Oct 09, 2014


trustee magee steveTrustee

Steve Magee – a strong commitment to Public Education

Steve Magee says that public education is “arguably one of the most important institutions that we have. Ideally it brings children of all races and backgrounds together for 12 years. There is no other institution that comes close to doing this. It creates compromise, it creates understanding, and is the foundation that we build our future on.”

He has had a 22-year career as an educator and administrator, much of it with the Upper Grand District School Board, which he said is similar to the Limestone Board in that it has an urban and rural component, with its headquarters in Guelph, but also serves a large rural area. He also has experience and an interest in Aboriginal issues in education.

Steve Magee and his wife Diane, who worked in school administration as a system principal, have maintained a seasonal property in Frontenac County for many years, and they moved permanently to a home they built in the Badour Estates subdivision on Crow Lake five years ago.

Magee’s other passion, besides education, is canoeing. He ran a canoe and kayak centre before becoming an educator and in that role he was involved in the formation of Frontenac Park some 25 years ago.

He said that with Anne Goodfellow stepping down, his retirement, his background and a position on the Limestone Board opening up, he felt it was a good time to put his name forward.

He has done some research into the Limestone Board since registering for the vote in the spring, has met with some trustees and board staff and has attended board meetings.

“Boards are very similar in terms of needs,” he said. “They are concerned with balancing budgets and covering all the needs of schools and students, and dealing with curriculum requirements. The Limestone Board recently held a huge meeting in Kingston looking for collaboration with community groups, which is a good sign.”

He said, however, that there is a tendency for rural needs to lose out in the face of demands in urban areas, and points to the recent cutting of a teacher at Clarendon Central School as a prime example of this.

After attending a public meeting between board officials and the community at Clarendon Central last month, he said the way the board handled the situation was regrettable.

“The way it was handled, the way it was announced, presented a negative picture of the school to the public, suggesting that the school is spiraling down. It may have been possible for that blow to have been softened if the trustee was brought into the picture, and there was some lead time,” he said.

Steve Magee also thinks that it is a trustee's job to convince the other trustees that this kind of cut should not be made, and to use board resources to help the school to try to attract students.

“Cutting that teacher and cutting down to two classes sends the wrong message to the public about Clarendon Central and we need to work now to get the message out that it is really a jewel of a school, a great facility with a supportive community. It needs to be celebrated by the board.”

His commitment is to protect rural schools over the next four years.

“The Limestone Board will be spending $1 billion in public money over the next four years [the annual budget is about $250 million] and the board needs to oversee that spending carefully,” he said.

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