Meet your Ward 5 trustee candidates

Elina Feyginberg

I've spent more than 12 years in public safety, working with youth and families to build stronger, safer communities. I also manage an insurance brokerage and lead a team, so I understand fiscal accountability and organizational management. I grew up in the riding and went to TDSB elementary and high schools. Friends with children in local schools have told me about safety and fiscal concerns, and I want to be part of the desperately needed changes in our schools.

Andrene Gregory

I'm not a career politician, but I already do much of the civic and intellectual work elected officials are supposed to do. As a writer and journalist, I know how to dig into issues and explain them plainly, and my background in philosophy and English made me a critical thinker who questions assumptions. I've been a life coach and community advocate, sat on my daughters' school councils, and learned the system as the parent of a child diagnosed with ADHD. My daughters live and work in the riding, my granddaughter goes to school here, and one of my nieces went to Chester.

Jared Kolb

I've lived in the Monarch Park area for 10 years and have two kids at Roden Public School, in Grades 2 and 4. I've been on the Roden School Council for three years and am Co-Chair again this year. As Executive Director of Cycle Toronto, I spent years pushing for protected bike lanes on Danforth, which were approved by the time I left in 2019. I have nearly two decades of non-profit leadership, and I've built my career on helping others make change.

Maureen Larkin

I have extensive experience in both grassroots community organizing and provincial governance and politics. As Constituency Assistant to MPP Chris Glover, I helped families navigate the education system, including special-needs services, and fought for them when needed. I live in Spadina-Fort York, in the Esplanade neighbourhood, my home for 20 years. I sit on the Longboat Area Residents Association board, and co-chaired the Market Lane JSPS School Council from 2022 to 2024. My child started Middle French Immersion at Dundas JPS and now attends Queen Alexandra MS; the relationships we've built make Riverside feel like a second home, and I have family ties to William Burgess ES in East York.

Andrew Massey

I'm one of you: a TDSB parent to a son in Grade 2, in the same downtown apartment since 2015. I'm an active community volunteer and have run for office twice. As a renter balancing family, work and community, I know raising a family downtown is hard. I work as a technical writer, turning complex details into plain language, and in Ward 5, the most diverse area in Canada, clear communication is critical.

Gus Stefanis

I'm a concerned parent who works as a consultant and project manager, and I'll use those skills as a trustee to benefit the TDSB. I grew up in the riding and attended William Burgess Elementary and Westwood Middle School.

Jennifer Volk

I've lived in this ward most of my adult life and have been very active in the school and parent community. I've served 14 years on parent councils at every level, was Ward 15's PIAC representative, and helped found East End Parents for Education and the Toronto Education Advocacy Network.

Elina Feyginberg

To be the liaison between parents and the TDSB: a local voice for parents and guardians who keeps the board accountable to community needs and keeps communication open, allowing a more proactive approach.

Andrene Gregory

The trustee is a bridge between the community and the board, and between the board and government. The most important job is making sure students get a quality education: holding people accountable and advocating for teachers and families. Second is the budget: guiding spending and asking tough questions for transparency and efficiency.

Jared Kolb

We don't yet know exactly what trustees will do under the TDSB's new structure. For me, the job is to listen to parents and the community and represent them, and to advocate for aiming higher: the best publicly funded education system in Canada.

Maureen Larkin

Under provincial supervision, it's unclear what trustees will be allowed to do. Whatever happens, I see two key roles: an expert system navigator, helping parents advocate for their children and connecting them with educators and superintendents; and an education policy advisor, bringing local data and stories to MPPs at Queen's Park.

Andrew Massey

The role isn't what it used to be. Under provincial supervision, trustees have lost their budget and bargaining powers. But the role is fundamentally about giving parents a voice: practising good governance, calling out bad policy, and pushing hard for what our communities need. Supervision is deeply unpopular, and it won't last forever.

Gus Stefanis

Informing parents and addressing their concerns.

Jennifer Volk

Accountability. Trustees don't run schools day to day, but they're the ones families can hold responsible when the board isn't listening. My job is to listen to the community, make sure decisions are made in the open, see that data like climate surveys and program access gets reported, and make sure someone answers when something isn't working. Our first step is ending supervision and giving a voice back to trustees and, in turn, the community.

Elina Feyginberg

Managing budget shortfalls against community expectations. I'd push for responsible asset management and fiscal accountability, hold public consultations, and keep open communication with parent councils.

Andrene Gregory

Beyond the province taking control of the TDSB, it's getting teachers the support they need to stay focused on teaching. The challenge is not to promise what you can't deliver: know what you can and can't do, listen to constituents, and manage expectations with the facts.

Jared Kolb

Capacity. The new ward combines Spadina-Fort York and Toronto-Danforth, with 240,000 residents and 40 TDSB schools, while trustee pay has dropped to $10,000 a year. I'll keep my full-time job at Green Communities Canada and dedicate my Fridays off to trustee work, plus evenings and weekends as needed.

