UCDSB opens applications for trustee vacancy

BROCKVILLE – The area’s largest school board is now seeking applications for a trustee vacancy.

Trustees at the Upper Canada District School Board formally accepted the resignation of Ward 2 Trustee Carole Dufort and started the process to appoint her successor at a July 15 special meeting.

Dufort resigned due to health reasons. She is the third trustee at the board to resign during this term, following the 2022 resignation of Larry Berry, and 2025 resignation of Curtis Jordan.

The provincial Education Act requires that trustee vacancies be filled within 90 days.

Anyone interested in serving out the balance of the 2022-26 term as a trustee can submit their information to Director of Education Ron Ferguson, who is also secretary of the trustee board.

The application should include a resume including past accomplishments and community involvement, a letter of intent of why you wish to serve on the board, and three community references.

The replacement process this time will continue to follow past practices. All candidates will be screened and a short-list of candidates created. Each will be interviewed in a public session of a UCDSB board meeting, and the other trustees will vote for their replacement by secret ballot. The board will select the replacement trustee at their October 1 meeting. The new trustee will serve until the end of the term, which is November 14, 2026.

While Ward 2 represents the areas of Drummond-North Elmsley, Lanark Highlands, Montague, Perth, and Tay Valley areas in northern Leeds County and south-western Lanark County, candidates do not have to live the geographic area represented. Ward 7 (Dundas County) replacement trustee John Danaher was formerly the trustee for Ward 8 (Stormont-Glengarry). And recent Ward 8 replacement trustee Liz Steinberg lives in the Smiths Falls area, approximately 100 kilometres west of the area she represents.