Thando is a highly qualified educator, with over 15 years of teaching and administrative experience in the TDSB, as a Principal, Vice-Principal, classroom teacher, Instructional Leader, and Literacy Convener. Previously, as the Principal at General Brock Public School in Scarborough, she nurtured the academic success of diverse students. She served as Lead Principal for 22 TDSB schools in southeast Toronto where she oversaw the development and implementation of educational strategies to increase student achievement in literacy and numeracy. Within her family of schools, she chaired the Vice-Principal Leadership Network, and has been involved in many other professional development initiatives.
Thando served as past co-chair of the TDSB’s African Heritage Educators Network (AHEN), and worked within the TDSB as an equity consultant and instructor for the Black Cultural Heritage program. She has also served as Course Director and Adjunct Professor at York University’s Faculty of Education, where she taught, supervised and mentored teacher candidates and leveraged her own experience as a former elementary school teacher.
Outside of the classroom, Thando has been passionately involved in promoting equity and access. In the early 1990s, she co-authored the report, Towards a New Beginning, for the federal, provincial and municipal governments about the marginalization of African-Canadians in society. She is past chair of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP), a founding board member of the African-Canadian Legal Clinic, and a member of the Regional Councillors Advisory Board for broadcaster, TVO. Thando is also a graduate of the African Canadian Heritage Association (ACHA), and is currently an active parent member.Other: Youngest instructor in the then TDSB’s Black Cultural Heritage program; first youth tutor at the African Canadian Heritage Association.