After being deemed ineligible to run for a public school board trustee spot in Monday’s municipal election, Jamie-Lee Wagler feels like she has let some people down.
“I had so many great conversations with families and people in general in Stratford, and I’ve got to know so many of the issues that the children are seeing at our schools. I had amazing conversations with these kids that are going to school and now I feel like I let them down.”
The City of Stratford told her it came to their attention that she was an employee of the Avon Maitland District School Board when she filled out her nomination form.
On Oct. 16, the city released a public notice announcing Wagler’s ineligibility for a trustee position.
Wagler said that prior to nominating herself for the election in June, she applied to work on a teacher supply list, in April, with the Avon Maitland District School Board, but didn’t hear back from the school board.
“In August, I received a notice that I was hired by the board. In September, when everything cleared up, I went to work as a director full-time in Waterloo at a job care centre and realized that ‘oh the election signs are going to be going up, I should reach out to the school board and put it on a leave’. I went on a leave of absence until the end of November to see whether I got elected, or if I should keep supply on the back-burner.”
City staff said under the Education Act and the Municipal Elections Act, a school board employee seeking election as a trustee must meet specific eligibility requirements, including taking an unpaid leave of absence that starts the day they were nominated and ends on voting day.
City clerk Tatiana Dafoe told MyStratfordNow someone who works in a school board can’t be an employee and run for a trustee position at the same time, hence why they’re required to take a leave of absence.
“In this case, Ms. Wagler’s employment status changed. The city wasn’t advised until late-September, which is when we began to work with the candidate to confirm whether the statutory requirement had been maintained.”
She said because that requirement wasn’t maintained, it resulted in Wagler being ineligible.
Dafoe notes while Wagler’s name will still appear on the ballot, any votes for her will not be counted.
Dafoe added they’re working with the candidate through this situation.
Wagler said she sent the city a letter informing them that she didn’t get hired until August, she had no intentions of doing two things at once and that she went on her leave in September.
“From there it was back and forth on whether or not I was actually ’employed’ or if that employment started when I accepted a teaching assignment as a supply. Then nothing was said until I got a letter Friday the 16th saying I was deemed ineligible and I emailed back saying ‘I still don’t understand, we’re still looking at the school board reaching out and all of that stuff, how can I be ineligible?’.”
In a social media post, Wagler said after receiving the clerk’s decision she requested that further action be paused while she obtained additional documentation and pursued legal advice.
Wagler adds that she hasn’t heard from the clerk since then.
