Jennifer Jennekens

The City of Ottawa’s list of certified candidates shows Jennifer Jennekens’s nomination for trustee of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board in Zone 7 dated May 4, 2026. The City’s open data file shows no withdrawal. The other candidate in the zone is Sasha Clayton. The City list gives her a campaign website. CBC News reported on August 24, 2026 that she is one of two current trustees seeking re-election, with Julia Fortey in Zone 2, and that she has served two terms.

CBC News reported in October 2018 that she was elected for the first time on October 22, 2018, chosen by voters in the Gloucester-South Nepean and Osgoode wards to represent Zone 7. The City’s official results for the October 24, 2022 election give her 7,794 of the 11,329 votes cast in the Zone 7 race, which is 68.8 percent, against one other candidate, Maria Inam Khan, who had 3,535. In 2018 she told CBC News that she favoured the 2015 health curriculum, which covers issues such as consent, and that she would advocate for provincial funding for a new high school in Riverside South.

Board documents list her committee work. The document of November 14, 2023 lists her as an alternate on the Parent Involvement Committee and on the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority, and as a member of the Community Member Recognition committee. The document of November 12, 2024 lists her as Chair of the Committee of the Whole Budget, as a member of the Audit Committee for a one-year term to 2025 and of the Community Member Recognition committee, and as an alternate on the transportation authority and Agenda Planning.

CBC News reported that on June 11, 2025, after two nights of discussion as a committee of the whole, seven trustees voted in favour of the 2025-2026 budget as staff had presented it, and it names her among them. The budget included $18.1 million in cuts. Two trustees opposed it, one abstained, and the report says the board approved the budget in a later vote on June 17, 2025. The CBC update gives only the totals for that later vote, so voche.me does not attribute it to her.

CBC News reported on August 24, 2026 that she said she is seeking re-election because she believes in the importance of a local voice on the board, and that she worries about losing local representation as the province changes the English school system. CBC says she feels passionate about the role of school trustee, and quotes her: “I still think I can make a difference. Even though our powers may be diminished, we can still raise awareness.” CBC says she is also concerned about the Supporting Children and Students Act, which lets the Minister of Education investigate whether boards, members and directors carry out their duties in an appropriate manner. Her campaign website says she has experience in politics, in the House of Commons and in the Senate of Canada, and her X profile reads “Senate of Canada | OCDSB Public School Trustee”. These are her own statements, and voche.me has not checked them.

The board’s page says that since June 27, 2025 the board has been under supervision by the Minister of Education, and that decisions normally made by trustees are made by the appointed Supervisor, Robert Plamondon. The sources read hold no complaint or allegation about her.