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Wednesday, 30 December 2009 20:39 |
Dear parents and residents of St. Paul's,
2009 was a remarkable year for our community and schools in St. Paul’s. To name only a few of many examples, we initiated the installation of solar panels on school rooftops that is expanding as a “Green Grid” across Toronto. This green project will contribute to conserving both our planet and tax dollars while teaching local children about environmental stewardship. In addition, St. Paul’s now has the most certified Eco-schools than any other ward in Toronto!
Whether it was over-capacity challenges at some schools or under-capacity at others, we either began or already completed initiatives to find solutions together as a community. We demanded and received assurance from the TDSB for genuine consultation with our parents and residents, brought more funding into St. Paul's schools and properties than anywhere else in the city, successfully encouraged Queen's Park to add "Financial Literacy" into the curriculum to better prepare students for an economy in which knowledge is empowerment, fought the threat of losing our school pools and have saved, due to the many champions in our community, four out of five of the once-threatened pools in St. Paul’s…and I’m very optimistic that we’ll make that a perfect score by the end of January, 2010.
Looking forward, in 2010, we’ll complete our local accommodation reviews and recommend to the TDSB only what is in the best interests of our community and students. In fact, it will be local parents themselves who will be leaders in making these recommendations. Ultimately, because of this initiative, we will eventually have an improved school system that isn’t forced to make cuts to important programs, such as Special Education, and school staff each year and will finally be able to repair it’s aged facilities. My dearest hope is that we will leave this school board in far better shape than we found it in.
In September 2010, we will be opening the new North Toronto Collegiate Institute. This beautiful high school will be Toronto’s greenest school (Gold LEED certified) and the city’s first wireless public school. It will also add more green space to the local community with a full-size sports field for our students.
Brown Public School will be celebrating its hundredth anniversary next year and I will keep you posted on what we will do to commemorate this very special date.
At each of the twenty-one public schools in St. Paul’s, I deeply enjoy meeting often with parents to find solutions to their local challenges, finding paths to see their school council’s initiatives through to fruition and supporting the many special events, graduations, fundraisers, etc. that occur throughout the year. I really love our community and deeply appreciate what a privilege it has been to serve you as St. Paul’s school trustee. In fact, the most fulfilling part of my job has been advocating for individual parents’ needs when they’ve needed support for their children. I have also seen my role, as your trustee, as to hold the school board accountable for the decisions it makes affecting our students, parents and all taxpayers.
I extend my warmest appreciation to our hard-working superintendent, Michael Smith, our school administrators and staff and the many tireless parent volunteers for all that they do to support our school communities and the happiness and success of our students. There is a good reason that schools in St. Paul’s have such an impressive reputation!
Finally, thank you for the opportunity to work with so many of you on the several creative and important initiatives that have contributed so much to our students' lives, our schools and our neighbourhoods. I always learn so much from the parents and residents in St. Paul's and appreciate how, when we really listen to what our students and community need, we accomplish so much together!
There is still much more to do.
I wish you and your family a very happy new year and my very best wishes for 2010.
Most sincerely,
Josh
Josh Matlow
Trustee for St. Paul’s
Toronto District School Board
http://www.joshmatlow.ca
http://www.facebook.com/joshmatlow
http://www.twitter.com/JoshMatlow
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