Peel board director Tony Pontes to retire
Board begins search process for new director
MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Director of Education Tony Pontes is retiring from the Peel District School Board, effective Aug. 31, 2017. Pontes has held the role since March 2010. The board will now begin a search process for a new director of education.
Pontes has spent his entire career in the Peel board. He began his career in 1978 as a teacher of mathematics and woodworking at the then J. A. Turner Secondary School. After his time as a teacher, department head and vice-principal, Pontes became principal of Chinguacousy Secondary School, followed by Mayfield Secondary School. In 2000, he became a superintendent of education, where he had the opportunity to serve as both an elementary and secondary superintendent. In 2009, he became superintendent of staff development and school support services at the HJA Brown Education Centre. He has been active beyond the board in both the Ontario Public Supervisory Officers' Association and the Council of Ontario Directors of Education.
Notes Janet McDougald, chair of the board, "Tonight the board accepted the retirement of Tony Pontes. Since becoming director six years ago—and indeed in his entire career with Peel—Tony has focused first and foremost on a sincere desire to support students. He has done so with integrity, kindness, optimism and genuine hard work. He leaves the Peel board with a legacy that includes our new Plan for Student Success, a renewed instructional focus on math, a powerful implementation of Bring Your Own Device and vision for modern learning, and a system commitment to mental health and well-being. Without question, he has also personally demonstrated a bold, fearless and unwavering commitment to real progress on inclusion in all forms, and has helped make Peel a national leader in equity. We thank Tony for his personal and professional dedication to the children of Peel—he truly is someone who each day lives and breathes the Peel board mission to inspire success, confidence and hope in each student. He will be missed in Peel—and we wish him every success in his well-deserved retirement."
The board will now begin a formal search process for a new director of education. That process includes hiring an external search firm, and consulting internally and externally on the qualities and characteristics for the new director. The board expects the new director to be in place in May 2017.
Says McDougald, "As a board, we want to ensure that this search is comprehensive—that we do all we can to select the right leader to take this board forward and continue our work in the Plan for Student Success. We are confident that process will be complete and a new director in place by the end of May 2017, so we can provide stability to the system for the next school year."
The Peel board serves more than 153,700 students in kindergarten to grade 12. Operating 250 schools in the municipalities of Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga, the Peel board is the largest employer in Peel and the second largest school board in Canada. The board's annual budget is $1.77 billion. For more information, visit the Peel board's website at www.peelschools.org.
SOURCE Peel District School Board
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Media contact: Janet McDougald, Chair of the Board, 905-278-1402; Reference: Brian Woodland, Director of Communications and Community Relations, Support Services, 905-890-1010, ext. 2812
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