Vaughan trustee candidate Marisa Giulietti withdraws, name remains on ballot

Giulietti is now endorsing parent activist Charline Grant in the April 25 byelection

Yorkregion.com
April 10, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Marisa Giulietti, one of the 13 candidates running for the April 25 school trustee byelection for Vaughan’s Ward 1 and 2, has announced her withdrawal from the race.

Giulietti, who pulled out April 5, is now throwing her support behind parent activist Charline Grant, known for her vociferous stances on York Region School Board (YRDSB).

Giulietti, who “stepped in with my whole heart for the kids” and “acted very quickly,” initially didn’t know Grant was running when she contacted YRDSB in January.

Nominations opened for the byelection in late February, but Giulietti had until 2 p.m. March 11 to officially withdraw.

As she did not withdraw by that time, her name will appear on the ballot, a City of Vaughan spokesperson confirmed.

Giulietti was among five candidates who didn’t attend the YRDSB debate on April 1 at Emily Carr Secondary School.

“There is a reason why I ghosted it,” she said, in reference to her backing Grant, adding that those who didn’t “show up” should “automatically” disqualify as it’s a bad omen of their availability to the parents and students if elected.

In return, Grant said in a statement, “I’m honoured to have Marisa’s support as I run to serve our students and families.”

Grant, who was the runnerup in last year’s municipal general election, has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario March 20 over what she calls the YRDSB’s “discriminatory decision” not to appoint her as a trustee.

Grant believes in previous situations where there was a school trustee vacuum, there were people appointed since the 1990s and not elected.

At the debate, Grant said she will lobby Ontario not to increase class sizes and promised to be available to parents.