Welcome to my blog, over the next 4 years I will be writing what happens at the board along with some personal ideas that I come forward with. I hope you enjoy them visit often and please if you have any comments, please feel free to write back with your phone number on them.

 

April 9, 2007

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have supported my fight against cancer over the past 16 months. It has been a long and difficult road and I hope I am on the trail to recovery. After 5 surgeries in less than 1 year I feel that I am ready to get back to my daily life routines. (Many thanks to the community, teachers, administrative staff and CEC staff) The support has been overwhelming and given me the courage to battle this disease.

THANK YOU (GOD BLESS)

At the board we are currently working on the 2007 – 2008 budgets and hope to have them completed by June as per Ministries Guidelines, we hope to introduce some long awaited new programs in our curriculum such as music and shop ( technology for our high schools ).

On April 4 the community along with the Holy Cross Family of schools got together to discuss Catholic schools in Ontario. For some that are not aware there has been a movement by groups stating that there should be only one public school board and the religion should not be included. It was a great turn out at Father Bressani School and some key questions were asked and answered by the attendees. After the evening was over a group of interested parents approached me and Mr. Dino Giuliani (Trustee for East Woodbridge) and asked what the next step was. We mentioned that all the data would be accumulated and a report would be generated and brought forward to the board to be sent to Ottawa and Queens Park. Many of you mentioned that this would be enough, and I agree. I have therefore put a motion forward to our board that we as Catholics set up an electronic petition inviting all Catholics to sign it to demonstrate that we want our schools to continue to teach the work of God and to remain as Catholic System. This motion is currently on the table and I hope to have it passed by the end of April. This will allow whomever thinks that Catholic education is not important to us Catholics a different perspective. I believe we have to stand up and be heard. I hope to generate a million names on this petition then we will again present it Queens Park and Ottawa, letting them know that the quiet giant has awaken and that we will not be denied a constitutional right that was given to us in the BNA act.

Any comments on this please e mail me or call me.

 

June 14, 2008

At this time I want to thank the whole community for the support and strength that they have given me over the past few years. As many of you are aware I have been battling cancer.  The massive support from Principals, Vice Principals, teachers, support staff has been overwhelming and I am so humbled by all that you have done for me to make me feel better in these hard times.

On June 4, 2008 I was fortunate to get to St. Gregory’s fun night and saw many friends and the many initiatives that council has done for the school community my congratulations on a great night and enjoyable evening for all whom attend. I would also like to thank the Knights of Columbus for setting up and making some great food that evening.

On June 10, I was able to attend an accommodation committee meeting. As many of you are aware we are facing some growth areas in the community and throughout the board. The Vellore area has been an area where the growth of the High School and Elementary Schools are beyond capacity. Some ideas that we are working with is a boundary review to allocate some of the students from the Sanoma area to see if we can offer them to go to Holy Cross or Father Bressani. In moving these students from St. Jean to other schools (bussed students) it allows St. Jean to be less overcrowded. Let me just say this has been an ongoing history with most of our high schools. St. Joan, Bressani and Holy Cross at one time housed more than 2200 students in times of growth. In time the numbers settle down to be an approx size of 1200. We would also be looking to Bressani again just to alleviate some of the overcrowding of St. Jean Brebuf.

At the elementary panel with St. Emily and St. Agnes the numbers continue to grow. Even though we have added a new wing to St. Emily and St. Agnes will be receiving a ten pack portopak I for see continued growth. Here I have asked administration to put a report to see if we could have a middle school south of Langstaff (for grade 7 and 8). In time with the population settling we will return the students back to their home schools. This initiative will take a few years for the schools to level of at respectable numbers in this area. St. Veronica will be at capacity very soon and many students are now being housed at St. John Bosco.

