Sidelined public school trustees ponder city council runs
Province still hasn't announced whether it will eliminate elected school boards
Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News
Posted: Jan 14, 2026 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
With the province still mulling whether to eliminate elected English-language public school boards, it’s unclear whether Ottawa residents will be voting for their trustees in this year’s municipal election.
But that doesn’t mean trustees are planning to sit out the campaign: In a few cases, their names might show up on another part of the ballot.
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustee Lyra Evans says she’s running for city council in Rideau-Vanier, one of the two wards in the zone she was elected to represent as a trustee.
Evans said she’s already achieved what she set out to do on the school board. Now she wants to get results at city hall on the environment, health and homelessness.
In her view, serving as a trustee is ideal preparation for city council.
"I learned a great deal about negotiation and compromise at the school board," she said. "It's an arena where you have to sit down with people who were also elected [and] who might hold very different views than you, and it's about how you work together to achieve your policy goals."
Evans was previously OCDSB board chair, until losing the position in 2023 on a tied vote that was settled through a card draw.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/si...stees-ponder-city-council-runs-9.7043667
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