Willowdale trustee Alexander Brown has been elected as the new chair of the Toronto District School Board.
Brown was elected during a special meeting of the board Monday afternoon. He replaces Robin Pilkey, who has been in the role for five years. Pilkey is stepping down as chair but will continue to serve as a trustee for Ward 7.
Brown, the Ward 12 trustee, takes over as chair of the board during a challenging time. The TDSB has just released a plan for re-opening schools in September following a shutdown for the COVID -19 pandemic.
The board is doing its best to implement safety measures to safely reopen schools but it has noted itself that the reopening plan is underfunded and has appealed to the provincial government to provide more funding to enable social distancing in the classroom.
The board is also in the midst of a search to find a new permanent director of education. Interim director Carlene Jackson has been on the job since mid-July but has since said that she will leave by Oct. 9 to take a job as Ontario’s comptroller general.
In a statement, Brown said he is “honoured” to be elected as chair during “this historic moment in our board’s history.”
“As we look ahead and prepare to meet the challenges of reopening our schools in September, it is imperative that we continue advocating for funding from the province for key issues like smaller class sizes and necessary capital improvements so that our schools are as safe as possible for staff, students and the community,” Brown said.
Brown has been a TDSB trustee since 2014. According to an online bio, he has worked as an ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor, a career councillor, a social justice advocate, and an environmental activist.
Brown takes over as chair effective immediately. The current term for the chair ends on Nov. 14, 2020.
