Presentations
Director’s Recognition Award
The Director’s Recognition Award highlights extraordinary contributions by staff members, students, school volunteers, or community members, and is presented by the director of education, Wes Hahn, at each Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) Regular Meeting of the Board. Hahn introduced this month’s recipients of the Director’s Recognition Award.
Mark McGrath, head of Student Services at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School (BMLSS), is an incredibly proud Laker who began his career at BMLSS as a student. He is known as a down to earth, forward-thinking, and a student-centred leader. He is constantly breathing new life into the school by coming up with fresh ideas to support students.
McGrath works hard to stay on top of Pathway information, whether it be in our local workforce or post-secondary opportunities across Canada and beyond. McGrath is the person to go to when discussing labour trends or industry standards, and when seeking a new cooperative education (co-op) placement or apprenticeship. He is instrumental in supporting our Specialist High Skills Major programs and mentored/trained both the new co-op teacher and computer operator. McGrath takes initiative to promote the wonderful things happening in the school to the community. He invests in people, in and out of school, which results in additional opportunities for BMLSS students. We thank McGrath for his innovation and dedication to making BMLSS a better place for both staff and students.
Paige Taylor is a Grade 10 student at BMLSS. She is an honour roll student who is dedicated to her studies and enthusiastically pursues her goals both in and out of school. Since she was young, Taylor dreamed of becoming an author. She joined a local writing group and after trying out many story lines, she made her dream a reality. In December, Taylor published her first full-length book, a novel called Secrets Wrought in Blood. It is a young adult fantasy novel and is the first installment in the Blood Blade Trilogy. Taylor is already busy working on the second and third installments in the trilogy.
This is an impressive feat for anyone, let alone someone in high school. Her hard work, creativity, and dedication make her an inspiration to her peers. Congratulations to Taylor on becoming a published author. This is a great accomplishment! The staff at BMLSS are very proud of her!
Director’s report
In his report to trustees, director of education, Wes Hahn, highlighted the connections between the TLDSB 2022-2027 Strategic Plan and the professional development occurring across the system. Hahn also noted that bargaining and negotiations with our union and federation groups is ongoing, as well as the preparations for staffing for next school year.
Hahn spoke about the release of the Ontario government budget and funding for education that was recently released. He invited superintendent of Business Services, Tim Ellis, to provide insight into the Ministry of Education’s budget and how TLDSB is planning for the future. Ellis noted that TLDSB continues to create financial alignment between the GSN, the Board Improvement and Equity Plan, and the Strategic Plan as the budget forms the foundation of what areas TLDSB can focus on as a system.
In addition, superintendents of learning, Jennifer Johnston and Jay MacJanet were invited to share their learnings from a recent professional development opportunity they attended. Both Johnston and MacJanet drew connections from what they learned to what is currently taking place within TLDSB. One highlight mentioned was the affirmation that providing system development, which is happening in all areas of our Board, directly supports student learning, as well as the capacity of our leaders.
2022-2023 Board and Committee of the Whole meeting schedule
Board meetings are open to the public to attend at the host location in-person. For virtual access, the meetings are live-streamed and the link is made available on the tldsb.ca website on the day of the meeting.
| Meeting | Date | Time | Location |
| Committee of the Whole | April 11, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Archie Stouffer Elementary School Library |
| Regular Board Meeting | April 25, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Lindsay Education Centre (LEC) |
| Committee of the Whole | May 9, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Muskoka Education Centre (MEC) |
| Regular Board Meeting | May 23, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Lindsay Education Centre (LEC) |
| Regular Board Meeting | June 13, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Muskoka Education Centre (MEC) |
| Regular Board Meeting | August 29, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Lindsay Education Centre (LEC) |
| Committee of the Whole | September 12, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Archie Stouffer Elementary School Library |
| Regular Board Meeting | September 26, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Muskoka Education Centre (MEC) |
| Committee of the Whole | October 10, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Lindsay Education Centre (LEC) |
| Regular Board Meeting | October 24, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Muskoka Education Centre (MEC) |
| Committee of the Whole | November 14, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Archie Stouffer Elementary School Library |
| Regular Board Meeting | November 28, 2023 | 6:30 p.m. | Lindsay Education Centre (LEC) |
| Organizational Meeting of the Board | December 5, 2023 | 6 p.m. | Muskoka Education Centre (MEC) |
