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PostPosted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:06 pm 
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Does anyone know whether any of Kim Graves' current opponents were among those interviewed for the position in June? That seems to be a rock-solid endorsement, and maybe a much better way of filling a position like this.

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PostPosted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 2:07 pm 
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Location: Beaty and Trudeau
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In hindsight, would have been great if someone could have video-taped the whole thing to put online for others who couldn't make it to watch. But all-in, very well organized and moderated debate. Thanks for the organizers & school for setting it up and hosting. Glad to meet some of CKSS's school council as well.


I agree, video-taping the proceedings was something mentioned at the council meeting, and I think we were kind of hoping that as the moderator was from a show on Cogeco, that Cogeco would have offered. This debate was put together in only a few short days, at the same time as creating CKSS's first school council, so we didn't have a lot of time. Next time we will look at getting the school comm-tech department to help us with this.

Great to meet you too Rick!

Andrea Sadgrove, secretary, CKSS School Council


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:31 pm 
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B&T402 wrote:
Does anyone know whether any of Kim Graves' current opponents were among those interviewed for the position in June? That seems to be a rock-solid endorsement, and maybe a much better way of filling a position like this.


Nik Thakkar was one of ten applicants who applied.

His interview is at 1:14. Kim's conveniently is right after at 1:24.
http://199.235.122.54/TrusteeInterviews.html

After the interviews, the trustees came to a tie-vote between application Joe Henry (who is not on the ballot) and Kim Graves. It went to a second round of interviews and Kim was selected.


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:57 pm 
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I am a new blogger at Hawthrone villagers and one of the reasons to join this group is to find out more details about all our candidates running for various positions at municipal elections. Being a parent of two kids, I was interested to know more about public school board trustee candidates so that I can be an informed voter. I was present at the debate in person and heard four candidates out of five. Without a second thought, Nik was the most impressive and sounded like he has done his homework, followed by Kim at the second place and then the other two candidates. So far, I was trying to find out more information and blogs from neutral bloggers in order to be able to take informed decission. But it sounds like these blogs are very much politically inspired, especially from Kim. Her statements about Kim Graves as a well spoken candidate sounds totally political to me. NIK was the only candidate there, who presented many different and innovative ideas and combining community centers was just one of those. More importantly, his flyer about his priorities cover most of the questions asked during the debate, which really impressed me. Without saying anything more in anyone's favour, I would like to recommend all of you to visit the youtube link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwnN3B5URc

This youtube link is mostly Nik's part of the debate but its very interesting. Hope this video link will help you all to take an informed decission. All the Best to all the candidates !

Friends, please help me to find out more information about Local Councillor for Ward 8 so that I can take informed decision. Thank you.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 2:59 am 
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Stating my personal opinion based on several years active involvement in two parent councils and having friends who have been on various parent councils for 8 years who were part of the parent super council who helped our then one trustee fight for improved planning for Halton Schools which has resulted in two elementary schools being approved per year since Tiger Jeet Singh is political? Sorry. Nik's numbers are wrong for planning. Ask your current trustee what the actual planning process involves. Same with class sizes and split grades. Provincially set standards. Bussing distances he quoted are wrong. Don't believe me - look at haltonbus.ca. Portables? Are not going away. Combining recreational facilities with schools. Interesting concept. Certainly Mississauga had combined libraries and secondary schools. Combining general concurrent recreational facilities with elementary schools present security issues. The board already uses portapacks attached to schools to address long term accommodation issues (Hawthorne Village Public School for example had a portapacks attached to address the chronic overpopulation due to initial planning estimates being out relative to actual). Staying on top of latest numbers for planning is one of the reasons I like Kim Graves. She is a statistician. She can challenge planning estimates intelligently.

Here is the Champion coverage of the trustee meeting. Also check out their blurbs submitted to the Champion and their web pages. Check out their board interviews. Make an informed choice.

