Marnie Van Esbroeck for AMDSB Trustee

10/06/2026

🚨Childcare waitlists are worse, NOT better🚨

Last week, the federal Liberals made another announcement📣 the people who won the childcare lottery might be able to keep their space, but those waiting, you get nothing.

A $12-billion announcement is not a workforce plan.

The federal Liberals are celebrating a four-year child-care funding extension. But the announcement includes no new wage commitments for educators—and without educators, there are no spaces for families.

This week, workers at five Toronto child-care centres were locked out during a labour dispute. Their concerns include wages, working conditions and staffing practices. That dispute is between workers and their employer, but it shows how fragile access can be when the people caring for our kids aren’t supported.

Ontario is already facing an estimated shortage of 10,000 early childhood educators.

We need practical solutions:

* Put funding where it follows families to any licensed child-care provider.
* Support educators so centres can recruit and retain the people needed to keep rooms open.
* Create spaces where demand and waitlists are highest.
* Cut red tape and give operators predictable funding.
* Track results so families can see whether access is actually improving.

Affordable care means nothing if families can’t get a spot.

Visit www.yourchildcare.ca to see the solutions and share your experience. Let’s push for a child-care system that works for families, educators and the providers delivering.

09/27/2026

09/22/2026

I thought it was interesting that Superintendent Morris shared that Brookside PS will be getting a BASP in January 👏 but made no mention of the program closures at Huron Centennial or Goderich PS.

09/22/2026

$264 million is a BIG number.

That’s roughly the size of AMDSB’s operating budget for the 2026–27 school year.

But here’s what I keep thinking about: how many families actually know where that money goes?

I’ll admit, school board budgets aren’t exactly light reading. 😂

There are pages and pages of numbers, funding categories, restrictions and terminology. And to be fair, trustees can’t simply decide where every dollar goes. A lot of education funding comes with provincial rules around how it can be used.

But that doesn’t mean families shouldn’t be able to understand it.

When we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in public education funding, I think we should be able to explain the big picture in a way people can actually follow.

Where is the money going?

What are we investing in?

What pressures are schools facing?

And when difficult budget decisions have to be made, what does that mean for students?

I’m curious about this one:

Do you feel like you understand how our school board spends its money?

And what information would you actually want to see?

📌 Source: Avon Maitland District School Board, 2026–27 Budget

09/11/2026

The first AMDSB board meeting will be held on September 22 at 4:45pm at the board office in Seaforth.

🙋 🙋‍♀️ Do you have concerns you'd like to discuss? Transportation issues? Special Education needs? Lack of Before and After school care?

If you would like to speak to the current board of trustees, CEO and superintendents, you can submit a request for a delegation. A "delegation" is simply when a member of the community asks to speak at a meeting.

📧 To be added to the agenda email: [email protected] and include the topic of your concern. A written statement to be added to the board package must be emailed by noon on the Monday before the meeting.

🎤Delegations always present at the beginning of the meeting (4;50pm or so). However, since that meeting time is difficult for many people to attend, you could ask if you could delegate virtually (on Teams) or ask to present later in the agenda. I'm not sure if this has been requested in the past, but it would be worth it to ask.

🕰️ A new board of trustees will be sworn in in November. As trustee for South Huron, one of my first motions will be to change the meeting time so that meetings are more accessible to parents to attend. They are streamed live, but not recorded at this time. A meeting link to join live is published online on the day of the meeting: https://www.amdsb.ca/apps/pages/boardmeetings

You are given 10 minutes for your presentation, and that includes time for the trustees to ask any clarification questions. You will receive a written response from the chair within 30 days.

📰 By speaking at a board meeting, your concern is documented on the record (in the meeting minutes) and Kelsey Bent from Midwestern News will be in attendance to report on matters discussed at the meeting.

If you have questions or need support with your written materials, please reach out. I'm happy to help!

09/11/2026

Helen Nott who lives in Huronview Clinton will be 100 October 13 , and her family would love to see her receive 100 cards. This would make her day extra special. If you are interested please send a card to Helen Nott Box 1146 Seaforth NOK1WO or just drop it off at 8 Alexander street in the mail box at front door or drop it off at our Branch and we will make sure Helen receives the cards. Helen’s husband Mervin was a veteran at our Branch so let’s show Helen some love and help make her 100th birthday the most special one yet!

09/08/2026

Happy First Day Back to School!

I've just learned that the Limestone DSB (Kingston & area) is now working on piloting their own board operated before and after school programs. Lakehead DSB (Thunder Bay) is expanding their board operated BASP from 3 to 6. School boards across Ontario are starting to realize the benefits of this model. Theese two boards join the growing list of school boards (Waterloo Public & Catholic, Halton DSB, Toronto DSB, Ottawa-Carleton DSB) that operate their own child care programs when a third party is not available

Please follow B2C2 for updates as they will be hosting an informational webinar for parents in the Fall on the benefits of board operated extended day programs.

09/04/2026

I’m pleased to share that The Trees & Me Forest School received approval for all extended day programs to move forward next week, including Exeter Elementary, who received an email Wednesday.

I have always believed in the importance of under-promising and over-delivering. So when Avon Maitland District School Board announced in December 2025 that the program would return before the end of the school year, I was surprised to learn this summer that Ministry approvals were still pending.

If you haven’t guessed it, I’m a bit type A, so finding out a week before school starts that programs are ready to launch was a relief but also frustrating that it took this long. I know most parents had already made other arrangements, which meant we were having to make difficult decisions and having uncomfortable conversations.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the work that has gone into making this happen! Unfortunately, I believe there is a waitlist at EES (and possibly others?), but for now many of us are celebrating the return of extended day programs to our schools.

Our work doesn’t end here. There are still 6 AMDSB schools (50%) without any form of BASP (and even more catholic schools) in Huron County: Goderich PS, Huron Centennial ES, Hullett Central ES, Stephen Central, Brookside ES and North Woods ES have no programs.

The staffing challenges don’t go away. It’s difficult to recruit for part-time split shift work. If we were designing the public education model today, no one would design it this way. We need better support from the school board, and all levels of government so that extended day programs are accessible and reliable.

Avon Maitland District School Board Lisa Thompson Paul Calandra FordNation

09/02/2026

Friends, show some support for Alysha for AMDSB trustee!

Hello!

I thought I should introduce myself.

I am Alysha Dowson. Born and raised in Huron County. I attended Huron Centennial and CHSS. After high school I completed a degree in Adult Development, Families and Wellbeing at the University of Guelph. I then completed my Bachelors of Social Work at Waterloo University.

I started my working career with Community Living Central Huron. From there I took a job working with the Centre for Employment and Learning within AMDSB. While there I worked with the Youth Employment Programs which allowed me to gain valuable skills and knowledge with both local employers and employees. For the last 4 years I have been working in private education. In my most recent role I have learned a lot about the Ministry of Education. I have also heard numerous examples of students, and parents, experiences with multiple public (and private) school boards.

I have over a decade of invaluable work experience within the school system, but I also have a personal connection to AMDSB, as a parent of a grade 2 student. My hope as School Board Trustee is that I can not only support my daughters experience for the next 11 years, but also the experience for your children, and our community.

Please comment below with any questions, concerns/issues you are experiencing that you would like the School Board to know about. Or you can just say hi! I look forward to hearing from YOU!

08/28/2026

I too am grade 13 old.