Home fromschool
After 43 years in education, board chief Linda Fabi steps into new life
SITTING IN HER SUNLIT home, wearing a bright yellow dress and shiny gold jewelry, Linda Fabi is as cheerful as her appearance when she talks about the 43 years she has spent in the education system.
Fabi has just retired as director of the Waterloo Region District School Board and reflecting back on her career is like reflecting on almost her entire life.
Over the span of her profession, she has held numerous positions within the local school board, from teacher to viceprincipal to principal to superintendent to executive superintendent to director.
“Every job I have had has been the best job I have ever had,” she says, smiling. “I thought the job I was in at the time was the best until I moved on to the next job and then that one was the best. That really is the truth.”
For Fabi, schools have always been a place of comfort, even as a child growing up on a farm in Shelburne, Ont..
“I loved school and I loved being in the classroom,” she says. “I was always assisting my teachers. At home I would even line up my dolls and teddy bears and pretend I was a teacher.”
Fabi headed straight to teachers college after graduating from high school. She was part of the last class before teachers were required to earn a university degree. Fabi was just 18 years old when she landed her first job as a teacher in Orangeville in 1970.
“I thought I was so mature, but looking back I was so young,” she says. “I lived at home and my mom still made my lunch.”
In 1975 she began working as a teacher for the Waterloo school board at Prueter Public School in Kitchener. During her time teaching, Fabi also attended university part time. She completed her bachelor of arts, master of arts and a principal course.
By the time she was 34, Fabi already >>
You have no idea how resilient you are until you are tested. I had two choices. I could fall apart or brush myself off and get through the next hour, the next day, the next week. I had to demonstrate that I was carrying on.
Linda Fabi
>> had 16 years of teaching under her belt and was made vice-principal of Smithson Public School in Kitchener.
“It was a fantastic place,” she says. “There were so many students with special needs at the school that they didn’t stick out. Everyone accepted everybody. It was a beautiful environment for kids to be in.”
In 1987 she married her husband, John, and it wasn’t long after that that she was selected to be the principal of Little's Corners Public School, a tiny two-classroom elementary school built in 1858 with just 86 students. It was an ideal spot for Fabi to learn what it takes to run a school.
At the time, Fabi was breaking new ground as a woman. It was 1988 and there were only six female principals out of 100 within the board; today, women make up more than half of the board’s school principals. She remembers during the summer leading up to her first day in the new role feeling somewhat unsure of herself.
“I thought maybe I should wear less makeup and less jewelry, try to act tougher, try to be more like a man,” says Fabi. “But in the end, I decided to just be me and that was the best decision I could have made.”
It definitely was a good decision because just three years later she was asked to open a new school – a rare honour for a novice principal.
“I was flabbergasted,” she says. “I was being given a unique experience that not many principals get. Opening a brand new school is one of the best opportunities because you get to help create a learning environment for the kids who will be going to the school. It was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my career.”
The school was Brigadoon Public School, which opened in 1992. Fabi stayed there for seven years and would take on the role of principal at one more school, Hespeler Public School, before moving into administration as a superintendent.
“I missed the children at first, but as a superintendent I was still in the schools every day,” she says.
She spent four years as a superintendent before becoming an executive superintendent and finally director in 2007. John Bryant takes over the latter role this fall.
Despite all her successes, some of the most challenging days of her life are also wrapped up in her profession, particularly her role as director. Her words suddenly become thick with emotion when she talks about the weeks that followed her assuming the role. Those were some of the toughest weeks of her life.
Fabi stepped into the leadership position under extremely tragic circumstances. The former director, Bill Gerth, who was not only her boss but also a close friend, died in a car accident on his way home from work three days before Christmas in 2006.
“I remember going to wish him a merry Christmas and giving him a big hug before he left for the holidays,” she says. “That was the last time I saw him.”
The board needed someone to take the helm and Fabi, just four months into her position as executive superintendent, was chosen. That’s when tragedy struck again. Less than three weeks after her colleague’s death, Fabi’s husband died of a sudden massive heart attack.
“All I could think was that this couldn’t be happening,” says Fabi. “I couldn’t handle anything more.”