With rising energy costs I have asked staff to review a 4 day work week for schooling. It has become extremely costly with energy (light and heat) and although we have put in new initiatives for greening and consumption use it seems that our budget line has bulged. Going to a 4 day week has some benefits for the board (bussing costs, energy costs the schools not open 1 day, cleanliness the custodian’s staff could spend Fridays with a full complement of the staff to clean the school in the day and shut it down at 4 pm for the weekend.

In closing I again want to keep you informed on happenings of the board and please return to this blog for budget and final comments for this year.

 

June 15, 2008

Trustee Expenses

I wanted to write a few words on this issue and clarify some rumours or issues in regards to the Trustee Expenses. First and foremost I want to express that the York Catholic board (Trustees) have been extremely fugal on what they spend and where they spend it. Our administration reviews our expense reports and justifies the expenses prior to releasing the funds.

Unlike the Catholic Board in Metro I stress that we do not have the following:

1. $18,000.00 for a personal Secretary.

2. We do not have a car allowance of over $ 600.00 per month.

3. We do not have a $ 6.000.00 election purchase program where we may buy equipment and we retain it after our term.

4. We do not have a health benefit program the costs approx $ 5,000.00 per annum.

As you can add up the above benefits that the MSSB has given themselves equate to approx $ 31, 000.00 per anum over 4 years that we do not have at York Catholic.

We at York Catholic are paid approx $ 14,500 per annum ( honorarium ) we have a  $ 5000.00 discretionary fund per annum and a 5000.00 conference fund for professional development. The above $ 10,000.00 dollars are not coming into our pockets. These are expenses that occur and allow us to participate in some community events and school events. Over the 2007 and 2008, I personally have donated funds to the high schools to offset costs of teams traveling to OFFSA tournaments. This year both high schools received a 1000.00 donation from my discretionary fund to help the teams pay for bussing. None of these funds come back to my pocket. If you review the 2007 costs you will see the total amount of expenses for myself is approx $ 8,000.00. These are to pay for tools that I require to do my job for my constituents. Therefore the total net money I would receive from the board (max $ under 23 K gross). I believe that I need to have the proper tools so that I can be reached to make sure that I am abreast of my community. If you call me I should have an answer to the problem that is at hand be it a lock down, or any other issue that may come up in the day where input is required.

Please if you want to discuss this issue please feel free to call me at home. I would be more than please to give you a full explanation on this issue.

Michele Carnovale    (905).851.8848

 

June 21, 2008

We are currently working on a few issues at the board. The budget, we are reviewing our staff at the education centre along with labour relations  for our teachers contracts. Also we have passed a motion for 2008  -  2009 Heritage.

On Tuesday June 15 the board passed a motion that supported the continuation of the extended day heritage programs in our schools. We will be adding a couple of schools to the pilot of JK and SK. This is a great benefit for our children. Unfortunalty I must say that we had some resistance from the Richmond Hill and Northern Trustees. The motion did pass and I  have invited these 2 trustees that think that this is not a benefit and the monies should be spent elsewhere to attend a school where the Italian Heritage program exsist to witness the benefits themselves.

We have ( administration ) been working with the budget. It seems that for the July meeting that the board will have a compliant budget for the upcoming year. We currently have a number of approx 450 million dollars and that has doubled since I began as a Trustee in 1994. I want to congratulate John Sabo and his staff  for all the hard work that he has done to have a compliant budget.

In regards to the negotiations I have been told that we have come to a settlement according to the Ministry guidelines. I have been told that the OECTA membership will be voting on the deal in late June and we will ratify the contract in Early July. I believe it will be a 4 year deal with no labour disruptions for the next 4 years. We are also working out contracts with many other labour groups in our board.

At this time I want to wish all the graduates and students of our board a great summer with health and prosperity. I hope that your future looks good if your moving on to post secondary education and wish that the returning students have a save summer.

I will be continuing to blog with any new news and ministry initiatives that arise over the summer. 

