AN OPEN LETTER
TO ENGLISH PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORTERS LIVING IN AREA 3 (Wards 5 & 6)

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   When you cast your ballot on October 25 I would be extremely grateful if you give me a chance to sit on the school board for the next four years so that I can ask the hard questions to make sure our schools meet the needs of all students and satisfy the expectations of parents and grandparents.

During the course of this campaign I will address the issues that come up and be completely open and honest about where I stand on them. If you have any questions, comments, or wish to express your own opinion about anything I write, please feel send me a message at:

I'm tired of hearing about how much of a good job the schools are doing. If they are doing such a good job, then why are our kids so mixed up?

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:  

Regardless of what the "purists" say, Education is an "industry" in Ontario today. There are four school systems plus private schools all vying for students. In addition, there is a virtual explosion of tutoring franchises and companies springing up all over the place looking for students. Post-secondary institutions are all trying to convince secondary school graduates and adults to enrol in their programs.

The reality is that "all" funding for education in Ontario is based on revenue "per student". The public sector gets its money in a complex arrangement from the provincial government. The private sector gets its money from individual parents and students. And the post-secondary school students generally find it relatively easy to get into debt to fund their education whether it be in a public or private institution.

As a result, you will NEVER hear any of the institutions in the Education Industry talking about their shortfalls. But we do know that the system is not working very well as standards plummet across the board and we find that young people in their 20's are ill-prepared for demanding careers that deal with global competition.

If I am given the opportunity to sit as a trustee on the Rainbow District School Board, I intend to use my experience and knowledge about the realities being faced by students, parents and teachers to full advantage. I will continue to allow my staff to do what they can to promote the system in order to generate enough revenue for us to operate. However, I will work with my fellow trustees so that we can "walk the talk" and demonstrate to parents that we do understand their realities and that we are working on programs to address their needs. Satisfied students, parents and teachers will become our most valuable marketing assets. We don't need big expensive advertising campaigns to attract students. We just need to do a better job and they will come.

"It is hard to get new ideas when all of the trustees have been on the school board for so long. The Rainbow Board has two trustees who have been there for 20 years; three who have been there for 12 years and two who have been there for seven years. If they all get elected again you can add four more years to those totals. How are you going to get people with such entrenched points of view to look at something new?"

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:  

You make a very good point with this question. It might appear that a person who is new to the board would have difficulty changing the minds of so many trustees who have been sitting in their positions for such a long time.

That being said, I definitely think you need a certain amount of "experience" when you assume the responsibilities of a school board trustee. You don't want just anyone from off the street coming in to impact on decisions that will affect your children. Nevertheless, that doesn't necessarily mean that you need experience as a trustee with that school board in order to be able to fulfill your obligations and do your job effectively.

I have a great deal of respect for the trustees who have served on the Rainbow District School Board, especially the ones who have been there the longest. They have obviously won the confidence of their constituents in order to serve for such a long time and without question representing the interests of constituents is one of the major responsibilities of a trustee.

I too have a great deal of experience in education, even though none of it has yet been as a trustee. This, however,  is not necessarily a bad thing as we head into the next four years. Being new to the position, yet having experienced all aspects of the education system since 1973, will allow me to approach the next four years with an open mind. I won't be getting caught up in the emotional tug-of-war that is often encountered when people are forced to make changes to policies and methods that have worked in the past.

In addition, a lot of my professional teaching experience has come from working as part of another local school board. This too is not a bad thing because of the fact that I come to the table with a fresh new outlook on the system and do not carry with me any historical ties to any of the existing programs or policies, nor will I have to deal with being overly familiar with other staff members or trustees. 

I will be in a perfect position to bring a fresh and objective viewpoint to the Rainbow District School Board. I will be able to look at the system and policies from a unique and different perspective, yet I will be making these observations as a person who is extremely familiar with what is going on in all school boards, at all levels, and who is extremely comfortable with education law and the labour organizations that are part of the education scene.

"I own a business in Valley East so I am constantly approached by students and parents to donate gifts and money for a variety of projects and field trips. Hardly a week goes by without someone knocking at my door looking for a handout or looking to set up a table to sell tickets. However, every time I've asked if I could come in and set up a booth at one of their events, or speak to a class about my business, or even to distribute flyers announcing a special event I am hosting at my store, I am treated as if I am a serious disease. It is as if the schools have an iron wall around their property and they are trying to protect their students from outside capitalists. What are you going to do about this?"

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this question.

If I am elected as a trustee, I will make sure that our students are not exposed to marketing strategies from the outside that are merely intended to manipulate them or damage them in any way. Our students are captive audiences and should not be subject to blatant advertising of any kind.

However, I think that schools, and the public sector in general, must get rid of what I call the "private-sector paranoia" that has existed for as long as I can remember. 

