The responsibilities of the student trustees can be found in the Student Trustee Handbook and Policy 3006 – Student Trustees and Student Representation Within the Board. Some highlights of these responsibilities include:

• Commit five to 10 hours per week of work to this role.
• Attend two to four evening meetings per month, which may end as late as 11 p.m.
• Actively engage with students and gather feedback to represent them effectively at board meetings.
• Plan and execute two to three in-person student roundtables centred on issues of importance to students.
• Manage the WRDSB Student Instagram and the student-trustee@wrdsb.ca email and engage in two-way communication.
• Work as a team with Trustees and WRDSB employees and utilize board-approved channels, including email and Google Calendar.

• A Student Trustee must be enrolled full-time (taking at least 3.0 credits per semester)
• Must be a Grade 11 or 12 student in a WRDSB secondary school when starting the role. 
  • Please note: Grade 10, 11 and 12 students can apply, but Grade 10 students must be entering Grade 11 the year they take on the role.
• Have secured parent/guardian permission if they are under 18 years of age
• A student would also be eligible as an exceptional pupil in a special education program for whom the Board has reduced the length of the instructional program on each school day, under subsection 3 (3) of Regulation 298 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990 (Operation of Schools – General) made under the Act, so long as the pupil would be a full-time pupil if the program had not been reduced. O. Reg. 42/11, s. 1.

The election process contains two steps:

• Candidate Nomination
• Campaign and Election

Candidate Nomination

1. Interested students will submit an application as outlined under the Application Components.
2. A candidate Review Panel will review applications for completeness and create a final list of candidates.
   • The panel will consist of the Trustee Mentor(s), Director of Education or their designate to ensure all candidates have fully met the information requirements.
3. The applicants with complete submissions will be notified on or before January 30, 2026, and will proceed to the campaign and election process.

Campaign and Election

1. The campaign period will include the promotion of Student Trustee candidates at schools in their relevant ridings.
2. The elections at each school will take place in February.
   • Voting will be conducted by ranked ballot, with each elector (student) indicating their top three choices in preferential order.
   • Schools will engage in their own process of determining scrutineers for the Student Trustee election (candidates running for Student Trustee may not participate as a scrutineer).
     • Scrutineers will engage in counting the first, second and third choices of all ballots and will submit results to the Candidate Review Panel.
   • The candidate from north of the boundary line and the candidate from south of the boundary line who earn the most votes are elected as the Student Trustees.
     • If there is a tie in the number of votes in either area, the second-place votes for the tied candidates will be counted, and the candidate with the highest number of second-place votes will be elected.
     • If there remains a tie in the number of votes after the second-place votes are counted, the third-place votes for the tied candidates will be counted, and the candidate with the highest number of third-place votes will be elected.
     • If after (a) and/or (b) a tie continues to occur, the scrutineers will draw lots from the tied candidates to select the Student Trustee.
3. The results of the Student Trustee Elections will be reported at the March Board Meeting.

Secondary schools have been divided into two geographical ridings: North and South. Each will elect one Student Trustee candidate from their riding. 

The North Riding 

• Bluevale Collegiate Institute
• Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute
• Elmira District Secondary School
• Forest Heights Collegiate Institute
• Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School
• Laurel Heights Secondary School
• Waterloo Collegiate Institute
• Waterloo Oxford District Secondary School

The South Riding

• Eastwood Collegiate Institute
• Galt Collegiate Institute
• Glenview Park Secondary School
• Grand River Collegiate Institute
• Huron Heights Secondary School
• Jacob Hespeler Secondary School
• Preston High School
• Southwood Secondary School

The components outlined below are required to be completed by each student applying to be a Student Trustee candidate. Applications are due by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 16, 2026.

• All applicants must watch the MANDATORY pre-election seminar that was shared to your Student Gmail account on December 15, 2025.
• Completed Forms:
  • Student Trustee Election Student Participation Consent Form, if the candidate is under the age of 18
  • Acknowledgment of Student Trustee Election consent form signed by a Principal or Vice-Principal.
  • IS-19L Student Media Release Consent Form
• Candidate Biography (250-word limit) 
  • Your biography should include your name, school and grade, and any experience relevant to the role of Student Trustee.
• Candidate Video and Script (3-minute limit)
  • Submit a video explaining why you are running to become a Student Trustee and what you want to work toward, should you be elected.
  • Your video must be completed in a single take, with no additional editing (i.e. text or animation)
  • You must also include a script of what is said in the video, to assist with the creation of subtitles for your video (either as a Google Doc or Word Document)

If you need assistance with your application, please contact student-trustees@wrdsb.ca

Submit a Student Trustee Candidate Application