Hi AJ,
You should also check out Kim Graves for the Wards 1,6,7, and 8 trustee position.
http://www.kimgraves4trustee.ca/A little introductory youtube video that plays to her fun side.
http://youtu.be/jZs7vu8_gdQAlso a great resource are the interviews including Kim's for the interim trustee position when Nancy resigned earlier this summer. Kim posted this in the General forum under Election Campaigning.
The closest alternative for wards 1, 6, 7, & 8 is the open interview session for the trustee appointment after Nancy MacNeill left. Three of the five trustee candidates currently running participated in the interviews. We had 10 minutes to answer three questions (prepared in advance). Here is a link to the interviews:
http://199.235.122.54/TrusteeInterviews.html Current candidates speak starting roughly at minute 59, 1:15, and 1:26.
She has a twitter account for her current trustee work:
@TrusteeGraves
She has also started an election campaign twitter account to keep the current job and campaign work seperate:
@kgraves4trustee
I've got the same signs as you currently on my lawn. I think Alex is the best candidate for Ward 6. He's been going to council meetings consistently which I feel shows that he's serious about learning what the job is really about. I've attended council meetings and watched on-line streaming. You miss things with streaming. He's been doing background research reading reports, knocking on doors and talking to people all over the ward - rural, urban, all walks of life, attended a wide variety of community events. Kim has really impressed me with her strong education background, speaking to her she fully grasps the depth of the job of trustee and the issues Milton faces both in the classroom and lobbying the provincial government for funding changes that are necessary to manage growth and maintain quality classroom results and challenge budget decisions. The Halton District School board manages a budget larger than the Town of Milton and has to consider decisions that not only impact Milton but Oakville and Burlington but be consistent and fair across the region. Trustees also have to engage the ministry of education regularly and be adept at lobbying. Kim has experienced education as a long time member of parent council at Chris Hadfield PS, has seen the challenges of growth there during the tumultuous years when kids changed boundaries every year, when parent councils banded together to create the parent supercouncil and worked with trustees and board staff to lobby for changes to funding and the size of schools in Milton to address a dramatic shortage in spaces in the initial phase of growth that resulted in significant changes for the design of Tiger Jeet PS, Escarpment View, PL Roberston and newer schools, she has dealt with gifted programs, and special needs personally. She is also an extremely strong supporter of math and science as statistician and post-secondary educator at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College. Her post-secondary experience in education also allows her to have a different perspective on delivery of education and the impact elementary and secondary curriculum changes have at the post-secondary level. Do your research, talk to the candidates, make your own choice that fits your concerns best.