There is nothing wrong with schools opening up their doors to the private sector in order to become more included in the community. We should be offering our facilities and services to the community groups and organizations, including the businesses professional offices that form the business sector. 

Our students must be made more aware of what is happening in the community. They must be allowed to get to know the business leaders and professionals in a way that is positive and helpful. They must see that people from the private-sector are not "just interested in making a profit". Many, if not most of them, are searching for ways of giving something back to the community when they get involved in the schools.

I also see the school system supplementing its depleting budgets by taking advantage of some tasteful marketing opportunities. For example, if a company wishes to purchase pencils for the entire school system in return for putting their name and phone number on the pencil, then perhaps we should consider entering into some kind of agreement with them. If some other company wishes to come in and provide presentations to a class on their business operations, then why not use it as a teaching opportunity to enhance the curriculum? Why look at it as something negative? 

You were a union President for nine years. What do you think it will be like on the other side of the bargaining table?

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:

First of all, I don't believe that I will be working on the "other side of the table".

I plan on sitting at a "round table" where all partners will work together, collaboratively to find satisfactory solutions to the issues that are important to our employees. There need not be an adversarial climate when it comes to labour relations. To draw a line and engage in a battle is counterproductive and will only hurt our students.

Times have changed with respect to teacher collective bargaining in Ontario since I was sitting as President of the Teachers' Union. The provincial teachers associations are now recognized as the bargaining agents and the Ministry of Education controls the money. Therefore, they are the ones negotiating the contentious monetary issues. This part of the collective bargaining process is entirely out of the hands of the local school boards and branch affiliates.

Locally, we negotiate working conditions and some benefits, but that is about all. The things we deal with do not really involve much money so it is largely a matter of treating your employees with respect and consideration within the constraints we have as employers operating under the Ministry of Education. We are given a specific "pot of money" and must make decisions on how to spend it wisely. I want to sit down with the local teacher representatives to come up with a plan that makes sense and will satisfy everyone as much as possible.

Because I was a Union President for nine years I understand the concerns of teachers and what is needed to meet their needs. I don't intend to wait until the end of the collective agreement to deal with those issues. The school board should be able to solve some of the problems before the next round of bargaining even begins. That way, when it comes time to put everything on paper, it won't take as long or be a painful exercise. I believe that it is important to have happy employees who do not feel undue stress on the job and who truly do feel appreciated by their employer and by parents.

My experience has been that the schools talk a lot about team work and cooperation, but when it comes to action they keep to themselves and shut the parents out. We are kept in the dark until they need us to volunteer for their fund raising projects. What can you do about this problem?

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:

"How can we have confidence in our school system when most school boards act in ways that seem to completely ignore the realities of society today? Many school boards behave as if they are living in complete isolation from the rest of the world. No wonder we don't have any confidence."

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN: 

I am not going to totally disagree with your comment because if that is your perception of what is taking place then that is in fact your reality. I do know that you are not the only person feeling this way.

In fact, that is going to be something I work on every single day if I am elected to the position of trustee with the Rainbow District School Board. I will be constantly reminding my fellow trustees and the staff of our schools that we should always think about the public perception before we make decisions which we may some day come to regret. 

As leaders and decision-makers we may think that something sounds good, but when the public sees what we are doing they may have a completely different point of view.

For example, on September 1, 2010, over 19,000 teachers from the Toronto District School Board assembled in the Air Canada Centre for a three-hour professional development extravaganza filled with speeches, song and entertainment. The TDSB trustees had approved a request from their new Director of Education, Chris Spence to bring all of the teachers together for a massive meeting so that he could deliver a motivational message to them and inspire them at the beginning of a new school year. His own speech to the teachers lasted 20 minutes out of the entire three hours.

The Toronto Star reported that the event was called a pep rally by some of the teachers in attendance. In fact, the very first sentence in the article which was written by Star Education Reporter, Louise Brown, was "They mugged for the Jumbotron, checked their BlackBerrys and skipped class before the last singer hit the stage — behaviour they won’t put up with from students next week." 

Ms Brown concluded her article by giving an example of how the audience roared with laughter while the two student trustees were speaking. The students were giving a tribute to teachers but many in the audience didn't hear them because, "It seemed whenever the Jumbotron camera panned the audience, teachers could not resist waving at the camera, holding their fingers in peace signs, rubbing a colleague’s bald pate or even flexing their bicep for the room."

The Toronto Star concluded the article with the sentence, "Class clowns come in all ages."

Obviously, the Director of Education had good intentions when he made the request for the massive event to the TDSB trustees, but this was a request that would have been flatly denied if anyone on the school board thought about how this kind of event could be perceived by the general public. My purpose in running for a seat on the Rainbow District School Board is so that I can prevent us from doing anything that will reduce the public confidence in our system.

