UP CLOSE CLASS ACT
Nancy Steinhauer A matter of principal
The impact Nancy Steinhauer knew she could have on children first appeared to her when she was directing theatre at a sum- mer camp. “Seeing children change and gain confidence was very powerful to me,” she recalls. So, it was not a shock to anyone who
knows her that teaching came to her as easy as ABC, starting in the private system, and later transitioning to public schools. “My dad felt he wanted every child
to have the opportunities his children had,” she says, referring to the late Dr. Paul Steinhauer, who was a nationally re- nowned child psychiatrist at the forefront of children’s mental health issues. “Like- wise, I wanted every public school student to be able to have the kind of opportunities that private school children were having.” As principal at George Webster Elemen-
tary, she is achieving just that. Located in a multi-ethnic, east-end neighbourhood in Toronto, George Webster is one of the Toronto District School Board’s Model Schools for Inner Cities. It receives extra funding, which Steinhauer has spent on a unique school supply list: school kitchen, field trips, musical instruments, extra social work support, and aſter-school programs for students and parents. With her team, she has transformed Webster beyond a school and into a colourful and bustling commu- nity centre that the underprivileged area has never had. Trough tenacious fundraising efforts,
Steinhauer brought hockey to the school, much to the delight of immigrant kids who had never before laced up a skate. As mo- rale and academic achievement rose, sus- pensions and office referrals dropped. On top of all this, vigorous fundraising has
helped her realize a dream: a school-based paediatric clinic, with a psychiatric compo- nent. Te Paul D. Steinhauer Clinic will serve children in the entire community. “Anybody who teaches knows a healthy child will be a better learner,” she says. She is her father’s daughter.
“Kids are kids, and they’re all interesting whether they come from more privileged families or families living in poverty.”
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friday night Winter 2011
Photography by Tracy Cox
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