Spring 2026 edition

Dear TLDSB families and staff,

As the school year winds down, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our journey together and share some updates as we look toward the 2026-2027 school year.

First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering commitment to our students. It is likely that each student in TLDSB overcame a challenge or two this school year – whether it was academic, extra-curricular, or stretching their abilities – every obstacle provides the opportunity to learn about resilience, perseverance, and achievement.

As we look at student success, I want to note that regular attendance remains one of the strongest predictors of future academic and post-secondary achievement. That said, we completely understand that unexpected exceptions arise that can interfere with regularly attending school. Please know that your child’s teacher, the school’s administration, and Board staff are available to support you and your child(ren) through those hurdles.

What we heard from parents/guardians this year

This school year was heavily focused on listening and gathering feedback. I spent a great deal of time interacting with families and school administrators to deeply understand how your students are experiencing the classroom, as well as the successes and challenges they are currently facing.

Thank you to everyone who completed the Spring Parent/Guardian Survey – your feedback is absolutely vital, and it directly helps the Board with our strategic school planning.

On a positive note, I am proud to share that our school staff and families frequently highlighted the strong, welcoming community feel inside their school buildings. Through conversations with parents/guardians, students, community partners, and staff, several key areas were highlighted that we are actively addressing, including:

• Student well-being: Mental health, food insecurity, student behaviour, and attendance are all pressing issues facing some families.
• Academic focus: Many people expressed appreciation for the Board’s approach to reducing technology use and access in the classroom, noting that prioritizing the fundamentals of literacy and math is the right direction.
• Homework consistency: Parents/guardians feel that a more consistent approach to homework routines across each grade level would be highly beneficial.

We also conducted a Student Census this school year and are pleased to share that we saw an increase in the response rate from the last census conducted in 2024. The new data is currently being analyzed and a public report will be available in the fall.

Strengthening community and student voice

In addition to hearing from parents/guardians, we also met with various community agencies to share our instructional approach and listen to how we can become better partners in supporting TLDSB students. One key area we heard from the external agencies that we will be working on is building a better bridge between the school and agency when supporting students.

Lastly, one of my absolute highlights of the year was spending time with Grade 7 to 10 students who represented their school at the Director’s Student Voice Summit. While our students and supporting staff highlighted many incredible things happening in our schools, they also brought forward critical issues that we all must confront head-on. Notably, many students shared the painful reality that they still deal with racism on a regular basis. Racism is unacceptable and the senior administration of TLDSB is looking closely at ways to ensure that our commitment of creating a safe, inclusive, and anti-racist environments for every single student and staff is happening in all schools. We also look to you, parents/guardians, to work with us in creating spaces that are free from racism for all.

Thank you, once again, for your partnership, your feedback, and your dedication to our school community. We look forward to welcoming your children back for a wonderful 2026-2027 school year and wish students who are graduating from TLDSB all the very best in their next chapter.

Sincerely,

Wes Hahn
Chief executive officer/chief education officer
Trillium Lakelands District School Board

Recommended resource

We started the school year with a parent/guardian presentation from Katherine Martinko, author of Childhood Unplugged. Martinko spoke about finding healthy digital boundaries and managing screen time, and has just released ‘The Digital Delusion’ Confronting the EdTech Crisis in Schools. While this article pulls out some key points from The Digital Delusion book, Martinko highlights how we all should be taking a greater look at the impact technology use is having on our abilities to think, reason, solve problems, remember information, and understand ideas.

I urge all families and students to find ways to unplug from technology this summer and explore tech-free ways to enjoy the season.

The TLDSB Online Silent Auction was a great success!

A tremendous thank you to all who browsed the auction and placed bids between May 26 to June 6.

Overall, the auction was a great success, raising just over $11,000 on 71 items!

All the money raised goes directly into the Feed All Four Fund thanks to the generosity of donors from all over the City of Kawarth Lakes, Haliburton County, and the District Municipality of Muskoka.

Summer break information

We wish all TLDSB students and staff a well deserved summer break!

Check out our recent news item, highlighting important information/dates to keep in mind over the next couple of months, including:

• Google storage reminders
• Registration and transcript requests
• 2026-2027 transportation information
• Back to school information

Reminder: Sora is available all summer long!

Sora is a digital library for everyone – students, parents/guardians, and staff – who want to read or listen!

With over 8,900 different book titles, in a variety of formats, including best-selling authors, new release titles, the classics, Sora has it all.

Visit tldsb.ca/sora/ to learn more and to start enjoying Sora!

Summer mental health supports

Mental Health Mondays are continuing this summer between June 29 and August 10, excluding the Civic Holiday on August 3.

Are you or your child interested in connecting with a TLDSB mental health counsellor this summer either in-person or online?

If so, use the following calendar link to schedule a consultation appointment with TLDSB mental health counsellor, Sarah Burgess.

Latest good news stories from TLDSB

• TLDSB hosts fourth annual Educational Pow Wow and Drum Social
• LCVI green industries students dig deep to cultivate community growth
• I.E. Weldon Secondary School Girls Rugby Team wins OFSAA gold medal
• Hometown Paralympian visits Dunsford District Elementary School
• TLDSB holds 2026 Secondary Film Festival Showcase

This triannual initiative is aimed at providing parents/guardians and staff with relevant, timely updates on the work currently taking place in TLDSB to support student achievement and well-being, and in achieving the goals of the 2022-2027 Strategic Plan.

Please feel free to send a note to [email protected] if there are topics you would like to see covered in the next edition of the newsletter.