Commentary
When it comes to surveying the big political trends of the year that was, the focus tends to be on what happened federally at Parliament Hill, or at provincial legislatures or our municipal city halls. It’s only natural. After all, those are our three levels of government and they’re where the decisions that most affect our daily lives are made.
However, there’s one other level of political decision-making that hits us very close to home that’s been ignored in recent years. That’s school boards, and the focus on them is finally making a comeback.
Back in previous decades, newspapers would assign a reporter to follow the school board beat. Residents would be informed of what went on at school board meetings and know what trustees were getting up to with almost the same detail as city councils were covered….