Campaigning guidelines for trustee candidates

Limestone Learning Foundation
Candidate guidelines during municipal elections
Posted on 05/08/2018

Municipal elections in Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington will be held on Monday, October 22, 2018. 

Schools promote positive, active citizenship on the part of our students as elections provide a valuable opportunity to engage students in the democratic process.  

The following guidelines have been developed to support schools and candidates during the months leading up to the municipal elections. These guidelines pertain to school visits by incumbents and candidates for trustee and municipal council.

School visits by candidates:

In intermediate and secondary classes, the elections may be an ideal time to help students learn more about municipal and/or provincial government. The LDSB encourages all-candidate meetings and other learning activities that are part of the classroom program. 

For example, the Student Votes program offers curriculum resources, and all the materials needed to allow students to learn about the election by participating in Student Votes. 

Requests by individual candidates to visit a school are not considered appropriate during an election campaign. This restriction includes informal visits to classrooms and meetings with the school council, staff during work hours or with school administrators. 

Distribution of materials by candidates:

Information about Requests for Distribution and Administrative Procedure 149 speaks directly to what is and what is not appropriate for distribution. Political information is not to be distributed through schools. For this reason, no campaign material may be distributed to staff, students or parents via schools. It also precludes material distributed indirectly on behalf of a candidate; for example, the school council cannot choose to distribute information about a particular candidate for either election. This restriction includes current trustees who are candidates in the municipal election. 

School events :

Open houses and other school-related events are intended for parents and families of students at the school. They are not open to the general public, and certainly not for candidates to use as a way to campaign. If the candidate is a parent at the school, they can attend events in that capacity. However, they are not permitted to campaign during the visit or distribute materials. 

Role of school councils:

School councils represent the broader parent community for each school. Each council also includes school staff as members.  Accordingly, it is not appropriate for the School Council as a group to endorse a specific trustee candidate or endorse a campaign on behalf of a specific candidate in the provincial election. The council could, however host an all-candidates meeting after school hours to assist parents in learning more about all the candidates.

Important Dates:

  • Start of Nominations/Campaign Begins: May 1, 2018 
  • Nomination Day/Close of Nominations: July 27, 2018 
  • Election Day: October 22, 2018.
  • Term Start Date: December 1, 2018.


For more information, please contact:
Jane Douglas, Communications officer
613-544-6925 x 311 | 613-328-0916 mobile

The Limestone District School Board is situated on traditional territories of the Anishinaabe & Haudenosaunee.