Engaging the community leads to better schools

 By Matias De DovitiisOur neighbourhood does not have the same quality of schools as other parts of the City. We need to do better. Getting our students and our parents to participate more in their school communities is an important step that we need to take in order to return our schools to where they need to be.The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has just released test scores and many of our schools did not do as well as schools in many other districts in both the Grade 9 Mathematics and Grade 10 Literacy Tests. There are many reasons for this, but our schools need to be more engaged in order to turn this around. In order for this to work, increased engagement can't just come from students, teachers and administrators, but parents and community members also need to be more involved in their children's school lives. This is critical.It is not just about fundraising, but parents and community members need to participate in the everyday life of the school. Parents need to play an active role in facilitating their children's academic success.Some of the ways this can be achieved is by attending parent teacher meetings, and asking questions of teachers and administrators or by volunteering in parent teacher advisory councils and school extracurricular activities. Sometimes it is difficult for parents who work long hours and have multiple jobs and are interested in getting involved to attend parent teacher interviews and school activities. For this, teachers and administrators need to work together with these parents in order to find a way to allow them to be involved in their children's education.There are also members of our community who have a wide range of skills, experience and knowledge who could provide a great benefit to our students by volunteering their time by helping to facilitate extracurricular and mentorship activities.The improvement to the quality of school activities raises the engagement of the students and students will learn more. Statistics have shown that the schools which score the highest on the Mathematics and Literacy tests are also the schools which have some of the highest levels of parental and community involvement.We need to emulate this in order to help our local students to achieve the same level of academic success. It is also important that our students become more active in their community.Over the past 8 years, I have taken thousands of grade 5's on community clean-ups and tree plantings in the Downsview area. I can speak first hand about the importance of students being taught about the need to care for their community.Students who are more engaged in their community do better academically.A school that is more engaged in the community will not only result in increased academic performance, but it will also be equipped with better resources to help kids stay in school and to help ensure that they don't slip through the cracks.

Join the campaign to save Canada Post

 By Tom Rakocevic Over the years, there have been moments that have made me reflect on the way the world is going. Many of these moments may seem small, but they give a sign of things to come. Like the tickling of your throat before you get hit by the flu.One such moment happened when I was a teenager, and I went to withdraw money from my bank account. That day, one of the branch tellers was positioned at the door and was encouraging me to use the machine rather than line up to deal with a person.I looked over at the machines for a moment and then turned back to him and said, “If I start using that machine, you’re eventually going to lose your job.” He paused and said, “But if I don’t encourage you to use it, I will lose my job today.”Of course, we all happily use those machines now. However, we are now being introduced to a new and shinier machine in certain stores called “The self checkout.”Workers everywhere will need to start looking over their shoulders, because that new machine their boss has just purchased may be soon be their replacement.While our transactions have become increasingly automated in order for businesses and institutions to save money, we have not necessarily seen an increase in service.Furthermore, we have not even seen a reduction in price, which means the savings have not trickled down to us.Canada Post is now on a similar path of cost-saving measures by both increasing costs to consumers and reducing service by phasing out home delivery of mail.When Canada Post eventually phases out home mail delivery in urban areas, it will be seniors and people with disabilities who will be affected most.Deepak Chopra, the CEO of Canada Post quipped that seniors would actually benefit from the removal of home delivery because they would get exercise going to and from the community mailboxes.Not only is this comment highly insensitive, It also fails to take into account the serious challenges the service cuts pose to people with mobility issues. This also doesn't take into account the hazardous journey that seniors and people with disabilities will undoubtedly face in getting their mail in the winter walking through snow and ice.While most bills can now be paid over the internet, many among us may not feel secure for our financial transactions to be conducted over the internet, while others may not have the expertise to do so and rely heavily on the postal service for these matters.While Canada Post is phasing out home delivery in urban areas, they are not passing these savings onto Canadians. Instead, they have increased the price of a single postage stamp to $1.00.If you are against the removal of door to door mail service, please join the campaign to Save Canada Post. You can contact the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) at 613-236-7238 or email them at feedback@cupw-sttp.org to order your sign to show your opposition to the service cuts at Canada Post.You can also check out www.savecanadapost.ca and www.publicpostoffice.ca for more information on the service cuts and how you can get involved in the campaign to reverse them. 

