EXPAND SCHOOL THERAPY SERVICES
School therapy services can make an enormous difference in a student’s life and participation. At present, these services are available to only select students and unevenly. I want to work with clinicians, teachers and educational assistants to expand in-school supports for students of all abilities, including robust investment in Occupational Therapy, physiotherapy, school psychologists, speech and language pathologists, and other specialists as suit each student population’s diverse needs.
INCREASE FUNDING FOR NUTRITION
Healthy food should be a human right, and the Winnipeg School Division’s Nutrition Program is an ambitious step in the right direction. But as many parents know, the implementation remains uneven from school to school depending on resources and staffing capacity.
I will fight to deepen and expand this program and to eliminate differences in cost between schools, so that every school in Ward 5 and throughout the division can offer free breakfast and lunch programs of equivalent quality.
CREATE YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL ZONES FOR ROAD SAFETY
No child should be at risk of injury or death while traveling to or from school. We need division-wide speed limit reductions in school zones, effective not only during school hours but 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. School playgrounds don’t close for the summer: why should these safety measures be limited to school hours?
I want to work with community advocates and with the City of Winnipeg to enact a speed limit of no more than 30 kilometres an hour in year-round school zones, and for life-saving, traffic-slowing infrastructure including crosswalks and speed bumps. Furthermore, all ticket revenues from speed limit enforcement must go to education and infrastructure—not to an already bloated police budget.
Vote Reid Pereira for School Trustee! 