As Quebec school boards gear up for elections, Joe Ortona named chair of the EMSB

Quebecers will be heading to the polls this November to elect representatives for their English-language school boards, butas nominations closed last night, the majority of candidates ran unopposed.

At the English Montreal School Board, former vice-chairJoe Ortona was acclaimed as the board's chair,and nine out of 10 available slots for commissioners were also elected by acclamation. An electionwill be held for the Westmount-Sud-Ouest commissioner.

The EMSBwas placedunder trusteeship lastNovemberafter a 10-month government probe found irregularities in the awarding of contracts, and issues with the board's management and human resources, as well as the "excessive politicization of decision-making."

Judy Kelley and Chris Eustace will be running for the position of chairof the Lester B. Pearson School Board. Elections will also be held for commissioners in districts 2, 3 and 4, while nine commissioners in the board's other districts were acclaimed.

All nine commissioners at the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board were acclaimed, but elections will be held for the chair position. Nomia Onofre De Lima and Paolo Galati are running.

As for the New Frontiers School Board, only two commissioners will need to be elected. Everyone else, including incoming chairJohn Ryan, hasbeen acclaimed.

Advanced polling will take place Oct. 25, with elections Nov. 1.

Earlier this month, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a suspension of Bill 40, the CAQ government's controversial education reform.

Bill 40,passed in February, changed most school boards into service centres and did away with elections for French-language boards. Elected positions were maintained for the new English-language service centres.