CALGARY—Calgary public school board trustee Lisa Davis’ bid for a United Conservative Party nomination has fallen short, but some criticism of her decision to run still remains.
Davis announced in June she’d pursue the UCP nomination in Calgary-Bow for next spring’s election. The contest was won by Demetrios Nicolaides, Davis’ campaign manager in last October’s municipal election, on Tuesday.
Davis never took time off from her Calgary Board of Education trustee role while competing for the UCP nomination, but some criticism of her choice to run while already in an elected position remains from Barbara Silva, a spokesperson with the public education advocacy group Support Our Students Alberta.
Silva said the advocacy group takes a stance against sitting trustees running for political office when it prevents them from fulfilling their responsibilities as a trustee. As a constituent of the wards Davis represents, Silva still believes the trustee should step down. In June, she called for Davis’ resignation and created a Change.org petition for this purpose that’s received more than 175 signatures.
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“She herself has said that she’s been ineffectual and inefficient in her role, so I don’t understand why she would not leave that spot open and available for someone who’s committed and dedicated and present,” Silva said.
“The well-being of students and the defending of public education should be no one’s Plan B. It should be no one’s fallback position.”
Davis did not respond to requests for an interview.
First elected as a trustee for Wards 6 and 7 in 2017, Davis announced her intention to run for the Calgary-Bow UCP nomination less than a year later in June. In a message on her website, Davis cited “significant roadblocks” as a trustee, such as being unable to receive full and timely access to information to make decisions in the best interest of students.
Davis was elected as a trustee as part of the Students Count slate of candidates who campaigned for improving math skills, establishing an independent ombudsman and returning report cards to percentage marks. But Silva was not surprised Davis faced difficulty completing these measures.
“It’s easier to place the blame on the administration or the organization than to admittedly own up to the fact that she has no jurisdiction as a trustee to fix math. She has absolutely zero jurisdiction to establish an independent ombudsman,” Silva said.
“Those were all things that were never actually possible, so she ran on a campaign of impossible. Of course she would be ineffective.
From the Calgary Board of Education’s point of view, this isn’t the first time a sitting trustee has moved into provincial politics and the board doesn’t stop trustees from doing this — just so long as these officials continue to govern in the CBE’s best interests.
“As long as a trustee can fulfill their role to be an effective board member and continue to act in the best interests of our students and the organization, there is no concern,” CBE spokesperson Paul Flegal said in an email statement.
Lori Williams, associate professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University, also said the concern with trustees running for a party nomination has to do with whether they can maintain their responsibility to constituents.
In 2014, Sheila Taylor resigned as a CBE trustee to run for the Wildrose Party in Calgary-West, but her departure was only necessary after the school board denied her request for a leave of absence.
“The question of what party they support, vote for or run for is not so much the issue as whether there’s a diminishment of their ability to represent their constituents,” Williams said.
Williams added Davis’ frustration on what she can do as a school board trustee is unsurprising as much of the decision-making surrounding Calgary education isn’t up to school boards.
“She’s not the first to get frustrated with that. It’s always been much more limited power,” Williams said.
“Most of the decision-making is being done at the provincial level, including negotiations for the teachers working in their ward, curriculum, their budgets.”
Silva is still supportive of Davis stepping down as trustee. But with Davis continuing her work on the CBE, Silva said she hopes Davis makes more of an effort to fulfill her election promises.
“She should have an obligation to engage in conversations with constituents,” Silva said. “I’d also like to see more effort to work with the system that she’s been elected to to represent and defend public education, and to do what’s in the best interest of public education.”
