Awards, Scholarships, Grants, and Bursaries

OSSTF/FEESO Awards of Recognition for Members · The OSSTF/FEESO Excellence in Community Relations Award (formerly The Bob Brooks Award)

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The OSSTF/FEESO Excellence in Community Relations Award (formerly The Bob Brooks Award)

Bob Brooks, for whom the award for excellence in community relations was formerly named, believed very strongly in the excellence of public schools. He also believed in sharing these beliefs with others. Between 1961, when he arrived from Great Britain to teach history at Toronto’s Central Technical School and December 21, 1977. When he died at age 39, Bob was a teacher or administrator at four Toronto schools: Central Tech, Brockton High School, Humberside Collegiate Institute and Malvern Collegiate Institute. In each case, he had a genius for enthusing others around him — the students, fellow teachers and parents.

During his term as Vice-Principal at Humberside CI, he was faced with the question of attracting parents and community to a weekend mosaic being held at the school. No Problem!  Bob installed a searchlight that could be seen two miles away — and more than 10,000 people passed through Humberside between Friday afternoon and Saturday night of that weekend. No wonder that his students told their parents they were in one of the best schools in the country. And the parents told their friends and neighbours.

Bob was just as involved in his professional organization, OSSTF/FEESO, as he was in everything else in his life. He was also a Sunday school teacher and lay preacher. Bob wore many different Federation hats including Chief Negotiator and District President. But his first love was communications. He served on the OSSTF/FEESO Public Relations Board and was a founding member of the provincial Communications Committee, which replaced the PR Board in 1972.

Submitting a Nomination

The deadline for nominations is April 1 and must be submitted through our online Nomination Form, fax to 416-751-7079 or by mail to:

Tracey Marshall
Communications and Political Action Department
60 Mobile Dr
Toronto, ON  M4A 2P3

The online form features file upload capability. You may submit attachments no larger than 20 MB. Each file should be no more than 3 MB. If you submit your online form with attachments over 20 MB, you will arrive at a Page Not Found error. If your attachments are large, we recommend you email them to Tracey.Marshall@osstf.ca or mail them to Tracey Marshall.

Guidelines

Criteria

The OSSTF/FEESO Excellence in Community Relations Award is presented for excellence in school community relations. The award may be bestowed, once in a career, upon an individual OSSTF/FEESO member, a staff or a Federation group. Nominations are encouraged from school staff, parent or community groups, student councils or individuals.

Disclaimer

The Provincial Executive will determine which, if any, applicant will receive the award based on the established criteria. The Provincial Executive reserves the right not to grant the award in any given year.

Nominations

Who may propose? Any active Bargaining Unit Member in OSSTF/FEESO.
Who is eligible? All active members of OSSTF/FEESO in good standing.
What is required? Provide concrete examples to support the nomination. No more than 15 pages of supporting documents. No videos.
Where will the presentation occur? May/June Provincial Council
How will winner be notified? The secretariat member attached to the award will make contact with the nominator prior to the award ceremony to get winner’s contact information. Only winning entries will be contacted.
Publicity OSSTF/FEESO will publicize the contributions of the award winner in its publications.
Previous Winners
1979 Terry Clifford D 04 London
1980 Eugene Tenus D 15 Toronto
1981 Staff of Loyalist CVI D 20 Frontenac
1982 Fred Burford D 13 North York
1983 Murray Juffs D 23 Grey
1984 After Four Community Cable D 05 Brant Bruce Strong
1985 Danforth Technical School D 15 Toronto
1986 Brockton High School D 15 Toronto
1987 Michael Schertzer D 05 Brant
1988 Robert Asselstine D 35 Elgin
1989 Robert McCarthy D 03 Lambton
1990 Margaret Davey D 02 Kent
1991 Roger Langen D 14 City of York
1992 Students / Staff of Clarkson SS D 10 Peel
1993 Joseph Drago D 31 Sudbury
1994 William Dickie D 21 Seaway
1995 Vera Taylor D 16 Scarborough
1996 Thomas Davis D 18 Peterborough
1997 Garry Gauthier D 43 Carleton
1998 Maxine Lane D 08 Hamilton
1999 Leonard Skye D 5A Northern Shield
2000 Ray Pidzamecky / Penny Smith D 20 Halton
2001 No award bestowed  
2002 Dave Babbitt D 10 Lambton Kent
2003 Bonnie Blunt D 23 Grand Erie
2004 Norma Rookwood D 21 Hamilton-Wentworth
2005 Bruce Davidson D 10 Lambton Kent
2006 Janie Kelly D 14 Kawartha Pine Ridge
2007 Betty Finley D 23 Grand Erie
2008 No award bestowed  
2009 No award bestowed  
2010 David Sheridan D 26 Upper Canada
2011 Brad Thomas D 16 York Region
2012 No award bestowed  
2013 Michael Wright  
2014 Paul Found D 14 Kawartha Pine Ridge
2015 No award bestowed  
2016 D 29 Hastings Prince Edward  
2017 No award bestowed  
2018 Nicole Swain D 13 Durham
2019 No award bestowed  
2020 No award bestowed  
2021 No award bestowed  
2022 No award bestowed  
2023 No award bestowed  
2024 Afshin Keyvani D 22 Niagara
2020 No award bestowed  

Related Links

Contact Information

Tracey Marshall

Executive Assistant, Communications and Political Action Department

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation

60 Mobile Dr.
Toronto, ON  M4A 2P3

Phone: 416-751-8300

Toll Free: 1-800-267-7867

Fax: 416-751-7079