Endorsements - Pam FitzGerald for Trustee

Endorsements

Pam FitzGerald has a real passion for fairness and making sure every child has the support he or she needs to be successful. You can be sure that if there is something that needs fixing, Pam will not quit until the right solution is found and implemented. She is a really dynamic, informed and dedicated person.
Lamar Mason
Former Co-Chair
Special Education Advisory Committee, OCDSB

OCASC Annual General Meeting, May 2005

Pam FitzGerald knows something about kids! She also understands the importance of community and the value that comes when ordinary citizens take a stand in support of meeting the educational needs and requirements of children, especially those most vulnerable.
This is a citizen who has worked tirelessly to ensure that all children and youth are not only well served in the classroom and school yard but also on the streets of their neighbourhoods. She is an articulate, compassionate advocate for an important constituency that is often unable (or uninvited) to speak on its own behalf.
Children, and indeed the community, need people like Pam FitzGerald to remind us that the rights and entitlements of all children are paramount if we hope to build the best possible world for the coming generations.
David Millen,
Past Executive Director
Child & Youth Friendly Ottawa

Pam FitzGerald is a true leader. To have her as a school board trustee would be an incredible asset for Ottawa. She has a great inside view of the complete picture of the school system. She combines imaginative ideas about how to co-create a brighter picture with others with a wonderful way of getting people enthused about what needs to be done, and she is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and work countless hours on the creation of a model school system.
Bart Bakker
Executive Director
Leadership Ottawa

OCASC Annual General Meeting, May 2005

Pam FitzGerald has proven herself to be a tireless supporter of public education and a relentless advocate for children with special needs. From her extensive work with the Ottawa-Carleton Assembly of School Councils and OCDSB committees, she has excellent knowledge of our school system. She puts her heart and soul into improving our school system.
John Perkin
Bells Corners parent

Through my involvement as my school council's representative to OCASC, I have known Pam FitzGerald since 2000. I have seen her demonstrate a thorough understanding of the issues of education; and great dedication and effort as an advocate for the needs of public education in the OCDSB and with the Ministry of Education during very difficult and contentious economic and political times for education. Pam's knowledge of the education system, her tremendous analytical ability, combined with her skill as a conciliator, the imagination and energy she brings to the work at hand and the compassion she has for the needs of children are evidence of her superior skills.
Stephen De Witt
Former OCASC Representative
Agincourt Road Public School

In the 13 years that I have known Pam, she has never wavered in her commitment to strengthening public education. Pam's intelligence, experience and determination will be an asset to the Board of Trustees.
Mary Ann Jenkins
Social Worker

Pam is a fearless and tireless advocate for public education. Her courage, passion, vision and expertise are desperately needed on the Board, and I was thrilled to hear she's running for Trustee in Zone 5. Pam's many years of outstanding work as a parent volunteer has directly or indirectly benefited all children in Ottawa's education system. Make her a Trustee, and watch her confront the issues and hold accountable the people who shape education policy in our community.
Jeff Esau
Former Chair, Osgoode Township HS School Council

Pam cares deeply about the issues and is committed to enabling communities to improve what can otherwise seem like formidable circumstances. Electors will have in Pam an effective and responsive Trustee and she has my unqualified support.
Rob Campbell
Former Chair
OCASC

I have known Pam FitzGerald for many years as a skilled and passionate education advocate and I would fully endorse her candidacy for Zone 5 trustee. After years analyzing provincial and local educational issues, she has gained an in-depth knowledge of the complexities of the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, its financing structure and how it meets its mandate. This knowledge, combined with her familiarity and long term working relationships with senior administration and trustees will ensure that she is able to represent the divergent needs of the most vulnerable children in the education system as well as addressing the fiscal concerns of Zone 5 taxpayers.
Michelle Parks
Former Community Representative
Children and Youth at Risk Advisory Committee, OCDSB

I strongly endorse Pam FitzGerald as a candidate for trustee of the OCDSB.
She has been very dedicated volunteer on school issues for several years as a school council chair, a member of the board’s Special Education Committee, and Chair of the Ottawa Carleton Assembly of School Councils (OCASC) from 2003 to 2005. I can’t think of anyone in Ottawa who has put more volunteer time into school council and school board issues in the last three years.
Pam knows the issues, is articulate and can constructively contribute to the debate on current school concerns. She is one of the few parents you find sitting in the audience of late evening board meetings.
John MacLatchy
Former CoChair of Secondary Schools Committee (OCASC) 2002-2005
Member of Briargreen Primary School, Greenbank Middle School, Sir Robert Borden High School Councils 1998-2006

I have served on various school councils with Pam FitzGerald for over twelve years. It’s not just her depth knowledge of issues that has impressed me over the years, but rather it’s her innovative thinking and remarkably insightful way of looking at those issues.
With a strong set of leadership skills, Pam is able unite people and move ahead with a fair and balanced approach on many of today’s tough issues facing school boards.
Without hesitation, I give her my whole-hearted endorsement.
Catherine Knoll, MBA
Served on the following Boards (all in a financial capacity)
Carleton Preschool 1994-1996
Featherston School Council 1998-2000
Hopewell School Council 2001-2006 (Treasurer 2002-2006)

Pam is a wonderfully effective, knowledgeable and compassionate Trustee
I have watched her in action at countless Board meetings over the past eight years, first in her role as chair of the Assembly of School Councils (OCASC) and then as Trustee. I have been both impressed and heartened by Pam’s deep understanding of the school system, and her unwavering focus on the needs of our most vulnerable students. Her vote has helped make the difference more than once in saving English as a Second Language and Multicultural Liaison Officer programs which benefit our newest students and their families. She is passionate about advocating for children with special needs across the spectrum. We need her continuing voice in 2010!
Carolyn Bullock, member of the OCDSB’s advisory committee on Equity and Diversity since 1998, Alternate for the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, and retired ESL teacher.