Maureen Larkin

The province's failure to properly fund our schools, including a $6 billion inflationary cut to annual funding. I'll talk directly with parents, educators and community groups to learn each school's needs, work with fellow trustees on community-informed, fiscally responsible, equity-focused strategies for the Board's resources, and mobilize families to stand up for public schools alongside communities across Ontario.

Andrew Massey

The new wards are ridiculous. By my count Ward 5 has 48 schools, and serving them all is an impossible task. The biggest challenge is balancing community expectations with how little trustees can realistically still do. Parents, I'll keep it real: watch out for candidates who promise too much.

Gus Stefanis

Classrooms and school events have become vehicles for political and ideological content, especially sex-ed content parents have long opposed, gender-identity theory taught outside health class, and Critical Race Theory and equity frameworks that sort students by race. I'd push to limit flags to national and provincial ones, remove ideological material from instruction and events, restore parental notification and opt-out rights, and oppose CRT-style teaching that treats children as oppressors or victims by race. Trustees have limited power under supervision, but I'd still use the role to represent parents and press for these changes.

Jennifer Volk

Provincial underfunding is the biggest threat to our schools, and the proposed changes stripping trustees of budget votes make it harder to fight. My answer is the one I've used for 14 years: organize. Build coalitions with parents, other trustees and the community so we're too loud for the province to ignore. Together we stopped trustees from being removed altogether.

Elina Feyginberg

1. Safety of all students
2. Quality education for all students
3. Be a voice for parents and guardians, with open communication on safety, budget and quality of education

Andrene Gregory

Four pillars under the banner “Raise the Standard”:

1. Education enrichment: strong learning for every student
2. Quality of care: support that helps students and educators thrive
3. Accountability: responsible decisions, clear results
4. Opportunities: more pathways, brighter futures

Jared Kolb

1. Aim higher: restore funding, then go further, with Scandinavian-style smaller classes (10 or 15 to 1) and much more support for kids with learning and behavioural challenges
2. Follow what works: more paper, workbooks and pencils instead of screens, and more small-group teaching with teachers and educational assistants
3. Make every dollar count: speed up work on the TDSB's repair backlog of at least $4.45 billion, and build a stronger culture of parent volunteering

Maureen Larkin

1. Be accessible to everyone in Ward 5 and help them navigate the public education system
2. Advise MPPs on systemic issues in Ontario's education system
3. Energize and mobilize students, families and the community to stand up for public education

Andrew Massey

1. Better communication: weekly web updates, regular office hours, monthly town halls and quarterly reports
2. Proportional access to specialized programs: divide seats to mirror the applicant pool and student population, like Chicago's tier system
3. Use the trustee's platform to organize community groups and publicly oppose funding cuts

Gus Stefanis

1. Remove politics and ideology from schools so students learn how to think, not what to think
2. Repeal or allow full parental opt-out from Ontario's sex-ed curriculum and from gender-identity theory wherever it is taught or promoted
3. Ban Critical Race Theory and related “equity” teaching that judges students by racial identity rather than equal opportunity

Jennifer Volk

1. End supervision, working with other trustees and the community to give families their voice back
2. Listen to what the community needs and be ready to bring those ideas forward, with transparency and accountability, when supervision ends
3. Safety and well-being: protect the supports that keep kids safe and improve safety zones in our community

Elina Feyginberg

In high school, I started and ran an anti-bullying campaign. I set up groups that paired younger students with older mentors, kept in touch with teachers, guidance counsellors and administrators, and reported concerns to administration and community safety officers. Younger students felt safer, and their learning and involvement in extracurriculars improved.

Andrene Gregory

A father asked me to join meetings with the principal and a board representative about his nine- or ten-year-old son, who was being repeatedly suspended or expelled. I asked whether repeated discipline was addressing the real problem, and suggested seeing the child differently: maybe bored, or looking for responsibility, and worth giving a leadership role. His father later told me his son's behaviour improved considerably. Discipline alone doesn't solve a problem.

Jared Kolb

Last year I was a core team member raising $108,000 for our Yard Revitalization Project, and I led our Fun Fair Committee to a record $18,000 profit for school council priorities.

Maureen Larkin

In 2023, Market Lane's Fun Fair was close to being cancelled because of a very tight budget and low parent engagement after the pandemic. I built a new model, partnering with local organizations such as the Toronto Public Library, the Children's Book Bank and George Brown College. We held it for about $500, free for over 200 students, and the school still runs it this way, growing every year.

Andrew Massey

In April 2025 I presented a delegation for the Ogden School Council to the TDSB's budget committee, asking for more resources to tackle teacher burnout and rising behavioural issues. This fall, Ogden made two part-time staff full-time and hired two more full-time teachers. I can't say for certain what role the delegation played, but I'm confident our advocacy likely helped.

Gus Stefanis

I took part in protests against Pride flags at schools. As a result, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board prohibits flying or displaying the Pride flag at all its schools and administrative facilities.

Jennifer Volk

Years ago, I helped set up an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee at my children's school, working with staff and the TDSB on its terms of reference and getting it approved. It became a lasting framework for the school's activities. I've also been a school pool advocate since before my kids started school, helping build a city-wide voice for keeping school pools open.