It’s been a busy four years for the Simcoe County District School Board, and Jodi Lloyd wouldn’t want it any other way.
The trustee for Orillia, Ramara and Severn is hoping voters return her to the table in the Oct. 22 election.
“There’s still lots of work to be done,” she said. “We’ve made great momentum in the last four years and I’d like to continue that work.”
Some of the strides made include the establishment of strategic priorities for 2017-22, including academics, community building and well-being. It includes recognition that the economy and job market are rapidly changing.
“We have to do a better job of helping our students and their parents understand the current economy, the job market, and support them to pick courses to get them where they need to be,” Lloyd said. “The idea of going through school, graduating Grade 12 and getting a job at General Motors isn’t there anymore.”
To help pupils plot their post-secondary pathways, the board has increased its focus on guidance. Counsellors are common in high schools, but the board this year added 16 of them who are working with elementary schools.
“High school is only four years. They need to start thinking about it before they get to high school,” Lloyd said.
She is proud of the board’s efforts to provide equal music opportunities to students. After a review last year, changes were made to ensure there were no more have-nots.
“Some students had very robust music programs and others had nothing but the basics,” she said.
The board hasn’t been without its challenges, though. One that is ongoing is the updating of the education development charges bylaw. The board has always applied the charges equally across the county, but it is considering an area-specific approach this time. It’s the proposed increase, however – a nearly 300 per cent hike – that has rubbed some developers and municipalities the wrong way, as land values have skyrocketed since the last increase five years ago. Lloyd would entertain revisiting the bylaw more frequently.
“In the current marketplace, five years is too long,” she said.
There have also been funding pressures in a number of areas, including special education.
“It’s very challenging to meet the need with the funding we have,” Lloyd said, noting 25 per cent of the board’s students benefit from special education.
Transportation is another area Lloyd wants to focus on.
“We have an extremely outdated funding model,” she said, adding the province hasn’t updated it in years. “We’re not in a crisis, but we’re on the edge.”
The province’s decision to hit pause on the modernized sex-education curriculum from 2015 is a head scratcher for Lloyd.
“It was working. We really had no issues with it,” she said. “I think I had one complaint since 2015.”
Sex-ed was only 10 per cent of the health and physical-education curriculum, she noted, and parents had the option to withdraw their students.
“It would have been better to leave it in place until the consultation was done and then make changes if necessary,” she said.
Lloyd is running against Debra Edwards, who was the incumbent in the 2014 election, when Ramara was added to the Orillia representation area. Lloyd had represented Ramara, Severn and Tay since 2006. She is currently the board’s vice-chair. The next term will see Severn added to the representation area.
Editor’s Note: This is the last of OrilliaMatters’ profiles of municipal election candidates. Check out previous articles and keep up with our election coverage here.
