I have been asked to share with you that our Board’s Chair, Jeff McMillian, has announced he will not be seeking re-election for another term as a Public School Board Trustee.
Mr. McMillan will complete his current commitments as a local trustee for Ward 5 (Brockville & Augusta Township) and Chair of the Upper Canada District School Board on November 30, 2018.
Chair McMillian’s decision to transition from public office comes after more than 40 years of service to children and schools in the Upper Canada District School Board, beginning as a classroom teacher and educational consultant with the former Leeds & Grenville Board of Education in 1977, then with the Upper Canada District School Board in 1998. His contributions to the K to 12 education sector has been numerous and noteworthy. Apart from a long-term commitment to student learning and supporting children to see their potential, Mr. McMillan has served as the Canadian College Supervisor affiliated with the School of Education at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Potsdam, with responsibilities for supervising and evaluating teacher-candidates associated with that program. He has also published articles and two books on effective classroom practice. Mr. McMillan brought these experiences forward over the past eight years in his work as a school board trustee for Ward 5, and later, as the 1st Vice-Chair of the Board in 2011.
Trustee McMillan was elected Chair of the Upper Canada District School Board in 2014, leading the Board through some of its most critical moments, including: re-balancing its annual budget; hiring a new Director of Education / Chief Executive Officer, enhancing the reputation of the Board through open and on-going communication with neighbouring school districts and with the Ministry of Education, and; re-establishing a focus on strategic planning that would ensure that the Board channelled its energies on priorities which they determined to be essential to fulfilling our organization’s mission to prepare our students for a successful life.
It has been my distinct pleasure to work with Chair McMillan during my tenure thus far as the Director of Education for our Board. I would like to thank him for his dedicated commitment to our school district as both a leader and as a community volunteer. I know that we can continue to count on Mr. McMillan to support ratepayers in Ward 5 until the end of his term of office and to lead the Board of Trustees as they remain focused on commitments for supporting students and our schools for the remainder of its mandate, ending on November 30, 2018. There remains a great deal of work to do in this regard, and all staff will continue to support the Board of Trustees in their efforts to set direction and allocate resources for us to implement their vision of carefully attending to the betterment of students and supporting the important work underway in our schools.
Sincerely,
–[Original signed by]–
Stephen Sliwa,
Director of Education and Secretary to the Board of Trustees.
Cc: Local Media Outlets
