Hello,
I hope that you and your family have enjoyed a safe and relaxing summer. We look forward to welcoming back our TCDSB students on September 9.
During the past several months, I have worked closely with our local community health care partners: Black Creek Community Health Center, Humber River Hospital, and Global Medics hosting and organizing COVID-19 pop-up clinics throughout the Humber River-Black Creek community. These clinics provided accessible vaccines for our community members and they proved to be a resounding success. If you have not received your COVID-19 vaccine, please follow me on social media: Twitter: @idapreti, where I will continue to post information about upcoming vaccination clinics. 
As the Toronto Catholic District School Board prepares for the upcoming school year, we continue to keep student well-being and achievement and, health and safety as our top priorities. We will continue to follow the advice and guidance of Toronto Public Health and the Ministry of Education to support a successful 2021/22 academic experience. Families and community stakeholders are vital and play a critical role in the success of our local school communities. We have held many consultations throughout the past few months to better understand how we can continue improving our students and staff to be safe. If you are a parent of an elementary or secondary school student, please consider joining your local school community’s CSPC (School Parent Council). This will enable your voice to be heard and, in turn, keep the school and be accountable to you as a community stakeholder.
As your local School Trustee, I will continue to advocate for improvements in our Ward 3 schools. Over the summer, St. Jude CS has seen major improvements and significant work being completed, which includes: replacement and repairs of windows, ventilation upgrades, playground upgrades, PA system replacement, CCTV camera installation, and much more. We are also completing preliminary plans for a new childcare facility. Further improvements in Emery include the new daycare facility at St. Roch CS which is almost complete and where significant work continues to be done with ventilation upgrades. St. Basil the Great and Venerable John Merlini are also completing HVAC, Mechanical and/or ventilation upgrades.
We also continue to update our website with all relevant information. Please visit www.tcdsb.org, where you can access up-to-date Frequently Asked Questions and the latest Return to School information for the upcoming school year.
Our school board and staff at TCDSB have also committed to anti-racism and anti-discrimination training. We have made intentional decisions to allocate resources to these important endeavours, one of which is the Anti-Racism Initiative that promotes proactive steps and programs to fight local and systemic racism. Our ongoing commitment to anti-racist education aims to ensure that everyone feels a sense of belonging and is encouraged and supported to thrive and succeed to the best of their abilities. For more information about TCDSB’s anti-racism resources and programs, visit The Ark | Equity, Diversity, & Indigenous Education. As well, our professional support workers (psychologists, social workers, and mental health professionals) continue to help our students who are struggling, as mental health and student well-being remain top priorities for both our in-person and distance learners. Please connect with your local school administration if you are concerned about your child’s mental health so we can help get the support they need.
As always, I am available at your convenience. You can reach me by phone at: (416) 884-9644
Or by email at: ida.lipreti@tcdsb.org
Yours in partnership,
Ida Li Preti
TCDSB trustee
Humber River - Black Creek