The City of Toronto and our local school boards serve a common constituency: Torontonians.
Recently, I moved a motion at council to explore the creation of a city–school boards working group. The city and school boards are separate levels of governance and currently only work together on an ad hoc basis.
This motion, which will be considered by council this spring, seeks to ensure that both levels of government work together to improve service to residents on issues of shared interest.
On matters ranging from school pools to child care to the status of neighbourhood school facilities, including libraries and fields, midtown residents tell me they want the city and the boards to break through their respective silos.
In this period of scarce resources, this is more important than ever.
Since being elected as city councillor for Ward 22 in 2010, I have worked closely with our local schools and their parent councils to deliver development funding for new fields at Northern Secondary School and North Toronto Collegiate Institute, a memorial bench at Hodgson Senior Public and new outdoor amenities at Eglinton Public. I am currently working with parents and staff at Maurice Cody Public on their “Dirt to Turf” campaign to build a much-needed new field.
Please feel welcome to contact me if there is a capital project at your Ward 22 school that would benefit the school and local residential community. Contact me by phone at 416-392-7906, e-mail at Councillor_Matlow@toronto.ca or my website, www.joshmatlow.ca.