by Erica Braunovan, OCDSB Trustee, Zone 10
I hope everyone’s students were as excited for the return to school as my daughters were! They had a hard time sleeping the night before and came home full of stories about reconnecting with friends they had missed during the summer.
Our facilities crew has been busy over the summer! I have noticed a lot of improvements in school yards across Zone 10. A huge thank you to everyone who works to rejuvenate our schools and get them in tip-top shape for September.
The board of trustees starts every school year with a board self-evaluation and reflection on the work we did last year. We then move to setting our work plan for the coming year. The 2019-2020 work plan will be approved at the board meeting on September 24th. Please watch our online agenda postings to see the work plan document which will be posted as part of the board meeting package, and forward any feedback to me.
On September 17th we will be discussing the progress to date on the collection of identity-based data.
If you would like to follow this, or any of the topics that we discuss/make decisions regarding, you are welcome to attend our meetings in person at 133 Greenbank Rd, or on our Youtube channel.
There is a federal election this October. Youth engagement in the 2015 federal election was higher than previous years, but still just over 50% of people between 18 and 24 voted. Imperfect as our current system is, participation is one way we can all work at fixing the system.
There are a number of ways to encourage participation in the election: children of all ages are likely to be exposed to campaign ads, and discussing these ads is one way to encourage young people to start thinking about the issues that matter to them.
Older youth can get involved by watching debates, and if they find they identify with one party or another, they are able to volunteer long before they are able to vote.
Erica Braunovan is the OCDSB Trustee for Zone 10. You can reach her at erica.braunovan@ocdsb.ca or 613-858-2275.