Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Trustee Candidate
Zone 3 · Barrhaven
I have many years experience sitting on oversight boards including having served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa and currently as the Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Nepean Housing Corporation (not-for-profit landlord of over 500 affordable housing units of the former city of Nepean).
My Chartered Professional Accountant designation allowed me the opportunity to hold positions in which I had multi-million-dollar budgets, and was the financial officer supporting billion-dollar programs.
Having worked in program evaluation, I know the importance of not just managing a budget, but getting good value from money spent. I will look at expenditures through that lens.
Trustees are responsible for hiring and evaluating the Director of Education. I have acquired over 25 years of hiring individuals and preparing performance evaluations.
Although the government has recently introduced legislative changes that place central collective bargaining with the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE), trustees retain responsibility for local table matters. I have experience both in collective bargaining negotiations and in establishing collective bargaining agreements.
The trustee role in setting policy has been diminished with most policy authority now vested in the Ministry of Education. School trustees are limited to local policy. So, while, for example, class size may be a concern, it is outside the purview of the trustee. Therefore, while I intend to advocate for parents on every topic of concern that is raised, my primary focus will be on areas over which a School Board Trustee has authority. Those areas include:
Priority #1
School boards have responsibility for certain local collective bargaining related matters. The specific matters under Board authority are currently being reviewed by the Ontario Labour Board. But, with elementary and secondary school teachers’ contracts having expired, and strike votes being organized, there is an urgency for trustees to focus on collective bargaining.
Priority #2
Students feeling safe and well are essential for having the bandwidth for learning and academic excellence. I have heard from parents that they have pulled their children from schools due to bullying. I have heard that since Oct 7, with the rise in antisemitism, Jewish students don’t feel safe. I have heard that sometimes teachers don’t feel safe. I would like to set an environment that supports learning by focusing on school safety.
Priority #3
Trustees have authority to decide on the implementation and framework of local offerings like French Immersion, alternative education, and special education support. With concerns over the increasing number of boys that are dropping out of school and unmet needs of students with special needs, I believe trustees need to continue to focus on program mix and how best to deliver programming that meets the needs of the student population.
Priority #4
I believe in the importance of the role of the trustee in representing parents’ concerns within the education system. To avoid another suspension of the Board, I will work with fellow board members to ensure sound governance such that the Minister of Education has no grounds for suspending trustees.
I will listen to parents and educators. I will attend student council meetings, and I will listen and respond to direct communications.
I will build strong relationships with parents, educators, superintendents, the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Education Officer, fellow trustees, and trustees from other boards so that when concerns expressed by parents are raised, we can work cooperatively to find solutions.