Crowe looks to the work ahead at board

November 5, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons
King’s re-elected separate school board trustee is looking forward to the work ahead.
Elizabeth Crowe was re-elected Oct. 27 as trustee on the York Catholic District School Board.
“I really enjoyed attending the all-candidates debates in King Township during the election. Keeping on top of the local issues is important for a school trustee,” she said.
Crowe noted residents have been asking about the possibility of a Catholic high school in King Township. For a high school to offer a variety of programming, you need at least 800 students, which means 200 students per grade level. The current and projected student populations at the three elementary schools in King are too small to sustain a viable high school population in the near future, she said.
King City Secondary School draws students in from outside of King Township to keep it viable. The board is looking to build a high school in Kleinburg that could serve Nobleton and cut down on bus ride times for students.
Crowe said the board has 10 trustees, and all 9 trustees who sought re-election were successful. Maria Carnovale, Woodbridge, chose not to run, and we the board will honour her at the final board meeting on Nov. 25.
“We welcome Maria Marchese, an active parent and school council chair.”
The inaugural board meeting will be held Dec. 2 and will include mass presided over by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins. Afterwards the board will elect its new chair, vice-chair and committee members.
Crowe pointed out the board recently launched its three-year strategic plan, which was developed after considerable stakeholder feedback. “We have new mission and vision statements and action plans for each of our strategic themes are currently being developed for board approval in the new year,” she said. “Staff are also working on a new Long Term Accommodation Strategy that will be approved by the board in February and submitted to the Ministry of Education. Finally, the board approved at the last board meeting $2.25 million to be used for technology upgrades and teacher training on how to use technology as an effective tool in the classroom.”
Staff will be bringing details of this plan to the board in the next couple of months.