The people of Ajax have voted and the results are in!

Congratulations to those elected Donna and Kelly. 

For those not elected, let’s keep the activism going and ensure those elected perform to expectations, execute their platform promises.

For the Trustees work especially hard with strikes looming to keep kids safe, address climate change, improve, trust, accountability and transparency with good governance and risk management.  It’s time to #reimagine education.  There are ways to make education more effective and free up tax dollars for investment and innovation.  A few examples to get started:

• Reinvent education with current curricula focused on future skills needed
• Consolidate the back office functions
• Standardize technology including hardening cyber security
• Consolidate the 14 school authorities
• Consolidate the 31 english public district school boards, but why stop there?  Consolidate the 4 french public, as well as the 37 catholic school boards.  Then we have 1 school board for the province, why not?
• Replan schools as community hubs with investments for climate change
• Replan growth forecasts and eliminate use of portable classrooms
• Sell underutilized schools or convert to community housing
• Sell all school board administrative buildings or convert to community housing
• Eliminate all non student facing education staff making more than $110,000 on the Sunshine list including those who have offices in the school board administrative buildings that would eliminate 175 roles and save over $21 million just in the DDSB alone…
• …and work with the unions, community leaders, all levels of government…

Anyway, sad to say I was unable to win as DDSB Trustee.

Happy to help reach out as needed.

And I can’t end this without thanking all the supporters I had and votes for change I received. I would like to thank both Richard and Guy for extensive support – best team I could ever ask for.  Finally, thanks to Karen, as a committed DDSB elementary teacher you have been a big fan and supporter and inspiration. 

One more thing, my best wishes to Paul Skippen [https://votepaulskippen.ca/] who was unsuccessful in his own Trustee election in Peel Region.

Together we and others will address why “the future is broken”, and how let’s “#reimagine” education…stay tuned!

Thanks…John