The Algoma District School Board (ADSB) held its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, when both Jennifer Sarlo and Elaine Johnston were acclaimed to their respective roles as chair and vice-chair of the board.
Chair Jennifer Sarlo
Jennifer Sarlo was first elected as a Trustee for the Algoma District School Board in 2006 serving Ward One in Sault Ste. Marie. In 2009, she became vice-chair of the board and in December 2011, she was elected as chair, a position she has held consecutively for the past 11 years.
She has served as a member of ADSB’s Finance and Operations Committee, the Audit Committee, the Discipline Committee, and the Transportation Consortium. Sarlo has also played an active role in the School Effectiveness Visits and the New Schools Steering Committee.
Sarlo is a respected voice provincially with the Ministry of Education and has served with the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA) as a Policy Work Team member and a Program Work Team member advising the government on issues and policies that impact the education system. She has been a past member of OPSBA’s conference planning committee, a conference panel member, and an AGM workshop presenter.
Prior to being elected to the Algoma District School Board, she was the Chair of ADSB’s School Council Coordinating Committee (SCCC) now known as the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC). She was also the Chair of Grand View Public School’s School Council.
Sarlo is an involved and respected member of her community and her church. She has been a Ministry lead in numerous capacities at Bethel Bible Chapel and served the Board at the Centre for Social Justice and Good Works for five years. Since 2013, Sarlo has coordinated the Coldest Night of the Year event in support of St. Vincent Place which has raised over $700,000. She is a team lead at St. Vincent Place Soup Kitchen, a past president of the board of ABK Bible Camp (board member for 16 years) and regular volunteer and is currently a member of 100+ Women Who Care Sault Ste. Marie.
Following her acclimation, Sarlo shared: “It is a privilege to serve the Algoma District School Board as Chair of the Board of Trustees for another year. Thank you to Trustee Myers for the nomination and thank you to my fellow trustees for your continued confidence and support. I look forward to continuing to work with Vice Chair Johnston. I appreciate the extensive knowledge, wisdom, and leadership skills that she shares around this boardroom and at the provincial level.
"I also want to thank Director Reece and the administrative team for their professionalism and support of the Board and for allowing us to fulfill our governance role as Trustees who desire to grow as leaders in the ever-changing education sector as we all strive to meet the needs of every student in our system.”
Vice-chair Elaine Johnston
Elaine Johnston is the ADSB’s First Nation trustee and has served on the Algoma District School Board for the last 10 years. From Serpent River First Nation, Johnston has served on numerous Boards and committees at the local, regional and national level.
She is the Chair of the Indigenous Trustee Council of the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA). Presently she is also the Chair of the Elliot Lake Hospital Board. Johnston is the former Chief of Serpent River First Nation, a position she held for four and a half years. She sat on Council for 10 years and was a former Chair of the Nogdawindamin Board and Vice Chair of Mamaweswen, the North Shore Tribal Council. She worked at the Assembly of First Nations and the Anishinabek Nation. Johnston has presented to the United Nations, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and to numerous standing committees, to name just a few.
Johnston attended post-secondary education at Cambrian College and Sudbury Laurentian University and received training as an Ambulance & Emergency Care Attendant, Paramedic along with her diploma and degree in nursing. Her career in health provided her opportunities to work in the hospital, ambulance, air ambulance, community, the Canadian Coast Guard, government and First Nation organizations.
Following her acclimation as vice-chair of the Algoma District School Board, Johnston thanked Trustee Marie Murphy-Forin for her nomination as well as the Board for returning her to the position of Vice-Chair and she looks forward to working with everyone again in the upcoming year.
She shared “We are a good team. I believe we work well together as a Board and I appreciate the collegial way which we support one another.”
Johnston continues as Algoma District School Board’s First Nation Trustee. The North Shore Tribal Council Education Department coordinated the selection process and Elaine was acclaimed as the successful candidate for the 2022 to 2026 term. This is her third term as ADSB’s First Nation Trustee having been first appointed in 2014.