Shailene Panylo for DDSB Trustee

Oshawa is growing at an incredibly fast rate, and our schools cannot keep up. 

We must plan proactively to ensure neighbourhoods new and old have the educational infrastructure they need to be accessible, safe, and available when families need it, for today and tomorrow. 

With better community planning this is possible!

No child should ever go hungry, especially not at school. 

Poverty and child hunger are significant barriers to student success, and that must end with us. 

Together we can ensure the provincial and federal governments use our tax dollars to keep kids safe and fed in our schools.

These measures can be offered to all, and foster a culture of community through shared meals where no one is left out.

Everyone deserves to feel safe, welcome, and valued, but this isn't the reality for many.

It is our job to challenge systemic hate, intolerance, and oppression in every form and implement better policies.

We can build anti-racist, anti-oppressive spaces that are equitable and accessible for all students, workers, educators, and family across the Board.

That begins with electing Trustees that prioritize and emulate these shared values.

After years of navigating lockdowns and hybrid education models, it is crucial that we find ways to balance learning, student engagement, and routine with our youth, educators, and education worker's growing mental health needs. 

Modified calendars that spread breaks out frequently throughout the year can offer better routine consistency and mental health supports, less learning loss, and support guardians who otherwise struggle to find childcare and affordable resources over the summers.

These modified years are already in place at a number of DDSB elementary and secondary schools, and I'm exited to explore the expansion of these programs so more school communities can test the difference for themselves.

You can see the different calendars HERE.

We are fortunate to have so many organizations locally that offer mental health services, yet for many these supports are out of reach.

We can build partnerships with mental health professionals across the community to offer culturally relevant supports to students, educators, education workers and families right at their home schools.

Not only are these supports desperately needed now more than ever, but by improving access to care it is possible to reduce the equity gap between the who can afford to access services and those that cannot. 

Everyone deserves public, culturally responsive healthcare, and mental health care is part of that. 

As a Trustee, I will advocate locally for the collective actions necessary to push for the provincial legislative changes required to make this a reality.

What if our schools offered community pantries filled with gently-used clothing, supplies, food, and more? 

What if our schools tended to community gardens that helped feed students and families in our neighbourhoods who could use the support?

I believe it takes a village, and we have the opportunity to reimagine what that looks like.

With so many different home situations impacting us all, more school community care pantries is something I support. 

Stocked through donations from other families, this offers judgement-free, no-cost assistance to anyone who may find themselves needing support.

Truly, we can take better care of one another.