School Closure Voting Record
See the table below for the trustee school closure voting records from 2005 to 2009.
Three (3) Trustees have consistently voted for school closures: Wendy Keiver (defeated 2007), George Rice and Catherine Ripley.
Trustees Dave Colburn and Sue Huff have consistently voted against school closures. Trustee Gerry Gibeault has generally not supported school closures.
Trustees Bev Esslinger, Ken Gibson and Don Fleming have generally supported school closures—at times against the wishes of communities and despite significant offers of the communities to assist EPSB with making schools viable.
| TH | Terrance Heights School |
| S | Strathearn School |
| W | Wellington School |
| NE | North Edmonton School |
| HP | High Park School |
| MC | Mill Creek School |
| N | Newton School |
| R | Ritchie School |
| W | Woodcroft School |
w = ward; #Y = No. of Yeas; #N = No. of Nays
| w | #Y | #N | TH | S | W | NE | HP | MC | N | R | W | |
| Dave Colburn | D | 1 | 7 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Bev Esslinger | A | 7 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Don Fleming | F | 6 | 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gerry Gibeault | I | 3 | 5 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Ken Gibson | E | 7 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Svend Hansen | G | 5 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| Sue Huff | C | 0 | 2 | No | No | |||||||
| Wendy Keiver | B | 6 | 0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| George Nicholson | H | 4 | 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| George Rice | G | 2 | 0 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Catherine Ripley | H | 2 | 0 | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Ken Shipka | B | 1 | 1 | Yes | No | |||||||
| Don Williams | C | 5 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
EPSB’s web site states: “The Board's primary responsibilities are to represent the public and to determine direction for the District. This involves setting policy, providing resources, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting results to their constituents.”
EPSB’s Surplus Space Policy elapsed 20+ years ago. The district now claims to have 37,000 surplus spaces when it only has 80,000 students. Given a maintenance deficit of $24 million dollars and the construction of 13 new schools, even closing many dozens of schools may not solve our problem.
“Our schools belong to you—the public.” Contact your trustee.