Mayerthorpe, Sangdo school trustee candidates run in 2025 election

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On Oct. 20, Mayerthorpe-area voters will choose their representatives on the public school board, in addition to voting in the town council or county council election.

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Northern Gateway Public Schools (NGPS) has two seats open in Ward 1, subdivision 3, which includes Mayerthorpe, Sangudo, and parts of Lac Ste. Anne County.

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The three candidates for the two seats are incumbent Deb Koloski, outgoing Mayerthorpe Coun. Sandy Morton and Brenda Doherty. The Mayerthorpe Freelancer reached out to all candidates.

Meanwhile in Whitecourt, the NGPS candidates for that area’s two seats are Dana Severson, Linda Wigton, Sharon Layton, Joleen Power and Loralei Sergeew.

Morton shares why she’s running for board, not for council again

As Mayerthorpe residents vote for town council, Sandy Morton is one incumbent who won’t be on the council ballot, as she’s running to become an NGPS trustee instead.

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Morton has served as a town councillor for 10 years and was a teacher for 39 years, including 29 years in Sangudo.

“I want a strong education system,” Morton told the Mayerthorpe Freelancer.

“My heart lies in education, and even though I might be jumping into a fire, I’m really interested in doing some work with education.” 

That “fire” is part of her motivation to run, Morton said. She said she’d like to see some changes in education.

Morton recalled she loved teaching, but did see things change over time, with split grades and classroom sizes increasing.

In the future, Morton said she’d like to see a cap on classroom sizes to 20. While she acknowledged it might not be a popular opinion, she recalled when there were special-ed teachers with their own rooms, and she suggested going back to that model.

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Morton acknowledged these aren’t the board’s decisions, but she said it would be her job to advocate to the local and provincial governments.

She added that having been a councillor and Deputy Mayor of Mayerthorpe, she already has contacts with some of the people she’d need to advocate to. She believes the skills she learned as a councillor will transfer to being a trustee, she said.

Regarding the teachers’ strike, negotiations are between the provincial government and Alberta Teachers’ Association. 

School boards aren’t directly involved, but Morton said she hopes the strike is over soon.

Morton said that when a friend reached out to her to ask her to run for the board, she had already decided not to run for town council again, citing some personal reasons.

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While Morton isn’t running for council this time, she said she’s excited there will be a municipal election, as opposed to 2017 and 2021 which ended in council being acclaimed.

Koloski running for re-election to continue advocacy

Having served as Sangudo’s trustee since 2021, Deb Koloski is running again for the NGPS board.

This time, she hopes to represent both Mayerthorpe and Sangudo, as those areas have been combined into one ward subdivision with two seats. Koloski said she has 33 years of experience as an educator, as a teacher and principal.

“I love working with young people, trying to help them discover where they want to go with their lives,” Koloski told the Freelancer.

“I decided to take the job the last time as a school board trustee because I want to advocate for students, so they have the best possible education.”

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This time, Koloski said she’s running because she feels the school board has made “strides” in its advocacy to the government and MLAs for funding education.

Priorities for NGPS in the next few years should be continuing advocacy for better funding for rural students, she said.

“Certainly, we are continuing to rally to get more money for complex-needs students,” Koloski added.

“Students are the priority; every time we make a decision in Northern Gateway, we sit around the board table and go, ‘Is this is what’s best for students?’”

Another issue that Koloski said she wants the Alberta government to explore is how expensive it is for rural students to pursue post-secondary education. It’s challenging for youths to leave hometowns given both tuition and room and board, she noted.

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As for the teachers’ strike, Koloski said she is unsure how the Alberta government will handle the situation. She remarked that rural and urban students have different needs, so it’s a question as to how to satisfy both.

“All I know is, we all want our teachers and our students back in class as soon as possible,” she said.

During Koloski’s last term, there was much discussion about Sangudo Community School and whether it would close or lose its junior high program. Koloski confirmed that the school is viable and will remain open.

Doherty answers the call to run for board

The Mayerthorpe and Sangudo area’s third candidate for the school board is Brenda Doherty.

Doherty said a few community members asked her to run for the board, so she decided to put her name forward.

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“Priorities (should be) making sure that every child is getting the right education, and it serves as a setup for those children,” Doherty told the Mayerthorpe Freelancer.

Doherty said she is recently retired, having worked in nursing in Mayerthorpe for 33 years. She added her family has been through the local school system, and she has grandchildren currently attending.

It should be ensured all children’s needs are met, Doherty said, “especially children with high needs, which can be a challenge in small communities.”

There is always room to improve, she said, adding that high school students should be encouraged to go into programs to pursue their careers.

While school boards aren’t directly involved in the teachers’ strike, Doherty said she hopes the situation will be “resolved as soon as possible.”

“I think children really suffered during COVID, and it’s time we get back to providing them with a good education,” she told the Freelancer.

bquarin@postmedia.com

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