Farewell, Ms. Mazzaferro!

Interview by Sheila Balu

Ms. Mazzaferro, one of Garneau’s three VPs, will not be here at Garneau next year. We spoke to her about her experiences. The full interview can be found online.

Q: What is your position here at Marc Garneau?

A: I am a vice-principal, one of three, and I am in charge of the Grade 12s.

Q: How long have you been here?

A: I have been here since semester two of 2010.

Q: It’s my understanding that this is your last year. Is there any particular reason why you’re leaving?

A: I am taking what is called a 4/5, and basically what that is is a program that any TDSB employee can apply for. It’s where they have a percentage of your salary deducted every year, up to the fifth year, where you then take the year off, and then they get those percentages over the four years for the year off. So, I believe its 20 percent every year off your salary, and so then you get 80% of your pay for the last year.

Q: What’s the funniest incident you’ve experienced during your time here?

A: I don’t know if there is anything funny, especially in the office where it’s always drama, right? But there’s probably one incident that I will remember, because I’ve had these 12s for the whole four years. I remember a particular event where we had a few grade 9 students trying to sneak in alcohol during the Athletic Banquet. And when they discovered we were checking bags, they decided to drink up the stuff and throw away the bottles, and of course got sick during the banquet. Not funny, but as a result of that incident, I will remember the names of those kids forever. It was just something that I thought was pretty typical of kids trying to get away with stuff and not realizing that they need to learn handle their liquor first before they drink it.

Q: If you could be any teacher in this school, who would it be?

A: If I could be any teacher in this school? I think I would like to be Mr. van Bemmel, because I have absolutely no clue about physics. And I think I would like to have all that knowledge just to see what it’s like to be that smart. Because I think it’s pretty awesome what he teaches, and he does the earth and space science course, and he does the AP physics, and he is an author of many textbooks. And I think that for a day, just to see what goes on in that head of his, would be kind of cool.

Q: What was your least favorite subject in school?

A: My least favorite subject in school, in high school especially, was geography. It’s hard to make it interesting. My teacher did not make it interesting.

Q: If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

A: To make things better for people.

Q: If there’s one aspect of Marc Garneau that you’re going to miss especially, what would it be?

A: I’m going to miss the kids. Because Garneau kids are great. They’re special kids in the sense that this is truly a community school, where everybody knows everybody. And all the kids live within walking distance of the school, so there’s really a sense of a community here. I’ll miss that aspect of it.

Q: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

A: Only that it’s been a great run, and my advice to people is that, you should - even though change is uncomfortable for you, which it is for me - that you should try to take the plunge and do something new every so often. Don’t get stuck in a rut. And that’s not why I’m taking the year off; it was just on the advice of a friend of mine, who said you had to experience at least once in your life to have time off and get paid for it, even though you sacrifice part of your pay to do it. I think it’s going to be an interesting year for me.