I'm running for the public school board, the Upper Canada District School Board.
There's a large number of voters in Dundas, and I appreciate this opportunity.
Well, first of all, I have two 14-year-old granddaughters, and I've been keeping score on the schools
through my granddaughters, and I saw a number of things that made me a little
bit unhappy. Instead of complaining about it, and the only way to do anything about it
was get to be a trustee. In 1998, I believe approximately, the Harris
government at that time saw fit to put the principals in as management and the
teachers became part of a union [without principals]. Since that time some schools, not all, some
schools, there seems to be a divide between the principals and the teachers.
There's not enough of a collegial model, and so I'd like to work on the policies
that exist in the board to make more of a collegial model. The second thing is I
watched the decision on Seaway [District High School], and I didn't go in any of the meetings, I was
going to get too upset. The board made the right decision in keeping Seaway open.
But that's not enough. The work has just begun. The idea is to get the proper
programming for small schools. I do know from following the Board minutes that
the board has directed the staff, rightfully so, the administrative staff, to get going
and create more ways to have a fuller selection of courses at the secondary
level. The all-candidates' meeting in Matilda Hall made reference to getting doctors,
and one of the reasons that Morrisburg couldn't get doctors was the small high
schools didn't have a full program. Well, small high schools have some other things,
I'm a product of a small high school, Mountain District, I loved my little
school, and I got a lot of attention. I was a slow learner, and those teachers
helped get me through. But by the time I got to university, I could learn a lot
better because of them, because of the small school and because of the
individual attention that I got. So small schools are not weak in every every
aspect. They just need an expanded program, and this e-learning with teacher
supervision has got great potential, and I want to
help work with that. Those are the two main issues. There's another half a dozen.
I don't think that the teachers that do the sports programs get enough reward,
whether I can do anything about that or not, there's a bunch of other things: More
mathematics, like more arithmetic in the math program, like the times tables.
When I was 22 years old, 24 years old, I could have made more money in the industry like
going to DuPont. I stayed with teaching, so I have a
passion for it and I recognized it and thought I'll give it a shot.
First of all, I can listen. I understand that a lot of educational decisions are made on
emotion. For example, all of the busing problems, and it makes sense to do these
courtesy pickups, and people just can't understand why they don't, and neither
can I. And I can't help too much; the board has a policy. There's very little I
can do about that, but I can listen and try to find ways to service the
people well. Secondly, I know how children learn. I have a couple of degrees in it.
I spent 30-some years teaching, and I recognize how children learn.... That
will be the background I'll have when policies are being made at the board
level. I think I can contribute there. [I'm] very interested in sports. You sort of
form your self-image and your personality at that high school level, and
sports is a great teacher, and so I'll try to promote sports, lifelong learning,
maybe golf in schools. Now I may regret saying that, but something like that, the
individual sports.
The top issue is getting good programming, being able to offer more
courses in the secondary level. The other thing is good, sound classroom teaching. I
think that maybe some of the superintendents and the directors have
not gotten the proper instructions from the board on teacher evaluation, support
for the good classroom teacher. I've got about 30 years as a principal behind me
and the policy was to, at that time, I was there, was to move you about every
five years. When I went to a school, I'd find those good teachers, support the
good teachers, and then gradually start working with the weaker ones. I guess
when you look back on my 30-year career a few people left the profession, and, you
know, there has to be an evaluation where you look at just cause and if there's
just cause for the teacher or principal not to be there, then due process has to
take into consideration the union's position and do the job. With the number
of teachers, there is across this board there has to be, you know, by numbers
there has to be a few that certainly need to be improved.
Just a little bit more realism in the policies such as arithmetic, such as
teacher evaluation.
I raised a family in Winchester, taught in Dundas for over 22 years ... was born in South Mountain.
So I'm running into all sorts of people I haven't seen in years. They all say I'll vote for you, but I've been out of
it now 20 years, and it's hard to know if I'm reaching the younger people because
I'm sure they look upon me as ancient, but I just want to tell you there's
there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle, and this old fiddle is willing and
ready to go.
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