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Education is not filling a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

William Butler Yeats

I Believe in Public Education

I Believe in Working Together

I Believe in Our Children

I attended Guthrie Public School and Eastview Secondary School within the Simcoe County District School Board. I had a rewarding school experience with many exceptional teachers to help guide me along the way.

I am a parent of twin boys who attended Steele Street Public School and Eastview Secondary School. I was an active volunteer and member of the parent school council at Steele Street while my son's attended including the chair of the parent school council at Steele Street for six years.

At that time I also joined the SCDSB Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) that supports all school councils within the board in 2013. I was then elected to chair this committee for three terms from 2014-2017.

In 2018 I was elected to be the SCDSB trustee for Barrie Wards 1, 2 & 3. In that time I chaired the Business & Facilities Committee for four years and vice-chair of the Human Resources Committee for three years. I was also a member of the Special Education Advisory Committee to the board for my four years as your Barrie trustee.

After my term as trustee ended, I continued my involvement with the board at the secondary school level as an active participant on their parent school council for three years including chairing the group in 2023-2024.

I would like to continue to participate in improving our public education system as your trustee representative.

We are seeing many old as well as uniquely new challenges at the forefront of the public education system these last number of years. Working within limited budgets while trying to provide the best supports within these budget constraints that are not controlled by the SCDSB continues to be the basis for some of the most difficult issues facing the trustee table each school year.

Parents, teachers and school staff all have important direct roles to play to support and nurture our children in their daily education.

The Simcoe County District School Board including trustees, administrators and board staff also all play important roles in establishing the broader school culture and supporting structure.

A trustee is responsible for identifying the needs and priorities of their community and for ensuring these are considered in the decisions that result in practical educational opportunities for all students.

I feel the SCDSB has faced many of the challenges put in front of them, often with positive outcomes and little notice from the public. However, there are still many issues to continue to be worked on and improvements to be made. I am very aware that there are still much difficult work still ahead and I would like to be your trusted voice at the trustee table.

Everyone should be working towards the shared goal of providing the best education for our children within the available funding and resources. I would like to continue to play a part in achieving this goal as your trustee representative.

Every one of us continues to learn through our individual and shared experiences each and every day. For almost 10 months a year, five days a week, 6 hours each day, that learning experience for our children and teenagers is within the school environment.

Our public schools need to be safe and inclusive spaces where each student has equal opportunities to grow as an individual. Schools need to be a place where students learn to, socialize and connect with diverse group of other students in classrooms where they can make friends and be given the foundation they need to succeed both inside and outside the school.

We all have our roles to play to nurture a healthy learning environment that will allow our children to develop into resilient and self-sufficient adults. We need to support them along this road of self-discovery while at the same time allow them the freedom to learn

from their successes as well as their failures.

Children have a great capacity to learn from their experiences and start out less afraid to make errors and even fail. We can help them by letting them try and sometimes fail as long as we are supportive of the effort.

In the end we can enjoy and celebrate the journey of discovery towards their adulthood together.

As your trustee representative I will continue to work with the other elected trustees to ensure that each student feels included and has the supports they need in safe, well-maintained and welcoming schools we can all be proud of.