WEBSITE: www.Goodman4Trustee.ca

EMAIL: Howard@Goodman4Trustee.ca

PHONE: 416-481-7794

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1. Why are you the best candidate for trustee?
Our children and our city deserve a TDSB Board on which every Trustee is experienced, capable, committed and independent. I am:
* Experienced – A life-time in business, plus seven years as TDSB Trustee, give me the skills to make a difference for our children, our schools, and our city
* Capable – I have a proven record of influencing the direction of education in Toronto and across Ontario
* Committed – I spend 50+ hours/week working as your Trustee, and am a proud TDSB parent
* Independent – I belong to no political party and owe no favours to any union or interest group

2. What changes would you like to see at the school board in the next four years?
My top priorities are to have:
* Every school be a truly effective school led by an excellent Principal
* A “Culture of Kindness” fully entrenched in every school
* Improvements to our Optional Attendance process
* All of our schools fully prepared to effectively use learning technologies
* Our community daycares protected during the implementation of all day JK/SK
* “Just a SEC” – the wide-spread use and sharing by our teachers of Simple+Effective+lowCost teaching methods.
All of these goals are within our powers as Trustees; we don’t have to wait for the Province.

3. What is your position on the TDSB consolidating under-enrolled schools and selling off closed school properties?
Closing schools and selling property should be our action of last resort, taken only after we have creatively explored every other alternative. We must do all we can to keep our schools and our property, while still meeting the needs of our students. However, simply refusing to close any schools or sell any properties will harm our students. Sadly, under current the Provincial funding formula, if we don’t close schools and sell properties, we’ll won’t have funds to give our students the supports they need, nor enough money to keep our schools in good repair.

4. Do you support the province’s decision to try to negotiate two-year, no wage increase contracts with the school board’s unionized employees when existing agreements expire?
The Board discusses negotiation-related items in private session. As someone who has been directly involved in negotiations with education unions at both the TDSB and Province-wide levels, I know the risks that come from speculating in public about difficult negotiations, particularly ones in which you have little control. As a result, stating any opinion on this matter would be completely inappropriate and would not benefit our students.

5. Please provide personal details on your bio.
I’ve had a successful and varied career in business:
- management consultant,
- software entrepreneur,
- traditional manufacturing, always with a clear focus on innovation, efficiency, and customer service.
I’ve been a:
- Trustee since 2003,
- VP Ontario Public School Boards Association since 2004,
- member of board and former vice-chair of Toronto Foundation for Student Success,
- member of the board of Curriculum Services Canada.
I grew up in Eglinton-Lawrence, where I’ve lived with my wife and sons for the past 16 years. I’m a former full-time at-home dad and current proud TDSB parent, with a BASc (Engineering Science – Geophysics , UofT 74).