Kathleen Garner Superintendent Toronto District School Board 5050 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8 Dear Kathleen Garner: We understand that John Fisher PS teacher Jean-Aimé Lalonde has made the decision to change schools due to a misunderstanding between a few members of the community and him. We feel that his decision was made in haste, especially since all concerned authorities dismissed this misunderstanding and ruled Jean-Aimé is fit to continue teaching at our school. In an effort to avoid further conflict between the parent community and teaching staff at John Fisher, Jean-Aimé has decided to leave the school, in spite of his dedication and love for our community. We, the teaching staff at John Fisher, have not been consulted, and we understand that there is no obligation to consult us on this matter. Nonetheless, we would like to make our views known. • We appreciate our colleague Jean-Aimé for the immensely valuable contributions to the school he has made and continues to make every year and how strongly the students benefit from his programs • Few gym teachers possess his extraordinary background and profound pedagogical understanding in sports and movement • He is a native French speaker, which is rare and so valuable in the French Immersion environment • He is consistently building team spirit, both for teachers and students • He is always ready and willing to help his colleagues in any way he can (e.g., sharing his work space to accommodate varied initiatives) • He has dedicated his endless passion and given up his personal time for the school community by organising events as Jump Rope for Heart, Track and Field or Cross Country • He takes the lead with the aforementioned established school events but also introduces new and upcoming sports such as Kinball, founded in Canada and played internationally, or takes a supportive role in huge events like The Terry Fox Run • He incorporated seamless classroom management techniques which many of us frequently took back and incorporated readily and successfully into our own teaching We could continue listing all he has accomplished for the school for many, many more pages. IN a nutshell, it would be difficult to find someone who takes on these huge tasks with as much joy and attention to all the fine details as Jean-Aimé does. Many of us sat in wonder in the gym whenever we had the opportunity to watch our students in Jean-Aimé's program. The children's joy at their successes was palpable, but it was also clear to us that the children were also having fun. From a pedagogical standpoint, they were systematically and effectively building their strength and developing their skills. He is a gifted, intuitive teacher, who is also armed with an extraordinary wealth of background experience in sports, dance, pedagogy and the arts, which informs the way he sets parameters, challenges and behavioural expectations in his programs. We know that it has been a difficult time for our colleague and we feel that it would be best if he were able to heal from the hurt amongst friends and colleagues. We are concerned when we see that a highly valued member of our school should be made to feel that the best choice is to leave when he was perfectly content at John Fisher PS. And we are also concerned that if this is allowed to happen, we are all vulnerable to the whim of a few that, through persistence and threats, obtain an unjust result to their unfair demands. John Fisher PS is a school built on understanding and collaboration between parents, students, administration and teachers. We strongly feel that the unfair pressure from a very limited group of parents will result in a great loss for our teaching staff and for all the students at our school. Investigations have been conducted, Jean-Aimé is cleared to continue his phenomenal work and yet, this limited group of parents is set to impose their views on a matter that will affect us all. This is NOT how we build our school. Losing Jean-Aimé for the sake of avoiding a potential public relations fight is not how we operate. On the contrary, when one of us is under stress or subjected to injustice, we all come together and work for the best result for all, not for a few, no matter how loud those few may become. We are aware that Jean-Aimé has expressed his intention to change schools for the next school year. We would appreciate it if you could help us keep him as part of the teaching staff at John Fisher Public School. Our school needs teachers like him. Thank you for your consideration, The Staff at John Fisher. Cc: Marlene Harroun, Principal JFPS Jessica Feldberg, Vice-Principal JFPS Jean-Aimé Lalonde, Teacher JFPS Helen Victoros, ETT Executive Officer

With the changing times, many have become more accepting to unnatural hair color or styles in the workplace.I feel that it is important for employees to express themselves and their character while still being in a uniform. A change in the dress code policy to allow unnatural haircolor would help.

The reason I believe this is important because I care for my hands. I have always used color on my fingers as part of my personality. I accepted this as the part of my job I hate. Which says my job is great! The public sees our hands a lot! But I see so many women express themselves with color. It causes connections in our stores. Imagine how much more connected we can be to have another topic to discuss with our customers.

