By Tim Lambrinos
On October 22, 2018, Ida Li Preti was victorious in her inaugural election campaign, upsetting long time Catholic school trustee, Sal Piccininni.
Indeed, she’s had big shoes to fill and has done so admirably in her first complete year in public office as Toronto Catholic District School Board Trustee for Ward 3.
Li Preti oversees educational aspects at Emery’s Catholic elementary schools and high schools. The elementary schools that she oversees are Venerable John Merlini on Whitfield Avenue, St. Roch’s on Duncanwoods, St. Jude’s on Weston Road and St. Simon’s on Strathburn Boulevard. Her sole Catholic secondary school in the Emery catchment area is St. Basil’s the Great that is located on Starview Lane, just off Weston Road.
She was recently instrumental in assisting Venerable John Merlini school in planting new trees at Rowntree Mills Park and now is assisting St. Roch’s school to follow the same path.
Li Preti is a mother of three young children, ages three to seven. Her real life experiences transcend well, helping her relate to the current needs of stakeholders and their children’s schooling.
Li Preti has developed a communication system, along with colleague Christopher Mammoliti, to help understand the needs of each local community. Their joint-goals approach has been designed by both trustees and proven to work well within each respective community.
Her father was a well-known elected official in Emery’s neighbouring communities to the east. Peter Li Preti had actually been a practicing psychometrist before getting into politics. He won many elections as a City Councillor over many years in the Jane-Finch area and pioneered such measures as extending the current subway line up to Finch and beyond. However, this measure was completed only after he left politics.
Ida Li Preti is currently working on a mission that is helping refurbish the Catholic school education system. She feels there needs to be more after school programs that are helpful in assisting busy schedules of working moms and working parents.
She is utilizing a functioning concept that the more involved a parent becomes in the student life, the higher the individual grades become and the more the school is held accountable. She feels that extra involvement by parents creates better overall growth in all academic pursuits of children.
Li Preti has organized a number of local Catholic Parent Involvement Committee meetings and finds them essential in maintaining a positive growth environment in education. She finds that she can relate much more effectively to parents so that any information coming from the board can be brought back to the board and communicated back to them, as well.
“Parents want to see accountability, transparency and results from their elected officials. I believe that it is best done by listening to the specific concerns of parents and then creating and communicating positive actions to the board,” she said.
Feel free to contact Li Preti by telephone at (416) 512-3403, or by email: ida.lipreti@tcdsb.org.