At their meeting Wednesday night, school board trustees acclaimed Oakville Trustee Bruce Jones and Milton Trustee Donna Danielli to the positions of chair and vice-chair for the coming year.

Jones, who represents Wards 5 and 6 in Oakville, has served on the board since 2003. Danielli was elected as a trustee in 2006.

After an unknown number of years of electing the two positions by secret ballot, trustees recently changed their procedure to a public vote, to comply with Ontario’s Education Act.

Legal advice given to the board suggested that the secret ballots, which were counted privately without a vote count announced, contravened the provincial legislation.

However, with only one nomination for each position on Wednesday night, there turned out to be no need for trustees to make a public declaration of support for any candidate.

Burlington trustee Peggy Russell attempted to make a contest for the position of vice-chair by nominating Halton Hills Trustee Gerry Ockenden, who declined the nomination. She then nominated Oakville trustee Philippa Ellis, who also declined to stand for election.

Last year’s election, conducted by secret ballot, saw two candidates vie for each position.

Jones was nominated for chair by Oakville Trustee Don Vrooman, who took the opportunity to read a poem by John Godfrey Saxe recounting the fable of the blind men exploring an elephant.

He suggested that Jones would help trustees recognize that a variety of valid positions could be held on any issue.

After taking the chair’s seat at the head of the board and placing a small elephant in front of him, Jones said, “It serves as a reminder to me to try and see everything from every perspective.”

“There have been three chairs of the board since I’ve been here and the three of them have left pretty big shoes to fill,” he added. “I hope I can meet that challenge by consulting each of you as often as you’ll let me.”

The job of the board chair is to manage meetings by ensuring agendas are followed, and to make rulings, when necessary, on the protocols to be followed by the board in making decisions.

Danielli was nominated for vice-chair by outgoing chair and Halton Hills Trustee Gillian Tuck Kutarna, who suggested her work in dealing with a difficult accommodation process in Milton demonstrated good leadership skills.

Danielli told trustees she intended to keep building on work done by the board over the previous two years.

“Commitment and inclusion are the core values of everything I do,” she added.

The vice-chair assists the board chair and assumes the role when the chair is not present, has a conflict of interest or wishes to speak on a matter at a public board meeting.

Elections for the positions are held annually during the board’s organizational meeting at the start of each December.

Elected trustees earn between approximately $13,000 and $20,000 per year, based on student enrolment and whether they are a regular trustee, the chair or vice-chair.