My Boggled Mind

I’ve “stickied” the post above this to the front page because this is when I first ‘officially’ heard that Marie Visser intended to run for School Board Trustee for the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board.  I commented on it then and now that she has officially thrown her name into the pot and is an official candidate I am going to reiterate that I would not want Marie Visser to be a school board trustee.

From what I can gather, the job of school board trustee is to be the voice of the students and families at the school board.  In order to do that a person would have to have the ability to put their own personal feelings and views aside, and present the views of the group they are representing.

I don’t think Marie is capable of that in matters that are important to her.  The post above is a text book example.  As a representative of the Dr. G.J. MacGillivray Public School Council, Marie’s job as the MacGillivray School Council Regional Representative  was to go to the regional council with the opinion of our council.  She may have done that at some point, I’m not doubting it.  However, she then went on to position herself as leader of a group of parents that held the opposite opinion and, it was based on loosing that battle that she was quoted in the newspaper as saying she would be running in the next election.

What’s interesting is that this group of parents who Marie was representing did not make an appearance at school council to voice their opinion nor did they contact the chair or vice chair  of the council to let it be known what they wanted so one must wonder, how did they know to contact Marie?  And, when these people did contact Marie, and her group opposed to a September 8th school start was formed, how did Marie reconcile her appointed position of MacGillivray Council Regional Representative, and the parent Marie Visser who did not agree with her school council’s decision to the extent that she felt comfortable leading an opposition group?

It’s no secret to anyone that knows Marie and me that there’s no love lost there.  We have sat on opposing sides of the opinion many times.  But to clarify, this is not personal for me.  It’s not because I wasn’t invited into Marie’s clique of friends that I don’t think she’d make a good trustee, it’s not because our opinions differ on things that I don’t think she’d make a good trustee.  I feel confident that I am not being vengeful or hateful in making my opinion public and I have a clear conscience that my motives for voicing my opinion are good and honest.  These are all things I gave great thought and consideration before deciding to post.  I had to be sure in my own heart and mind that sharing my opinion was the right thing to do for the right reasons and I am sure.

And, I’m not kidding myself, I also had to decide that doing this was worth whatever potential backlash there might be coming my way.

I do think that Marie could have a great future in politics.  I’ve often admired the things she has done and is capable of doing – but I don’t think she has the capabilities of putting her own views aside to represent a group that she may not identify with personally.  Perhaps that kind of thing comes with experience and maturity she doesn’t yet possess or perhaps it just takes a certain kind of person to do it.  Regardless, I’d love to see Marie as the leader of a special interest group, one who’ s message remains constant, like opposition to the incinerator being built here.  However, I just don’t feel comfortable with the concept that she could or would represent my views or yours at the school board if they didn’t happen to agree with her own opinion and that’s not what we want in a school board trustee.  At least it’s not what I want

Please feel free to leave comments, I will publish and answer them if they are respectful.

Lisa Campbell