A school trustee in Ontario acts as a locally elected community advocate who helps govern a publicly funded school board. I sent all the Ward 3 Trustee candidates the same ten questions, and three of them responded:
Larry Pattison
Kory Preston
Meagan Shanahan
Read their full answers below! Unfortunately, Frank Crowder, the 4th candidate did not respond and has not engaged with Crown Point Kidz. You can vote for the Ward 3 Trustee on October 26th 2026 (Municipal Election).
"I represented Ward 3 for four years, so I've been part of some pretty difficult conversations about our schools, closures and consolidations, aging buildings, declining enrolment, special education, transportation, school boundaries and making sure inner-city schools get their fair share of resources.
But I also don't want to pretend that because I was trustee eight years ago, I automatically know everything happening in our schools today. A lot has changed."
"Public education has shaped both my personal and professional life. My father worked as a maintenance worker in an elementary school, and from an early age I understood the important role schools play in supporting students, families, and entire communities. My campaign is built around a simple belief: Safe Schools. Strong Communities. Student Success."
"I plan to listen to families, community members, students, and educators in our schools and follow through on action. I deeply value building trusting relationships by emphasizing the expertise in lived and living experiences of parents and students and finding engagement methods comfortable for them to reach shared goals of change and improvement in Ward 3 schools."
In the dead of Winter, I cozied up on my couch, and my evening hobby became reading other School Council meeting minutes. I started researching other schools to find out what they were raising money for, what kinds of events and fundraisers they were hosting, and how parents got involved across Hamilton.
My research showed how parents plan, and that most School Councils raise money for field trips costs, tech, playground enhancements, and library or classroom resources. All schools are supposed to post their end of year report and this is where I found most of the information below.
Tiffany Hills Elementary School raised over $21,943 by hosting a Cake Walk, Silent Auction, and working with partners such as Factory Shoes and Scholastics.
Allan A Greenleaf fundraised over $19,000 in 2026. Naturally, I was impressed, but recognize the different demographics and enrollment sizes.
Adelaide Hoodless’ successful fundraisers helped them buy laptops for their tech carts, tricycles for the kindies, and pay for extracurricular club expenses.
Viola Desmond School accomplished an incredible and inspiring feat! Their May 2026 minutes showed that School Council purchased 60 iPads and 50 laptops!
Various other schools purchased school equipment like balls, rugs and whiteboards with their fundraising money.
Improving school grounds IS possible! With support from teachers, admin, parents, Ward Councillors, funders and community groups. Here are som recent examples of successful initiatives.
In the 2025/2026 School Year, I applied for a dozen grants and secured over $10,000 plus a $250,000+ partnership for Memorial School.
These were the grants we recieved:
ChariTree: $5,000 for outdoor classroom materials (blackboards) https://www.charitree-foundation.org/
Ward 3 Community Resilience Grants: $2,500 in the Fall, and $1,700 in the Spring
900 CHML Children's Fund: $900 for STEM kits https://rotaryclubhamilton.ca/childrens-fund/
Green Cities Foundation: (matching grant up to $2,500) to beautify the front gardens https://www.gcfoundation.ca/
Plus, all schools get the Parents Reaching Out (Pro) Grant if you apply (usually up to $1,000).
There are other grants that I've secured in the past for other schools and not for profits. Consider these for you school initiatives:
Get organized by putting grants, deadlines and your desires in a spreadsheet
Run the application by the Principal as they are the ones who will spend the money
Use the Hamilton Foundation for Student Success as the "applicant" as it's the charity for the HWDSB.
In addition to the grants, I worked closely with the Ward 3 office to secure over $250,000 for a new play structure at Memorial School. A few parents delegated at City Council, many wrote letters and we advocated to see improvements!
Watch the Delegation on YouTube :)