{"id":102787,"date":"2026-03-13T09:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102787"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:20:26","slug":"amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/","title":{"rendered":"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Kelsey Bent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Listowel Banner SEAFORTH &#8211; Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) joined the effort to protect public school trustees from elimination by the province. Similar to its counterparts across the province, AMDSB sent a letter last week to the Minister of Education Paul Calandra and Premier Doug Ford. At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario\u2019s (AMO) annual meeting in Ottawa, last August, Calandra said he was considering eliminating trustees from school boards across the province. At the following Avon Maitland District School Board meeting, board of trustees chairman Trustee Michael Bannerman (Stratford) suggested local trustees focus on themselves. \u201cI would challenge this year\u2019s trustees \u2026 that we focus on the things we have control over,\u201d He said. \u201cLet\u2019s be great trustees. Let\u2019s remind our&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F13%2Famdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kelsey Bent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Listowel Banner SEAFORTH &#8211; Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) joined the effort to protect public school trustees from elimination by the province. Similar to its counterparts across the province, AMDSB sent a letter last week to the Minister of Education Paul Calandra and Premier Doug Ford. At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario\u2019s (AMO) annual meeting in Ottawa, last August, Calandra said he was considering eliminating trustees from school boards across the province. At the following Avon Maitland District School Board meeting, board of trustees chairman Trustee Michael Bannerman (Stratford) suggested local trustees focus on themselves. \u201cI would challenge this year\u2019s trustees \u2026 that we focus on the things we have control over,\u201d He said. \u201cLet\u2019s be great trustees. Let\u2019s remind our... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F13%2Famdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kelsey Bent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Listowel Banner SEAFORTH &#8211; Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) joined the effort to protect public school trustees from elimination by the province. Similar to its counterparts across the province, AMDSB sent a letter last week to the Minister of Education Paul Calandra and Premier Doug Ford. At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario\u2019s (AMO) annual meeting in Ottawa, last August, Calandra said he was considering eliminating trustees from school boards across the province. At the following Avon Maitland District School Board meeting, board of trustees chairman Trustee Michael Bannerman (Stratford) suggested local trustees focus on themselves. \u201cI would challenge this year\u2019s trustees \u2026 that we focus on the things we have control over,\u201d He said. \u201cLet\u2019s be great trustees. Let\u2019s remind our\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-13T13:20:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-13T13:20:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1594,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/\",\"name\":\"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees - The Turtle Island News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-13T13:20:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/13\\\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Turtle Island News\",\"description\":\"Your Source for Local News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Turtle Island News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/turtle150.jpg\",\"width\":140,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Turtle Island News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/TurtleIslandNews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/newsattheturtle\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\",\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynda Powless\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/lynda\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees - The Turtle Island News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees - The Turtle Island News","og_description":"By Kelsey Bent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Listowel Banner SEAFORTH &#8211; Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) joined the effort to protect public school trustees from elimination by the province. Similar to its counterparts across the province, AMDSB sent a letter last week to the Minister of Education Paul Calandra and Premier Doug Ford. At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario\u2019s (AMO) annual meeting in Ottawa, last August, Calandra said he was considering eliminating trustees from school boards across the province. At the following Avon Maitland District School Board meeting, board of trustees chairman Trustee Michael Bannerman (Stratford) suggested local trustees focus on themselves. \u201cI would challenge this year\u2019s trustees \u2026 that we focus on the things we have control over,\u201d He said. \u201cLet\u2019s be great trustees. Let\u2019s remind our","og_url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/","og_site_name":"The Turtle Island News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","article_published_time":"2026-03-13T13:20:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynda Powless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_site":"@newsattheturtle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynda Powless","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/"},"author":{"name":"Lynda Powless","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458"},"headline":"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees","datePublished":"2026-03-13T13:20:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/"},"wordCount":1594,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["National News","ticker"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/","name":"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees - The Turtle Island News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-03-13T13:20:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/amdsb-responds-to-ministers-musings-about-the-removal-of-elected-trustees\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AMDSB responds to minister\u2019s musings about the removal of elected trustees"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","name":"The Turtle Island News","description":"Your Source for Local News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#organization","name":"Turtle Island News","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/turtle150.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"caption":"Turtle Island News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/newsattheturtle","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOqB-hG3L6hRLsmqY0e5k0g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458","name":"Lynda Powless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9dcf622653a010411b0a01d44ed2a1a41158cc5195ea70acd7914787f81e63a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynda Powless"},"url":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/author\/lynda\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102788,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102787\/revisions\/102788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}