I love my job at Starbucks, but being such an inclusive company and not allowing us to fully express ourselves makes us not feel as individualized as we should. The Green Apron is a trademark for Starbucks, so it shouldn't matter what color hair we have. It is now 2015, personalities bigger, and individuality shrinking. Having multicolored bright hair isn't distracting, it's personal. Thank you for okay-ing tattoos but this is the next step we need to take.

To improve working quality of the employees and provide incentives for better quality work.

Not having access to this bathroom means that we have to take time out of our short breaks to walk across the whole store to go to the other bathroom, if it is open at all. Having these bathrooms open and available would greatly improve the work day of associates who have medical issues that require immediate access to restrooms.

THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US BECAUSE WE HAVE IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO NEED TO VISIT SICK GRANDMA AND GRANDPA, WHO WANT TO BE THERE DURING FAMILY REUNION WHO WE HAVE NOT SEEN IN YEARS, AND WHO WANT TO BE THERE DURING THE GRADUATION OF OUR GRANDCHILDREN. I HAVE A MOTHER WHO IS 93 YRS. OLD WHO LIVES IN SFO AND I HAVE TO FLY MY SIBLINGS FROM JAPAN, PHILIPPINES, LAS VEGAS, AND MYSELF FROM PANAMA TO VISIT HER EVERY YEAR.

IT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE WE NOW HAVE LOST OUR SENORITY OF TRAVEL FOR THE STANDBY LIST AND THE AMOUNT OF TRAVEL PASSES WE NOW GET. WHICH WAS WHAT DETERNED EVERYTHING WITH OUR BENEFIT FOR AMERICAN AIRLINES TRAVEL . WE GAVE ALL THOSE YEARS TO BE TRAETED LIKE WE MEANT NOTHING. WE ARE TREAT LIKE WE ARE LOWER THAN A DOG!!!! WE EARNED THIS BENEFIT. FLYING IS SO IMPORTANT TO US AND WHERE WE ARE PLACED ON THE STANDBY LIST.

New travel policy is unfair

I continue to sell American to all business associates, family and friends. I'm supporting the New American Airlines, but need to believe we can make The New American a leader again.

It is soooo important to have benefits. It makes the employee feel appreciated, valued, and respected. It's good for physical and mental health. It is just common sense. !!!!!!!

Despite rising tuition costs, the majority of faculty continue to be underpaid, underrepresented, and lack any type of job security. At Point Park, we pay between $24,000 and $30,000 a year in tuition. Our adjunct professors on the other hand, receive $2,100 to $2,200 per course with NO benefits and no guarantee of future employment. As students we must ask ourselves where does the money go? If not to those working day-in and day-out to impart us with the necessary skills for our futures then where? 78% of our professors are adjuncts. An increased use of adjuncts lowers graduation rates. This is only because they are not receiving the benefits and compensation they deserve. By giving our adjuncts space on campus, bettering adjunct working conditions, increasing adjunct pay this can be remedied. This would free up adjunct schedules allowing more time for them to focus on a reasonable number of students, and provide the quality education they strive to give. Graduation rates would rise as students would be granted much needed one on one time to work with their professors. In respect to the treatment of our professors the University is not looking out for the students. By withholding from our professors the fair treatment, job security, proper benefits, and proper pay that they deserve not only are our chances of success during college hampered, but our futures as well. They are ignoring student needs and completely disregarding the values in which they espouse. [1] Point Park University. "Tuition." Accessed February 9, 2014. http://www.pointpark.edu/About/TuitionCosts/Tuition. [2] Schackner, Bill. "Colleges are hiring more adjunct professors." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Last modified April 5, 2013. http://www.post-gazette.com/education/2013/04/05/Colleges-are-hiring-more-adjunct-professors/stories/201304050117#ixzz2l3DZcF9n. [3] Erdley, Debra. "Adjunct teachers prop up higher education, seek rights." TribLIVE.com. Last modified March 31, 2013. http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_789221.html#axzz2kMocQdqO. [4] Kezar, Adrianna, Daniel Maxey, and Lara Badke. "The Imperative for Change." University of Southern California. Last modified 2012. http://imperative.thechangingfaculty.org/.