About the Association

The East York-Scarborough Reading Association, EYSRA, is a not-for-profit comprised of 24 dedicated volunteers and one employee. Our Board of Directors has five representatives from each of the founding school boards. They provide guidance and advice to the full executive on policy matters and on the continued direction of the association’s mandate. Further, a team of core executive members lead committees in charge of the day-to-day activities of the organization; planning the annual Reading for the Love of It conference, supporting literacy learning and practices, and advocating for support of charitable literacy-based organizations who run programs or offer services that assist readers of all ages in all corners of the globe.

Our Mandate

We are committed to improving the quality of literacy instruction and encouraging the development of a lifelong love of reading.

Full Executive

Front row, left to right: Teresa Paoli, Roseann Harris, Natasha Serba, Mike Francone, Elizabeth Blake, Dave McMullan, Tanya Reilly Primaylon, Marisa Liscio, Denise Canning. Middle row, left to right: Jonathan Butler, Kishauna Evans-Blissett, Sophia Kouvaris, Kelling Manning, Alison Brown, Rebecca Toombs, Joan Barrett, Lise Hawkins. Back row, left to right: Jennifer Brault, Beverly Hestick, Marguerite Campbell, Valerie Collins, Doris Wukasch, Elizabeth Louli, Erica Townson. Missing: Evangeline Kalanderopoulos.

Core Executive Members

**Natasha Serba**
*First Vice-President & Conference Programme Chair*

**David McMullan**
*Second Vice-President & Communications Chair*

**Rebecca Toombs**
*Third Vice President & Outreach Chair*

**Elizabeth Blake**
*Past President & Awards Chair*

History

In the 1960’s, a group of educators came together from two of the legacy Boards of the Toronto District School Board: East York and Scarborough, along with the Metropolitan Separate School Board (East York and Scarborough regions), now the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Their mandate was to promote literacy, through an affiliation with the International Reading Association (IRA). They established the East York – Scarborough Reading Council and held meetings and workshops in local schools and board offices. This group of dedicated volunteers, comprised of teachers, consultants, administrators, superintendents and resource personnel initiated a yearly program of literacy events, the highlight being the annual Reading for the Love of It conference.

The First Conference

The East York – Scarborough Reading Council held its first annual reading conference at Samuel Hearne Senior P. S. and Oakridge Jr. P. S. on February 14, 1975. It was expected that 750 teachers would attend the one day event on a designated professional activity day. There were five large group sessions and 33 small group workshops and Reading for the Love of It was born. Reading awards were given out to teachers and staff who had demonstrated leadership in the field of reading. The annual conference has been held every year, since 1975, with the exception of 1988, when the IRA Convention was held in Toronto in May of that year and we chose to combine our efforts, and 2021-2022, during the peak of COVID-19.