Mr. Jeff Parliament, a local resident of Clair Hills for the past two years, has been selected as the principal of the new school.

Jeff has lived in the KW area since his youth. Jeff Graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Math with an option in Chartered Accountancy. Jeff soon realized that he had more of an interest in working with children and therefore decided to go into teaching. Jeff completed his teacher training at Nipissing University.

Jeff began teaching math in at the high school level at Forest Heights Collegiate. He taught at Forest Heights for 4 years after which time he elected to switch to elementary school. Jeff taught various grades and subjects at the elementary school level for 8 years before accepting a position with the Administration.

Jeff has worked on the administration side for the past 10 years and his first job as Principal was at William G Davis PS in Cambridge. After 2 years he took over as principal at Elizabeth Ziegler PS where he stayed for the next 4 years. Jeff’s next move was to St. Jacobs PS where he was principal for 1 ½ years until the opportunity to move to Edna Staebler PS became available.

As of 17 March 2008 Jeff became dedicated to his new role at Edna Staebler PS. He has been attending the construction meetings for the school since the beginning of the project and will continue to do so until the school has been completed. Jeff has also been holding meetings with his new staff to get everything prepared for the opening of the school. He had previously been involved in opening Silverheights PS in Cambridge some years ago when he was a teacher. Jeff enjoyed how the staff and community came together to make the new school a success. Jeff is already impressed with the level of involvement that the parents of in our neighbourhood have demonstrated throughout this process. He has also expressed his gratitude to the Clair Hills Community Association for its efforts in fund raising for the playground equipment for the school.

Jeff is looking forward to collaborating with his staff, parent council and of course the children to help him create the vision for the school, including finalizing details such as school colours, school mascot etc. He would like to use the natural setting surrounding the school as a place of learning, such as the development of an environmental garden, outings into the forests in the area etc. As part of this vision Jeff would like to be able to honour the memory of Edna Staebler and to this end he remains in contact with her friends and family.

Jeff believes that serving one’s community and its residents, giving back to the community in any way possible is something that we should all strive to do. Jeff has elected to do this through his work with children in his schools as well as through an organization called Children’s International Summer Villages (CISV). CISV is a non-profit organization that is comprised of a global community of dedicated volunteers, which creates opportunities for all ages to experience the excitement and enrichment of cultural diversity through educational programs. One such program enables children from around the world to attend summer camps together and learn to live peacefully with each other regardless of their cultural differences and beliefs. It is the hope of CISV that these children will take this experience back to their home country and spread understanding of other cultures within their own community now and as they grow.

Jeff has been involved with CISV for many years in several roles. From 2000 – 2003 he was President of the Canadian Association and from 2003 – 2006 he was the International Trustee for CISV Canada. Currently he is on the International Executive Committee (IEC) acting as IEC Trustee.

Jeff chose his present home in Clair Hills due to its proximity to UpTown and Down Town Waterloo. He is an avid runner and cyclist so the area’s trails were also a major draw for him. In his spare time Jeff enjoys going to the gym, doing crosswords and solving a good puzzle.

Jeff will be the guest speaker at our upcoming Clair Hills Community Association meeting on 2 April at the Columbia Sobeys Community Room. Please come and join us and meet your new principal. Please RSVP to Shelly Reed at communications@clair-hills.ca.