 

July 1, 2008

Thinking Outside the Box

 

I write this article for the month of June as a challenge to all involved in the green effort. Over the past weeks I have been advocating new ideas for the board to save on budget money and envirotmental issues.

The first idea I through out to administration was a four day work week. In doing this we would have a 20% cost reduction in our bussing costs. Not bussing children 1 day a week would save millions of dollars in our budget. The other benefits for this is that custodians would have a full day to clean the schools in the daytime saving us the bonus cost in night fees. Also this would allow the for cleaner schools with a full compliment of custodians cleaning the facilities. There is also a cost savings in having the school not open on Fridays or Mondays ( I prefer Friday closure ). Sometime in the day 100 schools could lower the temperatures that are set to weekend standards again savings of a percentage in fuel heating costs and electricity costs. In doing this of course we would have to extend the day which would mean additional time for our children in our schools.

A new idea that I have not brought forward but wish to address is on the same line, I believe if we could add 15 to 20 minutes to our school day we then could close the schools for extended holidays., March break would be 2 weeks long as compared to the current 1 week off. In extending the day by a small amount would not mean that the staffs and students would not  be drained by day end, but would be also refreshed with the extended holidays that they would receive.

 The Christmas week could extend to an extra week in January of the new year, and possible a few days at the end of June. The savings here would be beneficial to our board in a sense that again the bussing issue would be a savings, the schools would be closed and the savings in energy to heat and light the schools would be cost effective and anybody that may want to travel will be beyond the weeks of peak travel and would be savings on a local basis.

Of course all this would have to be agreed with all our labour groups that have a say in this. I t may be awhile before these ideas may come forward but in the future it may be the way of cutting costs. It is food for thought and discussion.

Being the month of June I take this opportunity to thank all the school staff members on a wonderful job they have done to our community, I wish them a safe and great summer. Parents and students I want to also wish them a great safe summer and look forward to seeing you in September. Congratulations to all our graduates and may God Bless you.

See you in September 2008!

 

August 2, 2008

Hospital in Vaughan??

 

Let me start on this issue as I am not opposed to having a hospital in the city of Vaughan. What I am opposed is to what extent will this hospital service the whole community. We do have many good hospitals in the area and some great hospitals in the city of Toronto.
With all my experiences over the past 3 years in the healthcare industry, I have to voice my opinion on this issue.

As many of you are aware I have been ill for since 2005 and have made a minimum of approx 120 visits to various hospitals in  a year for the past 3 years in various hospitals in the GTA.  Yes over the past 3 years I have been in a hospital 360 times or at least 1 full year.

I have attended Sunnybrooke, Toronto East General, Chedoke McMaster,  York Finch, and Etobicoke General. I have been totally satisfied with the hospitals that I have attended but in full honesty the bulk of my stays have been at Sunnybrooke where I still do attend at least 3 – 4 days a month.

A hospital today is needed in Vaughan but the question I have as many others have will we have the doctors, nurses that can staff this new hospital. I believe the new hospital that opened in Peel/Brampton has had some difficulties. Will this hospital be equipped with the staff that can handle major trauma, or will Sunnybrooke, or St. Mikes still be the major centres to go. Would YOU choose this hospital for a major surgery when we all the know that teaching hospitals have the best doctors, staff, and upto date equipment ( ie Pet Scan Machines ). I would certainly want the best and after researching many hospitals I have gone to where I have seen some of the best surgeons in the world work on me and many other patients. They are specialized in this area. ( Cancer patients { 2 main centres in the GTA : Sunnybrooke and Princess Margaret } ). Would you go to York Central for Cancer where they send you off to SB or PM because they do not have the machinery and even then lack of technicians. ( PET scans are done once a week @ Sunnybrooke on Tuesdays due to lack of techs I believe.)

I think we should revisit this new hospital issue in Vaughan and maybe put in a small major trauma clinic where we would transfer patients after staballizing them or visiting them by MDs. I want to go to Emerg and get seen within a half hour not four hours and that’s what we need, not a new hospital.