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/ ... s-meeting/

Btw, the definition of a politically motivated post would include posting a campaign video and plug for one candidate so pot, meet kettle.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:46 am 
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I was searching on youtube for trustee debate videos by myself and these are the only videos I found. And there are two more videos, again about Nik only.

Also, if Nik's numbers were wrong, why didn't any of the trustee candidate correct the numbers or present the correct data at the debate !! Forget about correcting the numbers, none other candidate were having any numbers or were even able to clearly answer any of the questions at the debate ! Where were the statistics . Lack of homework ?. And now, at the blog you are trying to prove all his points and agendas wrong !!

You are clearly supporting one candidate while doing negative publicity against the other candidate ! That's why I find your blogs politically inspired !!

Sounds like you are the same, Kim Graves, who is running as a trustee candidate , Are You ?


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:56 am 
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No, she is not the same Kim. Freemantrailfamily likes to be kept up to date on the issues. She was stating her opinion, which is very informed. If you have read her posts over the years, you would know that Freemantrailfamily is very knowledgeable about Milton. I, for one, respect her opinions, but that doesn't mean I will always agree with her. I am still undecided on a ward 6 candidate, although I know that Kim supports one.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:39 am 
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gmdesai wrote:
I was searching on youtube for trustee debate videos by myself and these are the only videos I found. And there are two more videos, again about Nik only.

Also, if Nik's numbers were wrong, why didn't any of the trustee candidate correct the numbers or present the correct data at the debate !! Forget about correcting the numbers, none other candidate were having any numbers or were even able to clearly answer any of the questions at the debate ! Where were the statistics . Lack of homework ?. And now, at the blog you are trying to prove all his points and agendas wrong !!

You are clearly supporting one candidate while doing negative publicity against the other candidate ! That's why I find your blogs politically inspired !!

Sounds like you are the same, Kim Graves, who is running as a trustee candidate , Are You ?


So Kim, who has been on this board for many years with over 3000 posts, is politically motivated, while you, with 2 posts both saying Nik is the best, are not? Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I don't always agree with Kim (on the political scale, I am pretty sure that she is to the left of me by quite a bit), but perhaps post a few times before you start endorsing candidates.

that being said, i did not attend the debate so i can't make a judgement over who was best.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:05 am 
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Please do not try to twist and turn my posts. Yes Kim is a senior blogger, no doubt. I respect her personal views. But at the same time, negative publicity about any other candidate is not a good idea. Even a blogger with 2 posts can recognize that it's politically inspired !!

And, I have not stated or endorsed Nik or any other candidate. I am just referring to what I saw and heard in person at the debate and Nik was better at the debate compared to other candidates! Having said that, it's upto all of us to find out more about all the candidates to make an informed decision.

I think, it's my moral responsibility to choose the candidate based information rather than looking at the lawn signs and that's why I m here. May the best candidate win !


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 2:29 pm 
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You were at the "debate". You should recognize that none of the candidates were given an opportunity to counter their opponents statements on questions. Jaideep tried, numerous time and was denied. In such a situation there was no opportunity to correct false numbers by any of the candidates.

And no. Not Kim Graves. I was sitting next to Mian Abubaqr with my two kids at the CKSS event.


Last edited by freemantrailfamily on Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:38 pm 
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To counter Nik's "1.6 kids/household provincial standard" statement for school sizing, here is the actual process documentation used by school boards:

Here's the overall process for board approval of new schools - note that it is school boards responsibility to make population growth estimates, which is their yearly (or every two year) Long Term Accomodation Plan and there is no set provincial standard.
http://www.hdsb.ca/aboutus/FacilityServ ... 202010.pdf

Here is the latest long term accomodation plan produced by the school board planners (a document I like to read whenever it is updated):
http://www.hdsb.ca/aboutus/Planning/LTA ... 20site.pdf

This document is the planning document that explains how the board does it's population projections. Lots and lots of statistical data compilation. Statistics was not my favourite subject, but I do have to use basics for my work, and I know how important correct data sampling and reduction is. As this is something Kim Graves understands far more than I do, as I said it was a big reason I chose to support her (but not the only one). She has a background to question this. Goodness only knows the better the statistical projections the better the planning will be!

http://www.hdsb.ca/aboutus/Planning/LTA ... 20site.pdf

Once you have your population estimates, school size, type and size of classrooms, instructional and non-instructional space is templated.

