Colleen Russell-Rawlins gently folded her arms and rested them on the table in front of her as she addressed the trustees of the Toronto District School Board one evening this June. In one of her last finance committee meetings as the board’s director of education before retiring in November, she described what she believed public education in the city could look like.
With needed investments, the TDSB, the province’s largest school board, could rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic and maintain its status as a world-class public education system, she said in a calm, even voice. It could offer literacy support for students aged four to eighteen, special education to ensure all students fulfill their potential, cleaner schools, improved arts programs, sports, and business projects.
