School Board Trustees

The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board (HPEDSB) has 10 trustees, nine of whom are elected to the position. The tenth trustee is appointed by the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. The trustees are responsible for hiring the director of education for the HPEDSB. The trustees govern the school board and ensure that all relevant legislation pertinent to the schools under their care is followed. As elected representatives, they are a link between their constituents and the school system, and they are expected to advocate for parents or guardians of students within the school system. They are also required to comply with the school board bylaws and to abide by its code of conduct.

There are two school board trustee positions for Prince Edward County. Incumbent Trustee Jennifer Cobb has been acclaimed for the North PEC position, and incumbent Dwayne Inch is being challenged by Alison Kelly and Matti Kopamees for the South PEC position.

Jennifer Cobb

HPEDSB WARDS 3, 4, 6 AND 7

Jennifer Cobb lives in Wellington and is the single-mother of a teenage daughter. As is typical in the County, she juggles several part-time jobs. She decided to run for the school trustee position in 2010 after her daughter requested that she no longer help out in the classroom, and Cobb wanted a way to stay involved in the education system. She campaigned and won her position that year, and has now been acclaimed for a second time.

She brings a wealth of governance experience to the trustee position. She has served as a member of the board of directors for several large not-for-profit organizations, she was a board member for Alternatives for Women and was a member of the Wellington Recreation Committee, among other community groups.

One of her key personal goals upon becoming a trustee was to communicate effectively with people who held different or sometimes opposing viewpoints. “I have achieved that many times, and I feel really comfortable being able to state my opinions in a clear, transparent and professional manner,” she said.

During her past terms as a trustee she has taken the position of chair for a number of committees, and was part of the Accommodation Review Committee process during the discussion of closure of several Prince Edward County schools. For the coming term, Cobb is looking to extend her ability to advocate and influence policy at the provincial level by becoming a member of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association. “They are able to do things that we as individual boards can’t do,” she said. “That’s where the political action takes place, and I feel that I understand the role of trustee, of the school board, of the director of education, and how those relationships work.”

Dwayne Inch

HPEDSB WARDS 1, 2, 5, 8 AND 9

Dwayne Inch is a long-time County resident who has lived in Milford for 24 years. He is married with three children, all of whom have attended school at South Marysburgh, Athol and PECI. His

youngest child is currently in Grade 10 at PECI.

Inch has previously worked for the Prince Edward County Planning and Public Works Department, and had his own sign business for 10 years. He now works at Procter & Gamble in Belleville. He has been an active member of the First Baptist Church in Picton, now known as The Hope Centre, and has served on various boards through the years.

Inch was first elected as a trustee of the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board in 2006 and has served as chair of the board for five of the 12 years. “As far as accomplishments as an individual Trustee, I cannot and will not take singular credit for the board’s many accomplishments. We make decisions as a board and work as a team,” he wrote in an email.

Alison Kelly

HPEDSB WARDS 1, 2, 5, 8 AND 9

Alison Kelly lives in Cherry Valley with her husband and two children, ages four and six. Both children attend Athol-South Marysburgh School. Kelly is a career project manager with government experience and currently works at a local flower farm and for a not-for-profit organization in the County.

She decided to run for the trustee position after a friend advised her to pick the one thing she was most passionate about and try to make a difference. Kelly was upset about the provincial government’s move to suspend the health and physical education curriculum and well as the cuts to the Indigenous studies program. “It kind of all fell together as to that’s where I needed to be working towards, representing my kids and their friends.”

This is Kelly’s first foray into the public sphere, and she has been encouraged by the support she’s received. “I’ve met so many incredible people who believe in me, and I want to make a difference,” she said. “This is something I can do. I can hold people accountable. I can make sure that when I look at my kids, I’m doing everything I can so they get the best they are entitled to. I can bring some thought and some outside experience and ask those hard questions that I don’t think are necessarily being addressed around the table.”

Matti Kopamees

HPEDSB WARDS 1, 2, 5, 8 AND 9

Matti Kopamees lives in Picton and is a retired contractor whose last project was the restoration of the Al Purdy A-frame in Ameliasburgh. He has a daughter in Grade 9 at PECI, and his wife is a part-time music teacher. He was involved in the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) process during the discussion to close County schools, and felt that the current trustees did not adequately represent the community’s interest. He wrote many letters to the editor as well as several reports to the school board.

Kopamees is a self-confessed “political junkie”, and during his previous career in community television in Toronto he came across such people as Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney and Jack Layton. He’s had no political or civic experience himself, but his experience with the ARC process prompted him to consider running as a trustee. “I just saw the entire school board system as being so closed and unresponsive to the community that they are supposed to be serving and I thought I could maybe change things a little wee bit and make it a better place for the kids and the parents and the teachers, who seem to be the forgotten ones by the administration of the board,” he said. “The teachers are the biggest asset we’ve got going right now, along with the students, and they don’t seem to be as important as the bricks and mortar in the buildings.”