What does this tell me about the candidates - Nik hasn't mastered a google search and would be eaten alive by the other trustees, board planning and ministry staff. We do not need another trustee like that. I had to look this up but I had been following this enough over the years to know he was not right in his statements. I definitely don't vote by signs!


Last edited by freemantrailfamily on Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:38 am 
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I tried googling around but could not find what the job of a trustee is. What powers does he/she have vs the board.

Is a trustee someone who brings parents concerns to the board, follows up on them and also acts as board ambassador for the area; or a trustee oversees board policy and activities and sets direction?

The above are two very distinct jobs that require people with different skills.

Looking at most candidates platforms I see a mix of both which excludes the candidates from my choice as I believe he/she has no clue what he/she is applying for.

My major concerns are directly related with teacher selection (qualifications for the subject being taught), enforcement of basic curricula requirements as set by the Ministry, use of (or misuse) of funds and teaching methodology changes every 2 or 3 years.

I am not too concerned with amount of portables or school bus distances.

A major concern for me is the new Eco-school initiative where the board is ripping of perfectly fine and a couple of year old playgrounds to replace them with eco-playgrounds (logs and rocks instead of plastic/metal structures) and sand or mulch surface instead of soft rubber. And, the most idiotic, veggie gardens in elementary school yards? Do they know that in Ontario most veggies start producing in summer when school is out?


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:15 pm 
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The garden initiatives are parent council initiatives and not paid for or run in any way by the board. Parents, teachers, and students volunteer their time to maintain them. So are playgrounds, though there are municipal grants available (town, not school board). The board would have to get involved I guess involved in the permitting and planning process, but not sure.

Trustee job description and responsibilities are here:
http://www.opsba.org/index.php?q=system ... 2014_f.pdf


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:53 pm 
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I haven't heard about the Ecoschools, but those types of initiatives are usually driven by Principal and Staff with the support of the school parent council as part of meeting provincial curriculum. Looks like eco-schools hits a bunch of the curriculum components:
http://ontarioecoschools.org/about_us/alignment.html

Trustees, along with teachers groups, would be part of the groups who would be responsible for highlighting concerns with curriculum issues communicated by parents and others, should be directing staff direction within the provincial mandadate but are also in the position to lobby the provincial elected officials to make changes, and should be involved in working with schools in the board that may be falling below provincial standards. Trustees do not get involved with teacher selection. That is the school principal combined with provincial hiring policy. They are definitely directly involved in setting the board operating and capital budgets and priorities (within the ministry of education constraints).


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:29 pm 
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freemantrailfamily wrote:
The garden initiatives are parent council initiatives and not paid for or run in any way by the board. Parents, teachers, and students volunteer their time to maintain them. So are playgrounds, though there are municipal grants available (town, not school board). The board would have to get involved I guess involved in the permitting and planning process, but not sure.

Trustee job description and responsibilities are here:
http://www.opsba.org/index.php?q=system ... 2014_f.pdf


Thanks for the link, I could not find it myself. I now understand what's expected, still I think it is more than one person's full time job if he/she is to successfully accomplish all of the requirements. Looking at the program of candidates (the ones I can find online) using these criteria, I personally am not convinced by any of them

I personally do not believe that playground replacement is a parent council initiative (let's forget veggie gardens for now). This is happening at schools across Halton and from what I hear the plan is to replace them in all public schools. Also, it would cost 10s of thousands of dollars (if not more) for each school to implement and can not be done by volunteers. After looking at a couple of them (PL Robertson, Bruce Trail) I also think they less safe especially for younger kids. would you want you child climbing 3ft high rocks in the middle of the winter when it is covered in ice and snow?


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