by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 17/97) - The city's school boards won't be holding elections next month after all.

Every candidate filing election papers to serve on Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) and Yellowknife Public Denominational District Education Authority (Yk2) boards was acclaimed.

For each board there were seven spots up for grabs. And seven people put there names in the hat for each board by Monday's deadline.

"I'd be more disappointed if we didn't have enough running. We have a slate and there will be some continuity with former board members returning," said Noel O'Sullivan, incumbent trustee and current Yk2 board chair.

Yk1 chair Gary Black didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that no seats would be contested, although no seats are vacant.

Maybe constituents are happy, he said. "(I am) disappointed there was not more expression of interest."

The acclamations don't mean the new boards will be carbon copies of the last ones though. Four new names and three incumbents make up each board.

At Yk1, Black, vice-chair Terry Brookes and trustee Wendy Bisaro let their names stand.

New for Yk1 are Mark Loan, Don MacDonald, Linda McDonald and Bob Patterson.

Garth Wallbridge, Barbara Bilodeau and Leigh Wells did not let their names stand.

Yk1 only had six trustees as Joan Lovlin stepped down three months prior to the election. The board opted not to fill the spot until the election.

At Yk2, O'Sullivan and trustees Jane Haley and Henry Murzyn let their names stand.

Joining them are Father Basil Boudreau, Greg Debogorski, Larry Purcka and Christine Tanner.

Peter Growen, Fred Nowicki, Edwin Castillo and Dennis Crane decided to leave the board.

Growen and Nowicki moved while Nowicki did not run for personal reasons. Health reasons were cited for Crane.

O'Sullivan, a 15-year board veteran, said a similar acclamation situation occurred about 10 years ago but there were only two or three positions open.

Six years ago, Yk2 changed its election format to elect a full board every three years. Previously, there were elections yearly with a few terms ending each year.

At the last election three years ago, Yk2 extended the nomination closing date and went from six to nine candidates for seven spots.

Both boards first meet in mid November.