WEBSITE: www.marirutka.ca

EMAIL: support@marirutka.ca

PHONE: 416-916-2214

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1. Why are you the best candidate for trustee?
I care deeply about public education and your tax dollar. I work full-time hours as your trustee (most trustees work part-time). I have 7 years of experience and have been working hard to ensure good programming in all 29 Willowdale schools. I strongly promote equity for all learners, leading planning efforts for Asian Heritage Month and the school board’s 2011 equity conference. I continue to work for more childcare and more school space in Willowdale — and want to ensure we make it possible for kids in Willowdale to go to a local school within walking distance.

2. What changes would you like to see at the school board in the next four years?
We need to expand efforts to reach each student and provide a safe and caring school environment in which to teach, not only literacy and numeracy, but also citizenship, life skills and a globally inclusive perspective. We need to do so while bringing our board into a sustainable financial position that will allow us to concentrate our resources on student learning and achievement, with programs that fulfill student needs and career goals in the 21st Century. Willowdale needs more space in the schools along Yonge and Sheppard and more childcare everywhere. I will continue to work to fill these needs.

3. What is your position on the TDSB consolidating under-enrolled schools and selling off closed school properties?
No trustee wants to close or sell schools. Whenever possible, we should keep them open and integrate community services into available school space, be especially mindful of schools that act as hubs of vulnerable communities and keep the future needs of our city in mind with a regular grid of school sites that will allow elementary and secondary students good access to programs. But, we also cannot refuse to consider closing a school, if a funded use for it cannot be found. I want schools kept open, but I would rather spend funds on students than on empty space.

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?
I think it will be necessary to consider the economic climate in two years’ time and be mindful of the history of increases or lack of increases within different wage categories within the unions and be sensitive to what is happening in both the public and private sectors at that time. It is too early to insist on things being a certain way for negotiations the year after next. Much may change between now and then.

5. Please provide personal details on your bio.
I have been involved for 17 years with Willowdale schools –volunteering in schools, serving on school councils, chairing the city-wide TDSB parent group and being trustee for 7 years. I attended junior high and high school in Willowdale and have a BA in Linguistics from Princeton University and a graduate degree in Communication Studies from Concordia University. My career work has been in film and journalism, including writing the Ewok language for Lucasfilm. My youngest child graduated from Earl Haig in 2009. I have been happily married to Dr. Jim Rutka, a Sick Kids neurosurgeon, for 31 years.