But she did handle it. Less than a week after her husband’s death, Fabi returned to work. She admits there were many
mornings when she struggled to get out of bed, but she knew she was needed to help guide the school board through a difficult period of grieving and to help maintain stability within the system. “You have no idea how resilient you are until you are tested,” says Fabi. “I had two choices. I could fall apart or brush myself off and get through the next hour, the next day, the next week. I had to demonstrate that I was carrying on.” Her strength and dedication did not go unnoticed. At her first meeting back, she was given a standing ovation before she had even spoken a word. Ted Martin, school board chair, remembers how impressive it was for Fabi to take the reins and help those grieving when she was suffering tremendous loss herself. At a time of such volatility, the board needed someone calm and charismatic like Fabi to keep things running and bring people together, he says. Martin points to her extraordinary people skills as the driving force behind her accomplishments. In fact, he has a running joke with Fabi that if there are 700 people at an event, whether it’s a school opening or retirement party, she will know at least 650 by name. “She seems to know everyone from union leaders to principals to janitors and has a personal connection with all of them,” he says. “She has had a profound impact on the board. We have brought in a number of strategic plans under her and because of her ability to communicate and build relationships, she has been able to get everyone to buy into a change of direction or new point of focus. She has a unique skill of getting everyone to pull together in the same direction.”
Fabi’s relationship-building skills extend beyond the board office to the many education and community boards she sits on. She has been a member of the Council of Ontario Directors of Education, Ministry >>
>> of Education Committee Leadership as well as the Canadian and American associations of school administration. While on these committees, Fabi says she focused on building connections with education leaders in an effort to influence policy around public education.
“The higher you are in an organization, the greater responsibility you have to advocate.”
Fabi believes strongly that public education is the key to democracy and it’s vital Ontarians and Canadians maintain it.
“There are places in the world, particularly the United States, where public education is drastically underfunded by the government,” she says. “So parents who can afford it send their children to private schools. The more parents there are sending their children to private school, the less money there is for public education.
‘‘Public education is democracy because it’s where every child is worthy of an excellent education. We need to continue to advocate that public education is the best education available.”
Within the community, she has been a part of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Themuseum, Strong Start and the faculty of education at Wilfrid Laurier University. By participating on these boards, Fabi has managed to create partnerships with these organizations that have led to improved programming and opportunities for students within the system, says Martin.
“She has brought our board to a higher place in the community.”
All her hard work over the years has garnered her recognition at the provincial and national levels. She was named one of the top 100 alumni by Wilfrid Laurier University, earned a provincial and a national award for leadership in education and also won the Canadian Superintendent of the Year award.
Fabi has definitely left a legacy and some bright yellow high heels to fill. But in addition to all her accomplishments, the board will also miss her extensive knowledge of the education system, adds Martin.
Over the decades, Fabi has experienced many transformations and observed how the system has evolved. One of the most positive changes has been a drastic increase in parental involvement, she says.
“When I was first a teacher, parents left everything up to the teachers and they didn’t get involved,” she says. “But now parents have high expectations, are educated and want to be involved.”
Students also seem more sophisticated and quicker to learn, especially when it comes to technology, she says. However, on the downside, both students and their parents act more entitled today compared to decades ago, she adds. “They have unreasonable expectations.” As a result, teachers are under increasing
pressure to perform, says Fabi. “Teaching has become a lot more work and there is a lot more accountability, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Teachers are also doing a lot more outside of the classroom. They are not just teachers but are social workers, psychologists and advisors.” Fabi admits she is sad to say goodbye to the extensive role she has played in the education system. Up until now, she has always been career focused. She put off marriage until her mid-30s and chose not to have any children. “When people ask me why I don’t have kids of my own, I tell them that I have raised thousands of kids,” she says.
Her energy, passion and friendships have all been tied up in her profession.
But for the first time in decades, Fabi will finally have time for her hobbies such as travelling and fashion. She did a bit of travelling to the Panama Canal, Germany and Middle East with her husband years ago and plans to return to Egypt.
“I have always been interested in ancient culture,” she says. “There’s nothing like waking up in the morning and seeing the pyramids that were built more than 3,000 years ago. I just love the depth and breadth of the history there.”
Fabi will also have more time to shop. Anyone who has met her quickly learns that she is fond of high-fashion, brightly coloured dresses. But as much as Fabi loves a new dress, she loves a new pair of shoes more. She owns close to 200 pairs and jokes that when she used to attend conferences she had to have one suitcase for her clothes and the other for her shoes and handbags.
Not only does she own high heels in almost every colour of the rainbow, but Fabi also has a miniature shoe collection, which originated when friends and colleagues who knew about her passion for footwear started giving them to her as gifts.
“My mother loved shoes so I must have inherited my love of shoes from her,” she says.
“Shoes reflect many moods and activities. Everything from a pair of steel-toe work boots to golf shoes to sexy stilettos to a sturdy pair of oxfords say something about the person wearing them at that moment in time.”
Over the coming weeks, Fabi will be taking off her business heels and slipping into more comfortable footwear as she sets out to find out who she is beyond her career.
After 43 years in the field, retirement for Fabi means creating a whole new life for herself.
“I want to get to know me,” she says. “I want to take a journey into myself. After all these years in education I want to know who I am after education.”