These are my personell views and I hope this article gives you some thoughts on this issue.

 

August 20, 2008

SIGNAGE

 

            It has come to my attention through some narrow minded person whom I do not know but has complained to the board administration  regarding signage use by trustees. These signs in the summer sit with no information and cannot be of any help to anybody. The board administration during the summer is away and sometimes getting an answer is extremely difficult. We as Trustees find this time an opportunity to let the community know who the trustee is and if any new community members move into the area they will have a name that they can start for information on our schools.

            Over the past 7 weeks I have not received 1 complaint about our school Marquis. What is there to complain about, I would love to understand whom in there right mind would want to complain. The phone number is there to allow constituents and Catholic school attendees to call the local Trustee and get some information. I personally had 4 total calls since the month of July and August, all for information and a couple of old friends that saw my phone number and decided  to give me a call to say hello. I really do not see the big WRONG in putting out your name to help the community. To be quite honest I will persuing that our names be on there during holidays for the month of December and March Break.

If you do have a problem with this media medium please do e mail me or give me a ring.

THAT’S THE WAY I SEE IT.

Welcome back to the School Year.

 

October 26, 2008

French Emersion

 

            I am in favour of any new programs that benefits the students of the YCDSB. I have for many years continued to support the heritage programs and and any languages in our high schools. I have worked with our principals in the high schools do develop partnerships with many organizations that promote arts, culture, languages and heritage. Specifficaly in our area.

Over the past few months administration has been working on bringing back the French Emersion program where I want to state that I AM IN FAVOUR of this program coming back to our school board. Its been too many years and I hope that we can implement a system wide program.

I have been told that we will be implementing the program in Markham for the first year and in the second year a school in our area will be chosen to host the program.  My only concerns with the implementation of this program is having the proper personal to fit the jobs. The regular French programs in our schools have done well but it has been extremely difficult in recruiting qualified certified teachers to deliver the program. Many of our schools do not have certified French teachers teaching the program and that is where I would like to have our administrators look at this problem and ask how do we repair it. For many years I have been asking this question and have always been told that we have always tried to recruit French teachers. Hopefully we can have a recruitment in the Belle Province to bring in some qualified French Teachers.

As said I am in favour of this initiative and hope it’s a success in the East so we in the West will also have an opportunity to allow our children to speak the French Language.

C’ est  bon pour moi.

Merci

Michele Carnovale

 

November 23, 2008

Out of Country Excursions

This blog article is directed to our high school students and their parents. On an annual basis our students across the region in March take a trip. It is an excellent bonding and experience for the students. Many of the students that do go are either in grade 11 or 12. If you read the year books many at Bressani discuss or mention the trip of their life.

I bring this issue forward from personal experience. As man as you are aware I had 3 children in the system and now all 3 have graduated. In the past few years my 2 youngest children have attended these trips and I have been extremely disappointed in regards to our carrier who supplies the tours to our children. I have been told some disappointed stories from our principals on these tour companies. (ie cutting short tours, last minute changes on flights. Children waiting up to 10 hours for connecting flights. ) and many more.

I have brought this forward to our High School SO’s and I have been told that many of these problems would be resolved. I have told the Senior Administration at the Board that I hold them accountable and would not be happy if I hear that the tour company has made some changes to benefit their dollar value. I am tired of the students getting the shaft and the tour companies getting the mine.

I have told SO’s that it is unacceptable to make any changes to the itinerary that was submitted to students and parents. I do accept emergency changes due to uncontrollable circumstances. I will not accept ( ie : extra stops because it is economically good for the tour companies but puts our students awaiting in airports for long durations and not being able to do anything it’s a holiday and experience and I myself would find this unacceptable so why do YCDSB students have to tolerate this. They should not and I trust that our Senior staff rectify this problem or I will be bringing this forward again for discussion and action at the Board Table.

