Elliot Lake's Marie Murphy-Foran is seeking re-election to a second term as the Elliot Lake Algoma District School Board (ADSB) trustee in the upcoming municipal vote.
She was first elected in 2018 and is being challenged this year by newcomer Andrew Ault.
Murphy-Foran says her background and experience in community leadership and engagement lends itself to an understanding of key skills for advocacy and governance.
"The past four years have provided me with a better understanding of the framework in education at the local, district and provincial levels," Murphy-Foran said.
"As the trustee representative for the board, I served on the Student Alternative Learning Committee for three years and this past year became the representative on the Parent Involvement Committee," she added.
She said she found the challenges faced by the board over the past two years were formidable, but through the efforts of students, families, staff, and trustees the term has gone well and everyone demonstrated their resiliency as a public school.board
As a member of the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA), Murphy-Foran has attended governance, public education, labour relations, and human rights symposiums along with provincial and regional meetings.
"In order to represent the interests of northern Ontario boards at the provincial level; I served as the alternate northern representative on the Policy Committee and currently as the northern representative on the Program Committee for Ontario School Board Association. (OPSBA)," Murphy-Foran said.
She also said her passion for education is the result of seeing the complexities and challenges of the education system as a mother, spouse, coach, a professor, and also as a trustee. Two of her children graduated from Elliot Lake Secondary School (ELSS).
During that period she was an active member of the athletic community having coached basketball for 10 years.
At the present time she teaches the Dual Credit Tourism and Hospitality course as a professor from Sault College
“I firmly believe that our future is dependent on all students gaining the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes and values to succeed in a global market. The Algoma District School Board has a student success framework based on student-centred learning, achievement, engagement and wellness. A philosophy that we keep in the forefront is “Education is not just about delivering diplomas. It’s about delivering better lives, better futures,'” Murphy-Foran said.
As a member of the Elliot Lake community she has participated as the past chair of the city's Economic Development Advisory Committee, the Tourism Committee and has served the Elliot Lake and District Chamber of Commerce as its president.
Her current community participation includes being part of the leadership team for the Ontario Health Team that will serve our community.
She's also an appointed member on the Ontario Health Patient Family Advisory Committee, while she serves on the North East Patient Family Advisory Group.
Murphy-Foran is a patient-family advisor for the Home and Community Care Services which serves the needs of healthcare in the community, and she’s also a participant on the North Shore Resource Advisory Management Committee.