09/14/2026
Dear CUPE 5555 Members,
With municipal elections approaching, we want to remind everyone of the importance of getting informed and exercising your right to vote.
While there will be a great deal of attention placed on the election of mayors and municipal councillors, as education workers, we also need to pay very close attention to who we elect as our school board trustees.
CUPE Local 5555 has always taken the position that we will not tell our members who to vote for. We believe that decision belongs to you. Our responsibility is to encourage our members to become informed, ask questions, look at the records of those seeking office, and most importantly, get out and vote.
As education workers, we know that public education continues to face significant challenges. We can all agree that the Ford government has failed to adequately fund Ontario's school boards, and we will continue to speak out about the impact that underfunding has on students and education workers.
However, we also need to look closer to home.
Over the past several years, CUPE Local 5555 has submitted numerous Freedom of Information requests seeking information about spending and financial decisions at KPRDSB. Based on the information we have received and reviewed, we have serious concerns about the Board's fiscal management and the decisions that have been made with public education dollars.
Those decisions have consequences.
CUPE jobs have been lost. These are not simply numbers on a spreadsheet. They are education workers who support students, maintain our schools, keep programs running and provide essential services throughout KPR and our communities.
What has been even more concerning to us has been the response, or lack of response, from our elected trustees.
When CUPE Local 5555 reached out to trustees to raise our concerns about the loss of CUPE positions and the impact those losses were having on our members and students, only one trustee even acknowledged our email: Trustee Terry Brown.
Regardless of whether a trustee agrees with our position, we believe our members deserve elected representatives who are willing to listen, ask questions and engage with the people working in our schools every day.
Trustees have an important responsibility. They should be asking difficult questions about where education dollars are being spent. They should be holding the system accountable. They should understand what is happening in the schools and communities they represent. Most importantly, they should be willing to listen when students, families and education workers raise concerns.
We need trustees who are there for the right reasons, people who are engaged, accessible and prepared to question decisions when necessary.
As you consider your vote in the upcoming election, we simply ask that you do your homework. Look at who is running in your area. Ask questions. Look at their record if they are an incumbent. Find out what they believe the role of a trustee should be and whether they are prepared to advocate for the students, families and education workers they represent.
And remember this:
When CUPE Local 5555 reached out about CUPE jobs being lost, jobs that directly support our students, schools and communities, only one trustee acknowledged our concerns.
We aren't going to tell you who deserves your vote.
We are asking you to make sure the person who receives it deserves it.
Please get informed, ask questions and, most importantly, get out and vote.
