[discuss] Getting involved in Municipal and School Board elections

Sat Sep 23 12:12:01 EDT 2006

   With all the past talk of School Board issues, I hope people will be 
getting involved in elections.

   I wrote two letters this morning, one as a followup to the 
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Superintendent of Instruction, 
which I then forwarded to a candidate for trustee in my zone.

   For people in Ottawa, the candidates are at: 
http://ottawa.ca/elections/nominated_en.html

   This is for Mayor, Councilors and School Board trustees.

   I expect a similar list exists for all the other municipalities that 
are having November elections.  Please write letters to the candidates, 
and ask permission to publish their replies so that other people in the 
community can benefit from the discussions.

   Even if the Candidate doesn't win, being introduced to the topic will 
be helpful.  Even if the winning person didn't know much about FLOSS, 
your letter will make it easier to followup with them after the election.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: School Board elections..
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:00:44 -0400
From: Russell McOrmond
To: Rob Campbell

Dear Rob Campbell,

   I live in Ottawa-Carleton District School Board - Zone 9, and notice
that you have put your name forward for trustee.

   My wife is a highschool science teacher in the region, and I am a
Free/Libre and Open Source Software consultant.  How school boards spend
and/or invest money in software is important to me, so I will be very
interested to know your thoughts in this area.

   Are you familiar with Free/Libre and Open Source Software, or the
economic concepts of Peer Production and/or Peer Distribution that is
behind it? (Links to definitions/etc at http://flora.ca/floss ) Are you
familiar with how the educational sector worldwide are switching to
these techniques for the creation and sharing of educational material,
over the incumbent publisher-dominated models?

   I am forwarding you a letter I sent to the past trustee and Laura
McAlister, Superintendent of Instruction, a few moments ago.  This is a
followup to a conversation I had earlier in the year.  You can read her
past reply to one of my letters at http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2531

Thank you!

   When you reply, can you also let me know if I have permission to
publish your response, or if your response should be kept confidential.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: OCDSB software
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 11:47:18 -0400
From: Russell McOrmond
To: Laura McAlister
CC: Lynn Graham

Dear Laura McAlister, Superintendent of Instruction, OCDSB
(Copy to my current trustee, Lynn Graham)

   I was the person who wrote to you in the past about software being
used in the board, in the context of a question about whether the board
or the province were mandating brands.

   I have a few followup questions and comments.

   At that time the door seemed to be open to more conversations on the
question of software, and how I could help connect members of the
Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) community with the board.  I
am interested to know your thoughts on how to proceed with this.

   There are two pieces of software that you are currently using that I
would like to comment on.   One is the Novell server and the other is
BlackBoard.

   Novell as a company has been ideal to provide that bridge between the
FLOSS and non-FLOSS marketplaces.  They will allow you to make use of
FLOSS or FLOSS derived software in a manner that is fully supported.

   I note that you not only use their services for single sign-on and
for file and print services within schools, but have also enabled remote
access via https://myfiles.ocdsb.ca/ (Linked from teacher resources on
the main website).   My wife has been using this quite a bit this year,
and has made her job considerably easier.   She is able to download
documents she started at work,  edit at home (On her Linux desktop,
using the OpenOffice.org suite), and continue later at work.  In the
past she was emailing file attachments to herself, which was quite a bit
harder.

   While school boards already have support for an OpenOffice.org office
suite derivative from Sun Microsystems with StarOffice, it may be useful
for you to know that Novell also offers a fully supported version of
OpenOffice.org.  I am not only speaking of the Linux version which is
obviously included in their SuSE product line, but a fully supported
version for Microsoft Windows as well.  You should ask the sales
representative about your options here.

   I also notice that you are using the BlackBoard software at
http://elearning.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/ .  If you are not aware, there are
many legal problems being caused by the company behind this software.  I
have heard roomers that OCDSB is migrating away from this software.
This will be helpful in that the board will no longer be helping to fund
this company's legal attacks against the educational sector, but many of
the legal problems caused by BlackBoard will remain.

   I have a few links to resources at:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2634

   You may want to read an article at
http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?id=19213 which talks
about some of the legal liability issues.  While written for a
University environment, many of the problems will exist with elementary
and secondary school boards as well.

   Thank you.  If you have any questions, or wish to talk more, please
contact me.

Russell McOrmond
305 Southcrest Private,
Ottawa, ON
K1V 2B7
Phone: (613) 733-5836
http://www.flora.ca/#contact

Volunteer policy coordinator for CLUE: Canada's Association for
Free/Libre and Open Source Software http://cluecan.ca

Co-coordinator for Getting Open Source Logic INto Government
http://goslingcommunity.org

Host for Digital Copyright Canada forum http://digital-copyright.ca

Self-employed FLOSS consultant

-- 
  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
  Please help us tell the Canadian Parliament to protect our property
  rights as owners of Information Technology. Sign the petition!
  http://www.digital-copyright.ca/petition/ict/

  "The government, lobbied by legacy copyright holders and hardware
   manufacturers, can pry my camcorder, computer, home theatre, or
   portable media player from my cold dead hands!"