 

December 13, 2008

Catholic School Christmas

December is a busy month in our schools, many of our educators are preparing our children for the Christmas Season. We have many Christmas plays, Christmas Concerts and Celebrations, that’s what makes us different and unique from the public board, we are the CATHOLIC BOARD. We sing Christmas Carols that bring forward the birth of Christ, and our children faith is important and it is important to continue to teach this in our schools. St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) is seen throughout our schools but we also have the Nativity scene in many of our schools that show that we believe that Jesus was born. It is a beautiful time of year which we all celebrate with family and friends.

For your information we at the board are continuing to bring forward some new initiatives into the system. French Immersion is going to be introduced as a pilot in September 2009 in Markham and hopefully a school in Woodbridge will be introduced in 2010.

We continue to work with staff on boundaries to alleviate some of the overcrowded schools especially in the area north of Rutherford. Many of you are aware we have added a new addition in the past few years to St. Emily and just last summer a porto pak to St. Agnes.

At this time I personally would like to thank our school administrator, teachers in our system. Over the many years they have become leaders in the province in educating our children. I know all the hard work that goes in to being number one. I would also like to thank all our support staff at the schools that are all overlooked day in and day out. They keep our schools in order, clean and accepting to our children.

Let us not forget JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

Merry Christmas and May Jesus be with you in 2009 for a Healthy New Year.

 

March 3, 2009

Speed Limits

I write this article due to the fact that we have many speeding vehicles in our area. Ward #3 area 3. I will bring forward this notion to our local councilor for review.

We live in an residential area and have noticed that our speed limits exceed many areas in Vaughan, on Weston Rd. the limit is 70 Km per hour and like most drivers we do exceed the limit sometimes by 14 Km over. Nowhere else on any major street Jane or Keele is this limit reached It is approx in the 60 km It has been rumored that many police forces allow about 14 Km over prior to pulling cars over. Therefore some vehicles may be moving at a rate of 84 km / hour. Too fast for the area.

I would like to see the inner streets of our community changed to a 40 Km limit, Weston Rd. changed to 60 and major throughways in residential areas such as Langstaff to 50km. Ansley Grove and Bellview would fall in the 40 Km area for the fact that many of our students walk to Fr. Bressani School (Residential Area) and losing control of a vehicle at 40 is more probable of regaining control if a vehicle was moving at 60. On changing these limits we would need the local police force to implement these limits and make sure that the residents are aware that there may be a 0 tolerance and tickets for speeding would be issued.

I know this will make our streets a little safer.

 

August 29 2009

Tornado Hits Vaughan

As many residents of Vaughan are aware we were hit with a Tornado in Vaughan on August 20 and has left a trail of destruction in our community. We can count are blessings that there were no major injuries and that the destruction it left can be replaced.

Our school St. Peters was in the path of the Tornado and extensive damage was made to the rooftops along with some water and minor structure.

We are currently repairing the damage with crews but will not be able to open the school for students on September 8. It is our major concerns that the students have a safe place and environment to go. Staff are working on a plan that that will be seen early next week where the students of St. Peters will attend. I know that we have room at other neigbouring schools but I leave those initiatives to staff to come up with the report so the board could decide the best fate of our students.

I presume that their will be at least a months work involved to repair the school and I believe and hope that for Thanksgiving weekend that St. Peters will be ready to welcome their students back. (Only if the school is safe and the areas for students to walk in are safe, if not we will have to see what alternatives we have to guarantee the safety of our students.)

St. Emily’s portopack I have been told was worked on over the past few weeks I visited the site in early August only to find that there was nothing taking place.

I was told by staff that the work would commence by Aug 10 and would take no longer than a couple of weeks to install and be ready for the first week of September where teachers could go in and set up their classrooms for the upcoming school year. I have spoken to staff and as of today they have told me that the Porto Pak is ready to go.

