BLOG 1 - WHY I WANT TO BE A SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE (20 Aug 2022)

I want to become a TVDSB trustee because I want to serve the community I live in, drawing upon my life-long experience, skills, and knowledge about students, teachers, schools and education systems. I understand how public education systems work, both in Canada and abroad, as I have been embedded within them for my whole life as a student, teacher, professor of education, education researcher and parent. I have over 30 years’ experience working in educational systems. For thirteen years, I was a classroom and substitute teacher in Ontario public schools (as an OSSTF member), and in the U.S. and England. I taught social studies, history, geography, and politics at the secondary school levels. And for the last 20 years, I’ve taught in Faculties of Education in Canada and the U.S. As an education professor, I’ve taught in teacher preparation B.Ed. programs and thus have a solid understanding of the broader and complex socio-political and economic contexts of Ontario public education, as well as pedagogical knowledge about teaching in public schools. The breadth and depth of my educational experiences, along with my skills and knowledge, position me well to serve as a TVDSB trustee.

Above all, I have always believed in the importance of serving one’s community. My active engagement as a volunteer in London since moving here in 2005 demonstrate my commitment to the people of this city I call home. These include serving as an ESL Mentor to newcomers through the London Public Library, working as a Circles Ally building intentional relationships with leaders transitioning out of poverty, supporting refugee settlement in London through the London Ecumenical Refugee Committee and now through the London-Middlesex Ukraine Helps group, and being a BGC London MAP tutor helping secondary school students with their homework. I also volunteered at my son’s elementary school, Victoria P.S., and served on the School Council, Safe Schools Team, and healthy food team. I currently serve as School Council Co-Chair at my son’s school, London South C.I. And I am also the President of the Johansen Larsen Foundation, a charitable foundation which I founded, that provides funding to educational programs for marginalized children and youth. I am a strong proponent of volunteering as I believe that giving your time to your community encourages civic responsibility and the idea that each of us has a role to play in making a positive difference in our communities.

I would also like to become a trustee to be an advocate for those whose voices are often not heard by the ‘power-that-be’. I will work to ensure that every student has an opportunity to succeed regardless of their background, identity, or personal circumstances. Thus, my priorities revolve around equity, inclusion and diversity, especially in terms of ensuring that those students in our board who are marginalized, find a meaningful place in our schools where they feel they belong and have the opportunities to realize their full potential. Over the past 50 years or so, many strides have been made in our schools in Ontario to better meet the needs of those whose needs have been neglected in the past due to their gender, race, social class, etc. Still, more work needs to be done in this area.

I would say that becoming a school board trustee will build on my existing educational strengths, skills and experience be an extension of my long-standing commitment to give back to the community where I live, advocate of public education, as well as my desire to champion the needs of TVDSB schools, students and parents/guardians in the wards I will represent when elected. I hope I can count on your support.