There are some new faces on the Grand Erie District School Board, with four novice trustees winning seats in Monday’s municipal election.
The unofficial election results indicate the new trustees are: John Bradford, representing Brantford; Elizabeth Whiton and Elaine Thomas representing Norfolk County; and Lisa Passmore representing Haldimand County.
Re-elected to the 11-member board are: Brantford representatives Susan Gibson, who received 8,777 votes; Carol Ann Sloat with 8,480 votes; and Greg Anderson with 7,669 votes.
Also running for Brantford trustee were Harvey Bischof who got 5,685 votes and Trevor Doctor, 3,679 votes.
Re-elected to represent Brant County and Norfolk County’s Wards 3 and 7 is Rita Collver with 6,554 votes, and Thomas Waldschmidt with 3,990 votes. Also running were Luanne Ashe who received 3,810 votes, and Maria Braun Shelswell with 2,509 votes.
Whiton, with 3,789 votes, and Thomas with 3,525 votes — both of them are retired teachers and principals — defeated incumbent Norfolk County trustees Eva Dixon, who received 3,201 votes, and Don Werden, who got 2,354 votes.
Brian Doyle was re-elected to represent Haldimand County on the school board with 6,228 votes. Passmore received 6,267 votes to become the second Haldimand trustee. They defeated candidate Bernie Corbett who got 5,170 votes.
Claudine VanEvery has been the trustee representing the interest of Grand Erie’s Six Nations students, under the Education Service Agreement.
Four of six members of the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board were acclaimed to their trustee positions. They are: Rick Petrella and Bill Chopp representing Brantford; Dan Dignard representing the County of Brant; and Mark Watson representing Haldimand County.
In Norfolk, Carol Luciani was re-elected to the Catholic board with 2,654 votes. Dennis Blake, a former trustee, was elected with 1,278 votes.
Other Norfolk trustee candidates were: Emily Van Hooren who received 976 votes; Christine Harrop with 711; and Thecia Ross with 183.