare the documents. “Even just in terminology, it’s almost like they’re sticking their heads in the sand. If we don’t mention homosexuality or the internet it doesn’t exist.”
The internet, he goes on to say, is only mentioned once in the 1998 curriculum, while consent and homosexuality are a big part of the newer curriculum.
“I’d rather teach that than go back to intolerance,” he says.
Can it be better? Everything can always be better says Alexander, but the 2015 version is most certainly better than the 1998 curriculum. Better education and better resources for students is what Alexander is interested in.
“I care about our Catholic, faith-based education and I want to protect that however I can.”
Alexander is one of four candidates running for the trustee position for the Catholic school board, including Leanne Prince of Grimsby, Peter Dief of Fonthill, and Robert Ruggieri of Beamsville.
Municipal council and school board elections will take place on Monday, October 22.
