Dear TLDSB staff, students, and families,
What a year! Thank you for your commitment and dedication this year. We recognize that everyone has been affected by the changes, the stressors, and the challenges related to this pandemic. We commend all of our staff, students, and families for helping to maintain COVID-19 health and safety protocols, for your flexibility as we navigated frequent changes to our service model, and, most importantly, for your unwavering support for staff and student well-being.
As a senior team, we are extraordinarily proud of our Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) staff and students for what they have accomplished this year. Our in-person and at-home learning educators did an outstanding job to support and promote learning and achievement while working through potential distractions during remote learning. Our support staff worked in-person and virtually to support our most at-risk students to remain engaged. Our facilities staff ensured that the school environments were safe for learning, and our secretarial staff and central staff continued the smooth operation of our Board, and provided various invaluable support for teaching and learning to continue in the schools. Finally, our students faced adversity we’ve never seen before in education and never gave up. The challenges of a pandemic, along with the number changes, were not easy but our students remained resilient.
The 2020-2021 school year has taught all of us a lot about resilience and what we can accomplish when we work together. Strong, unwavering leadership from our Trustees guided the many difficult decisions that needed to be made this year. The commitment of our principals and senior team helped ensure that decisions were made, directions were shared, and support was provided where needed and in a timely manner. We were not perfect, but the commitment to learning, well-being, and equity and inclusion was at the heart of every decision.
As part of our work in equity and inclusion, we have started the development of our long-term Equity Action Plan. We know as a Board, and as a society, that historical and systemic inequities and biases exist that negatively impact many people. We grieve alongside all Indigeous people with the news of more unmarked graves. We stand in solidarity with our 2SLGBTQIA+ staff, students, and community members, and are proud to fly the progress pride flag at all TLDSB schools and Board buildings. We are committed to ensuring the individuals of diverse cultural, ethnic, and ideological identities and beliefs feel represented, accepted, and included in our Board. With the support of, and by learning from individuals with lived experience and our community partners, we can continue to ensure that our schools and our communities are safe and caring spaces for everyone.
We understand that an essential part of supporting our families is to understand the rich diversity in our school communities, which is why this fall you will hear about a student and staff census that TLDSB will be undertaking. The outcomes from the census will help to inform implementation of practices, procedures, and policies that will support all students and staff.
We have a lot to be proud of as we wrap up the 2020-2021 school year and we remain committed to reflecting, learning, and growing as an organization in order to best serve our community. We are looking forward to continuing our work with our amazing TLDSB staff and students for 2021-2022, however, in the meantime I wish everyone a safe, restful, and well-deserved summer!
Wes Hahn
Director of Education
