| |
Home | Archive | Travel | Videos | About | |
|
 |
||||
| When it comes to PASSION FOR THE JOB, Janet McDougald, Chair of the Peel District School Board deserves an A+ | ||||
| |
story Maureen Scott photographs Steve Uhraney Janet McDougald will proudly tell you that her hobby is “school work”. As Chair of the Peel District School Board and Trustee for wards 1 and 7 in Mississauga, Janet admits she thinks about school work 24/7. “I play tennis, I like to garden, but public education is my passion! You can’t spend as much time at it as I do and not be passionate about it. Public education is the most important aspect of our society. It is the beginning of everything and what sets us apart from other countries. If we didn’t have good schools and good education, we wouldn’t have good doctors or good health care.” You can hear the passion in Janet’s voice when she discusses her role as head of the second largest school board in Canada. She is the type of person who answers work emails while on vacation and publicizes her home phone number. She has been a Board Trustee for 22 years; the past 13 as Chair. “I was lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom raising two daughters (Erin and Laurie) in Port Credit where I grew up, and I became very active in school and charity events,” says Janet. “At the time, my neighbour was Chair of the Board of Education, and she approached me to say that she was retiring as the local Trustee and Chair, and she suggested that I run as a Trustee. I won that year and the rest is history!” A little over a decade after that conversation, Janet would take over her neighbour’s former job. The Peel Board is the second largest only to Toronto in terms of size, encompassing Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon. There are 235 schools, 199 elementary and 36 secondary schools with almost 155,000 students, 14,101 academic and business staff members and an operating budget of 1.3 billion dollars. “It’s a pretty big job!’ says Janet. “The Board is responsible for the budget and we set policy to say where the money is going,” says Janet. My job is one of facilitation—to move the Board business along so we can meet our goals.” Meeting goals requires money, and the students in Peel are being short-changed, according to Janet. "Our enrolment has almost doubled. We`ve built over 65 new schools and numerous additions over the past 10 years. We are one of the fastest growing boards, yet when compared on a per pupil basis, our funding is less than Dufferin Peel; almost $1,100 less per pupil than Toronto District School Board. We deserve more fairness. There will come a time when we can’t supply all of the services. Our kids deserve better.” Janet says what’s lacking is funds for support services such as music, speech and language programs, computer and technical renewals, and special education needs. “With growth, we are seeing a significant amount of special needs students and autism.” A key role of the Board is to lobby for their fair share of funding. As Board Chair and Spokesperson, Janet meets regularly with all levels of government and community leaders, attending about 15 meetings and school or community functions a week. "The job is considered part-time, laughs Janet. (Trustees in Peel are paid $26,000 per year and the Chair receives an honorarium of an additional $10,000 annually). “There were many nights when my husband Ivan was home with the girls while I was out at meetings. Many people in public education will tell you, they couldn’t do it without a supportive family. This is my way of giving back to the community where I was raised. I personally get a great sense of service to the community, and I feel that we are helping to make a real difference in the lives of our students and their families.” Patience is a virtue when it comes to doing Janet’s job, along with commitment, resilience and empathy. “I have no doubt that the education of children is a very emotional subject and parents can become quite passionate when discussing their children. I never take that personally. I understand that it is their job to advocate for their children. We try to help them, but we turn the problem back to the school because it is the role between the parent and the school that is important.” Moving forward, Janet feels her two biggest challenges are working to increase the funding per pupil and managing the new all-day learning program. “There are also some real challenges ahead with all-day learning. It’s an expensive and complex endeavour, and we will have some growing pains. It’s also a great opportunity for learning, and we will achieve excellent results from our students.” When asked what grade she would give herself in terms of the job she is doing as Chair, Janet gave herself a B+.“We are a board with all kinds of experience, and we work well together, says Janet. We are balancing our budget, our students are achieving at or above the provincial average. We have amazing trustees, administrators and teachers, and in a recent survey, parents told us they are quite satisfied. Everyone wants more one-on-one and we would like to be doing a better job. There’s still work to be done.” GL |
|
||