The following profiles appeared in the Guelph Mercury:
Wards 2, 3, 4 (two to be elected)
Don Griffin
Age: 64
Occupation: truck driver, teacher, small business owner, author
Education: B.A., /Teaching Cert. with Elementary Vocal Music
Lived here: 39 years
About the candidate: My wife and I moved to Guelph to attend U of G. University was such a contrast to the boring years I’d spent in school. You could control your own use of time, and get so much more done. We ran a small business in our spare time. After teaching for two years, and seeing the same old problems, I started another business, which I ran for 20 years. Now I want to ask people to talk about how we might tweak the system, so that no one’s time is wasted.
Three issues I feel strongly about: For me many issues have one root cause. Our system was designed during the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. Immigrant farm children, like my ancestors, had to be taught to submit to authoritative rules and routines, if they were to succeed in the new assembly lines and offices. Conformity and submission to authority were the stated objectives. This regimentation may have been useful then, but it is insulting to today’s children, and unfair to teachers. We don’t want this any more. I love the sign outside one of our schools, which reads: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” If we really mean this, we need to encourage our principals and teachers to figure out how to tweak our outdated system, in order that they can help students, one at a time, find the road to their dreams.
Susan Moziar
Age: Not provided
Occupation: Microcomputer Software Coordinator (retired)
Education: B. Sc. Trinity College, U of T, Certificate Diploma in Computing & Information Science, U of G
Lived here: 40 years
About the candidate: I am married with four adult children, all educated in Guelph schools, and three grandchildren. I have worked in the computer field for over 25 years. Most of my life has been dedicated to education. I have been a trustee since 1991. I am chair of program committee and I have extensive experience having served on many board committees.
Recipient of the Access Recognition Award 2000 for Outstanding Contribution of an Educator (Mental Health)
Three issues I feel strongly about: 1. Improve Student Achievement: build on what is good and change what is not, provide relevant professional development for staff, develop School Improvement Plans, emphasize exercise and nutrition, ensure a safe school environment, implement next stage of Early Learning for 4 & 5 year olds, consider a pilot project to explore the effectiveness of “single gender classes.”
2. Implement Guelph ARC Recommendations: these major changes will have an impact on many students and schools. I need to ensure a smooth transition and rectify any problems that develop.
3. Declining Enrolment: this will affect grants and cause loss of staff. We need a plan and consider different program initiatives to attract more students such as offering an International Baccalaureate Program.
Jennifer Waterston
Age: 58
Occupation: Constituency assistant and school board trustee
Education: attended University of Toronto
Lived here: 36 years
About the candidate: I have been a trustee representing Guelph for 20 years. During that time, I have been involved in all aspects of the education system from working with parents and students to being chair of the board for nine years. Provincially, I am a former vice-president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and past chair of the editorial board of Education Today magazine. My husband and I have five adult children (all graduates of GCVI) and six grandchildren
Three issues I feel strongly about: 1: Improving student achievement is the primary role of a school board. I will continue to work with other trustees to maintain that priority at budget time as well as support teachers and schools in their continued efforts to use new techniques and educational tools to help children learn.
2. Supporting parent involvement: I support parent involvement in schools and I will work with school councils to help parents support their child’s education.
3. Fiscal responsibility: I will continue to support the board’s long history of balanced budgets and prudent management. The board not only educates over 30,000 students but it has approximately 4,000 employees.