Keeping the faith for 50 years

 By David RosIn the mid 1960s, Downsview was a rapidly evolving community. It had been a major centre for heavy industry since the De Haviland aircraft factory first set up shop in the neighbourhood in 1928.After World War II, the area, which, up until then, had been dominated by industrial factories and the Downsview Air Force Base, had began a period of rapid residential growth. By the 1960s, the neighbourhood's changing demographics meant that there was a real need for more facilities to serve the needs of the growing community.Around the same time, the American Lutheran Church had also developed a plan to expand its ministries, and it was decided that Downsview's growth had made it an ideal place to carry it out. At the time, the community had been home to other places of worship, but it did not have a Lutheran Church. Thus, land on which to build Faith Lutheran Church was purchased at 96 Hucknall Rd., and on Aug. 19, 1964, the Reverend John Judt brought his family to Downsview from Vancouver in order to start the ministry.When he had arrived in the community, Judt had no parishioners. “When we started, we were just knocking on doors, there were a couple of pairs working who would invite people into the Church,” said Judt's son, also named John. After the door to door campaign, Faith Lutheran Church held its first service on Sep. 20, 1964 in front of 50 parishioners.This past september, the Church celebrated its 50th year of operation. “When [the church] was started, it was a wonderful community place,” said Lida Spiers, a parishioner for more than 30 years. “A lot of people lived within a few block radius.” Since then, Spiers said, many of the original parishioners had moved away from the community, many of whom, still attend or keep close ties with the Church, but over the years, the Church has gained new members in the community, including students from nearby York University.To celebrate its 50th Anniversary, Faith Lutheran Church held an open house and an outdoor dinner in a large tent, followed by a Sunday service delivered by the head of the Lutheran Church in Canada, with many guest ministers in attendance. Spiers said that many of the older parishioners attended the event and photos and stories were shared about the ways in which the neighbourhood and congregation had changed in the 50 years since the church had first opened its doors.Over the years, the Church has also undertaken many community service initiatives, by building a nursery school attached to the church, specifically geared to help children who had been suffering from emotional disturbance, headed by the late T.E.E. Powell-Brown, an educator and parishioner of the church. The Powell-Brown nursery school moved to a larger facility in 1983, and the space is currently occupied by a full time daycare facility for children between 18 months to five years-old. Faith Lutheran Church continues to hold services every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Four candidates seek election for TCDSB

 By David RosAfter being elected in 2010 as the trustee for the Toronto Catholic District School Board for Ward 4 during a period of turmoil, Patrizia Bottoni is once again putting her name on the ballot.Bottoni cited the work she and her fellow trustees have done in pulling the board away from receivership as one of the reasons she believes she should be re-elected. In 2008, the TCDSB was placed under the control of a provincial government appointed supervisor after it was rocked by a series of scandals where trustees spent school board money on personal items such as online gambling, alcohol and lingerie, while at the same time, the board was unable to balance its budget.Following the 2010 municipal election results, the TCDSB was returned to the control of the trustees in Jan. 2011. “At the board, we have started a new stage with those days after supervision, we have done a lot of work to regain the trust of the community and of the stakeholders,” Bottoni said. “We are a good team, we are working together and we've put in place a multi-strategic plan.” Bottoni, who is currently the vice-chair of student achievements and wellbeing at the board said that she has been working hard to implement more programs in local schools such as French Emersion.Glenn Webster, who has been a member of the TCDSB for 38 years, said that if elected as trustee, his many years of experience will be an asset to the board. “I've attended over 100 school board meetings over the years,” Webster said. “I truly know more about the running of the school board, financials programs, collective agreements than the overwhelming majority of people who run for office.”Webster, who has been endorsed by Mike Colle, current Liberal MPP for Eglinton-Lawrence, Alan Tonks, a former Liberal MP for York South Weston and Paul Fernandes, the former chair of the TCDSB said that trustees need to understand the difference between management and government. “The budget is given by the ministry, schools can barely raise any more money than they are given, they have to work within the budget,” Webster said. “Intelligent choices must be made based on the reality. In other words, school boards have got to be well run in terms of costs.”Marina Laccona, who founded and has successfully run a free homework program called My Community Homework Club at Northwood Community Centre since 2002 said that her desire to give back to the community has motivated her to run for trustee. “Since implementing the program, I continue to work with various members of the community, including City of Toronto staff, local councillors, parents, teachers, youth and non-profit organizations,” Laccona said. “I am very passionate about my community, volunteerism and most important – our children.” Diego Lupallier is also on the ballot for TCDSB trustee.