For example, if I had been on the TDSB when the trustees were told that the cost of the professional activity day at the Air Canada Centre was only going to be $125,000, I would have quickly reminded them that this was absolutely false! It might be costing $125,000 to rent the Air Canada Centre for 3 hours, but what about the cost to get the 19,000 teachers to the arena from all over the city? Even if all of the teachers came by school bus, they would have needed at least 350 buses at a total cost of at least $100,000. They were also paying each of the teachers a full day of salary for traveling to and from the Air Canada Centre for a three hour performance, primarily to listen to the Director of Education give them an inspirational speech for a mere 20 minutes. The total amount of the salary and benefits that they were spending to have the staff gather for the event will come to at least $8 million. If the teachers had not been at the gathering, they would have been doing other work or training in their schools, therefore, this was actually an $8 million cost to the TDSB and not the $125,000 that they were lead to believe. Trustees simply didn't take this into consideration and agreed to spend this kind of money for a single event that at the end of the day will likely cause more long-term damage than benefit.

Therefore, no matter how the teachers feel about the day at the Air Canada Centre, they must now deal with millions of people in Toronto and across the province who will remember the fact that this was an assembly of "class clowns" behaving in a manner that they would not tolerate from their own students, and to add salt to the wound, were completely disrespectful to the two student trustees while they were speaking. This was definitely not good for the professional image of teachers or of educators in general.  

My oldest son has just dropped out of his 2nd year of studies in the Music Department at an out of town college. He was never sure what he wanted to do when he finished high school so he just took whatever seemed interesting. Now he finds that this isn't what he wants and has wasted two years of his life and two years of tuition and room and board. Students are forced to take a Career Studies course in Grade 10. We have huge Guidance Departments and there are all kinds of post-secondary schools on campus each year promoting their programs.

With all of the money and energy going into preparing our children for careers, why is there so much confusion and uncertainty among our youth? I know many other parents whose children are going through the very same thing. What are you going to do about it?

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:

I have done a lot of work with post-secondary students who have fallen into the same trap as your son. Many of them are working on their 2nd and 3rd degrees trying to find out what it is that will interest them. Unfortunately, recruiters make some of the programs and career opportunities sound so attractive that students enroll for the wrong reasons. They go for the jobs, the money and the prestige, only to find out that when something sounds tool good, it probably isn't.

We have to do a better job of preparing our young people for life after high school, no doubt about it! The secret is finding out where the natural passions and talents lay and then help students develop a solid strategy for accomplishing their career objectives and goals. I will do my best over the next four years to make sure that the students of the Rainbow District School Board avoid some of the mistakes of their older brothers and sisters.

We’ve moved well beyond the days when bake sales helped subsidize a special school trip. Now parents are fundraising for school supplies or paying fees for science labs and French workbooks. We are even having our children come home with lists of supplies like pencils, erasers, pens and paper, student organizers to keep track of their homework, and athletic fees. Each September I dread the first couple of weeks of school because I know that my son is going to come home one night with two dozen chocolate bars that he is expected to sell in order to earn some fantastic prizes that were shown during a pep rally assembly at the school. This is nothing more than an education tax. What do you intend to do about it?

RESPONSE FROM ROBERT KIRWAN:

I share your frustration completely. It all started a long time ago when my son came home with a note requesting that we send back $20 to pay for material that would be used in shop activities that he would be participating in as part of his course. When I refused to pay, my son was devastated and I eventually had to give in. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't want to "centre my child out" as being one of the few who didn't pay. 

I also hate hearing about out of town school trips for graduating classes where the students are told to bring in hundreds of dollars to pay for the trip or they won't be able to go on the trip. Even though the trip is during the school year and those who can't pay will remain at the school doing busywork while others are off enjoying a memorable trip.

The rules which govern fundraising and student fees are under review by the province. However, generally, students cannot be asked to pay for anything that they “require” for their course of studies. If it is required for the course, then it must be provided.

According to the Ministry, fees cannot be charged for textbooks, course materials or registration. However, they can be charged for voluntary activities such as   extracurricular sports, yearbooks or field trips. The key here is “voluntary”. Therefore, if a class is planning a field trip during the day and there is a small “fee” for the trip, parents are free to choose to pay the fee or not.

Basically, if you require material, products or equipment to complete any course, then you cannot be charged. This is why children are provided with pencils, notebooks, etc. by the schools each year. All students have the right to attend school without the payment of fees.

I can't say for sure that the Rainbow District School Board is guilty of any of this type of activity, but I do know that the board raises over $4 million annually in fundraising. I can assure all of the parents in my jurisdiction that I will not tolerate the use of fundraising for anything but purely charitable or voluntary purposes. I will also try to convince my fellow trustees to pass a policy that eliminates the practice of sending home chocolate bars or other fund-raising products without first of all receiving permission from the individual parents. And I will make sure that children are not put under any kind of pressure from slick marketing strategies that are intended to make students feel badly if they do not participate.