In closing I hope that you have all had a great safe summer, knowing the weather was not the greatest in 2009. I wish to thank the staff for all the hard work with the challenges ahead. Good Luck to the school administrators, teachers and students for the upcoming 2009 – 2010 year.

If you have any questions or any queries or need information on the schools please feel free to call me at home @ 905.851.8848

 

God Bless

 

September 2 2009

St. Peters Plan re: Tornado

Thank you for your patience on this important matter. As many of you have not been aware we have been working on a plan for St. Peters students the day after the Tornado. We had our inspectors they’re the following day along with Plant staff to assess the damage. As noted in my last blog note that St. Peters would not be ready for the September 8 opening. Staffs have worked on a contingency plan where the students of St. Peters will be housed at Immaculate Conception and St. Francis of Assisi school in the area 3 ward 3 parts of Woodbridge. Both these schools have enough classrooms to accommodate the St. Peters students and the staff, and administration will have their own offices, own classrooms where teachers already have started preparing their classrooms for the coming year. Once St. Peters is ready to move in the transition will re-happen into the new school I believe their may be a day or two for the move in October. St. Peters students will be sent back to their home school.

The 3 principals along with extra staff required to make the transition smooth will be available. This as you are aware is a temporary solution and we hope to have the school ready (St. Peters) for the Thanksgiving weekend. There are many challenges that we face but I believe with patience and dialogue along with information going back and forth we will all succumb to this problem.

I am under the understanding that bus routes for the children will be in effect for pick up and drop off along with midday bussing for the kindergarten students that are only attending ½ day ready for September 8 and a notification of time and location for bus pick up and drop off will be communicated to all St. Peters parents as we currently write this not if not already notification has gone out.

I want to thank all the communities for understanding the need and the Christian ways which we were brought up with in helping each other through these difficult times. We here in the East Woodbridge especially the two school communities welcome our friends and relatives that have been affected by the Tornado and hope that our schools are your schools and are welcome to stay as long as you like. (Pending policy re transportation). We are open to helping our friends in these times of need and are prepared to do what we can to make the transition as smooth as possible along with the remove back to St. Peters some time in October.

I believe if you have any questions or need further information that you can contact myself at 905.851.8848 or Trustee Dino Giuliani at 416.221.5050

God Bless

 

October 27 2009

Getting Railroaded

On Thursday Oct 22, I sat in an Expulsion Committee meeting to expel students from our High Schools. Staff consisted of a SO, a specialist in our Expulsion hearings, and 2 recording secretaries. Along with 3 trustees 1 whom chaired the meeting.

Upon receiving documents on students being expelled I noticed and brought forward some major discrepancies that were not acceptable to my personal belief. Papers were signed by non-authorized personnel. Names signed were not was printed on the sheet and staff continued to say that this would be OK and that it would be changed. Documents stating that principals were present (which now had to be reworded) to accommodate the hearings.

I for one felt very uncomfortable and stated that to my colleagues whom I believe thought that with all these errors in the papers that it would not be OK to sign off and expel these students. These papers would be legal documents stating that the parties agreed to expel the mentioned student even though some of the signatures were not valid or the similar to the typed document. In voting my colleagues whom thought this was correct voted for the documents presented would be fine and that we should continue. I for one did not believe this and that staff should have had all the I's dotted and T's crossed to make sure that these documents had no errors. I believe that I was being railroaded by my colleagues to appease the staff’s mistakes. I believe staff should have taken back all the reports made sure that the documents were correct and bullet proof. Upon seeing what was going on I did what I thought was best for my conscious and left the meeting. My fellow trustees may not have liked the move but I would not sit in a meeting where things were going from wrong to worst and being outvoted to appease staff. If this is what my colleagues wanted to do then of course there was no need for my views nor my input. I know what I did was correct in my eyes and stand behind my actions. My colleagues have there own views and I leave it at that. The train has left the station and I am aboard it in the proper destination others????