My breakdown of ward 4 public school trustee race

 By Howard MoscoeThe retirement of Trustee Stephnie Payne has triggered a race for the Downsview Public School Board seat that has attracted candidates from across the city; like flies to honey.There are 9 hopefuls chasing the ward 4 public school trustee position. In my view, the school board trustee position is one of the most important elected offices. Trustees set the tone and direction for our children’s education; the foundation of a civil society. Giancarlo Mosca became active on his condo board at San Romanoway when he took over his mother’s house. Mosca has attended Catholic schools for most of his life and in fact only became a public school supporter in September when he switched his school support in order to run for this office. Until then he has demonstrated little, if any, interest in our public schools. One wonders why he didn’t run for the Catholic School Board. I hope he finds a political career somewhere but not as a public school trustee here in Downsview.Spiros Papathanasakis might have some credibility if he were running downtown. In 1997 he finished 6th in the Metro Council race when he ran against Jack Layton and Pam McConnell “out the Danforth.” He managed to nail a seat on the old Toronto School Board for a term, but did little to distinguish himself as a trustee. Papathansakis runs a youth center in Cabagetown. I don’t believe that in a city as cosmopolitan as Toronto you need to actually live in a ward to represent it, but there ought to be some connection to that ward. One wonders why he would parachute himself half way across the city to seek votes in our community when he has had little connection to it at all.Sabrina Gopaul is a community activist and journalist. A mother of two, Gopaul lives in and was raised in the Jane-Finch area and attended local schools. Her oldest son recently graduated from high school, and her youngest will soon be starting elementary school. Gopaul, who is the head news correspondant for Jane-Finch.com, and had previously hosted a news show on CHRY-FM, was active in the Save our schools campaign, to prevent the closure of local area schools. According to her platform, Gopaul wants to promote smaller classroom sizes and holistic teaching methods, she would also like to promote stronger relationships between schools and the community.Mirtha Coronel and Kasim Dogan have also added their names to the ballot. Out of the 9 candidates, there are three that I consider to be serious contenders; Tiffany Ford, Michelle Minott and Matias de Dovitiis. I encourage you to check out their web sites for more information on their platforms. They can be found at www.tiffanyford.ca, www.michelleminott.com and www.matiasdedovitiis.ca. All are in favour of increasing school safety. I haven't yet met any candidate that wasn't. All three of the leading candidates reject the use of metal detectors in schools to screen out weapons.Every one of the candidates talks about engaging the community, improving school funding and everyone wants better opportunities for youth. All three of these are candidates who are worthy of your support. Tiffany Ford is not related to Rob, Doug or Henry and her campaign reflects youth and enthusiasm, a recent graduate of York University, she attended local Jane-Finch schools and has started her own communications business. Tiffany's campaign radiates energy, enthusiasm and a passion for her community. “It is crucial to advocate for better schools and quality education in marginalized neighbourhoods populated by African families in Toronto,” Ford said in an interview for Manyatta, a professional network within Toronto's African community. Some day she will make an excellent politician.Michelle Minott owns her own real estate business and her two children attend French emersion classes at Hilltop Middle School in the neighbouring Etobicoke ward. Minott recently moved back into the Shoreham neighbourhood and was honoured for her work in the community when she was presented with a wall of fame award. She is a community activist who serves as an alternate on the TDSB Parent Advisory Council. Minott was sharply critical of the retiring trustee. Stephanie Payne. “I'm not happy with the present trustee who is not doing her job,” Minott said. “[Payne] has failed to engage the community.” Ironically it was Payne who had recommended Minott for the Parent Advisory Council Position. Perhaps Minott was unhappy with Payne’s leadership or perhaps she was unhappy that Payne was endorsing another candidate; Matias de Dovitiis.Matias de Dovitiis has been a hands on community activist in this ward for the past 15 years. As executive assistant to Councillor Anthony Perruzza, he has helped hundreds of Downsview residents resolve their day to day problems with local government. He reflects the immigrant experience many of us share. Since his family moved here from Uruguay when he was 11 year old, he has been active in our schools and in our neighbourhoods.I could comfortably cast a vote for either Tiffany Ford or Michelle Minott, but I’ll be voting for Matias de Dovitiis, not only because I know his work at city hall best, but also because I know that he is ready to hit the ground running in a direction that I want to see this community go. Mosca complained to me that de Dovitiis’s run in partnership with Perruzza represented a conflict of interest. I couldn’t disagree more. If a councillor and trustee work together, the good that flows from that relationship is a huge benefit to the community. In 2000, I ran in partnership with an unknown trustee candidate. I’m a New Democrat and she is a Liberal. She got elected, and for three years, we had the privilege of pooling our resources for the benefit of the community. Her name is Kathleen Wynne and she is now the Premier of Ontario.-Howard Moscoe held elected office in Toronto for 32 years when he retired from Toronto city council in 2011. Prior to that, he was a junior high and middle school teacher for 35 years. Howard has taught at Elia M.S., Emery C.I., and Driftwood M.S., in our community. He was president of the North York Elementary Teachers’ Federation and became Executive Assistant to the North York Director of Education.