Board Experience

I have taught at the following schools:

Guelph:
- Paisley Road PS
- Willow Road PS
- Ottawa Cres PS
- Victory PS

Fergus:
- James McQueen PS

Elora:
- Elora PS

Arthur:
- Arthur PS

I have held the following positions in our board:

- Classroom teacher (Primary and Junior)
- Resource teacher (both English and FI, Primary up to Grade 8)
- Self-Contained MID Class and DD Class
- Rotary Planning (English and FI)
- Teacher-Librarian (Victory and James McQueen - English and French)

The variety of my experience allows me to think like our members. When facing issues in Collective Bargaining, daily matters and when standing up in our current political climate, I am able to reflect on all of these different positions when acting on behalf of our members.

ETFO Experience

I have been a school steward for years, sharing my knowledge directly with members on a daily basis. Helping with retirement planning, medical leaves, personal leaves and other incidental things that pop up in the course of a school year, I am always able to quickly respond to member needs. When questions around supervision, planning time, or schedules come up, my familiarity with our collective agreement allows me to quickly review a given assignment to ensure it complies with our agreement. When there are disagreements at the school level, I have worked with members to formulate a plan to speak directly with administration to clear up any misunderstandings and have even worked with admin on behalf of the members. 

ETFO's Union School is a year long training program run by the provincial office. It is designed to train members who have shown strength in areas of leadership  at the local level. The training is intended to prepare participants for reeled positions at the local level. As the only candidate running for VP with Union School training, I am an ideas candidate with appropriate training to dive in and support you!

Sitting on the Provincial New Member committee has given me a broader view of the issues and struggles faced by our newer members. Statistics show that the majority of our members are within their firsts 10 years and as such, it is very important to be really aware of the unique needs and challenges that these members are facing in addition to the challenges faced by our more experienced members.