A computer glitch required a re-vote, but Hamilton public school students have for the first time elected the trustees who will bring their voice to the school board table.
Incumbent Cameron Prosic of Sir John A. Macdonald and newcomer Ahona Mehdi of Westmount prevailed over eight other high school candidates following a second election that drew more than 600 votes from students in grades 7 to 12.
Their term starts on Aug. 1 and they will be able to participate in public board discussions and cast non-binding votes.
Superintendent Paul Denomme said an initial electronic election had to be redone because the system allowed students to vote for just one candidate, rather than two as required, skewing results.
The system also didn’t provide a school-by-school breakdown of results as promised to students, he told trustees in a report on the election at their May 13 board meeting.
Both problems were fixed for the subsequent election but neither Denomme nor a staff report provided any details on the voting results.
The province created the student trustee position in 2006 and candidates have been vetted by senior staff and incumbent student trustees before being selected by student council representatives on the Student Senate. The post comes with a $2,500 honorarium.
Board chair Alex Johnstone said trustees have been discussing opening voting on to the broader student body since she began her first term nine years ago.
“To see this come to fruition at the beginning of this term is just wonderful,” she said.
Incumbent student trustee Tara Rezvan, who is completing Grade 12 at Ancaster High and didn’t stand for re-election, credited student leaders and teachers for helping promote the vote, also publicized on board and school websites.
“It took a lot of promotion to get that amazing number of 600, which I think is a big number for the first year of doing something like this,” she said.
A computer glitch required a re-vote, but Hamilton public school students have for the first time elected the trustees who will bring their voice to the school board table.
Incumbent Cameron Prosic of Sir John A. Macdonald and newcomer Ahona Mehdi of Westmount prevailed over eight other high school candidates following a second election that drew more than 600 votes from students in grades 7 to 12.
Their term starts on Aug. 1 and they will be able to participate in public board discussions and cast non-binding votes.
Superintendent Paul Denomme said an initial electronic election had to be redone because the system allowed students to vote for just one candidate, rather than two as required, skewing results.
The system also didn’t provide a school-by-school breakdown of results as promised to students, he told trustees in a report on the election at their May 13 board meeting.
Both problems were fixed for the subsequent election but neither Denomme nor a staff report provided any details on the voting results.
The province created the student trustee position in 2006 and candidates have been vetted by senior staff and incumbent student trustees before being selected by student council representatives on the Student Senate. The post comes with a $2,500 honorarium.
Board chair Alex Johnstone said trustees have been discussing opening voting on to the broader student body since she began her first term nine years ago.
“To see this come to fruition at the beginning of this term is just wonderful,” she said.
Incumbent student trustee Tara Rezvan, who is completing Grade 12 at Ancaster High and didn’t stand for re-election, credited student leaders and teachers for helping promote the vote, also publicized on board and school websites.
“It took a lot of promotion to get that amazing number of 600, which I think is a big number for the first year of doing something like this,” she said.
A computer glitch required a re-vote, but Hamilton public school students have for the first time elected the trustees who will bring their voice to the school board table.
Incumbent Cameron Prosic of Sir John A. Macdonald and newcomer Ahona Mehdi of Westmount prevailed over eight other high school candidates following a second election that drew more than 600 votes from students in grades 7 to 12.
Their term starts on Aug. 1 and they will be able to participate in public board discussions and cast non-binding votes.
Superintendent Paul Denomme said an initial electronic election had to be redone because the system allowed students to vote for just one candidate, rather than two as required, skewing results.
The system also didn’t provide a school-by-school breakdown of results as promised to students, he told trustees in a report on the election at their May 13 board meeting.
Both problems were fixed for the subsequent election but neither Denomme nor a staff report provided any details on the voting results.
The province created the student trustee position in 2006 and candidates have been vetted by senior staff and incumbent student trustees before being selected by student council representatives on the Student Senate. The post comes with a $2,500 honorarium.
Board chair Alex Johnstone said trustees have been discussing opening voting on to the broader student body since she began her first term nine years ago.
“To see this come to fruition at the beginning of this term is just wonderful,” she said.
Incumbent student trustee Tara Rezvan, who is completing Grade 12 at Ancaster High and didn’t stand for re-election, credited student leaders and teachers for helping promote the vote, also publicized on board and school websites.
“It took a lot of promotion to get that amazing number of 600, which I think is a big number for the first year of doing something like this,” she said.