Trustee Nominees Will Not Require Criminal Record Check
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Proposed Livingstone Range School Division bylaw 2024-2, which would require criminal record checks for Trustee nominations, did not pass second reading at the Board of Trustees meeting today. As such, Trustee candidates for the October 2025 school board election will not be required to submit a criminal record check with their nomination package.
The bylaw passed first reading at the November 26, 2024 Board meeting. Stakeholders were invited to submit feedback on the matter to the Division by December 13. After consideration of the bylaw and relevant information today, the Trustees voted against it.
"The Board felt this bylaw may create more problems than it solves," says Lori Hodges, Board Chair. "Since a criminal record check does not indicate what the conviction is, only that there is something on a person's file, it may prove a barrier to potential candidates."
Already under the Local Authorities Elections Act, a person is not eligible to be nominated as a candidate if within the previous 10 years they have been convicted of an offence under provincial or federal elections acts. Currently LRSD Trustees do not require a criminal record check, as they do not work directly with minors and are not Division employees but rather elected officials.
"We encourage those who want to make a difference in public education to consider running for School Board Trustee in their ward next year," says Hodges.
Nominations for the municipal election on October 20, 2025 open in January and are accepted until noon on September 22, 2025. Visit our website in early January for more information. www.lrsd.ca/elections.
