TDSB & Me is a staff storytelling series that celebrates the people who help our schools and workplaces thrive. Each profile recognizes the everyday leadership, creativity, and care that shapes our system and supports student success. 

Carla Mancini

Assistant Curriculum Leader, William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute 

For Carla Mancini, the library at William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate is much more than a place to find a good book. It is a classroom, a meeting place, a launchpad for student ideas and, quite often, the heart of school life. 

As Assistant Curricular Leader of Literacy, Library and Student Leadership, Mancini’s days can take her in many directions. She might begin the morning with literacy programming and OSSLT preparation, spend part of the day managing the library’s resources, teach Grade 12 English in the afternoon and finish the day coaching or working with Student Council on a new initiative. 

“I love the diversity and versatility of the role,” she says. “It’s the best of both worlds.” 

After 25 years at Mackenzie, Mancini has seen generations of students come through the school. What continues to motivate her is creating opportunities for students to discover their strengths, develop their confidence, and find their place within the school community. 

For Mancini, literacy and leadership are closely connected. Both are about giving students the tools, confidence and encouragement to find their voice. “I love the constant challenge and interaction with students to see what I can do to provide the needed foundation to build confidence in their pursuits of success,” she says. 

Her philosophy is woven throughout her work with Mackenzie’s Student Council, where she helps students bring school-wide events, workshops, guest speakers and other initiatives to life. Her work also gives students opportunities to take ownership of their school experience, build community, and discover what leadership can look like for them. 

One of the most meaningful full-circle moments in Mancini’s career is seeing the impact on her former student, Michael Quan. He was a Grade 12 English student, rugby captain and Student Council president during Mancini’s first year of teaching, and she remembers recognizing his leadership qualities from the start. Years later, he shared with Mancini how deeply his Mackenzie experience had influenced his decision to pursue a career in education. 

Today, Quan is her colleague at Mackenzie, where he serves as a teacher, Student Success Assistant Curricular Leader and rugby coach. He is now giving back to the school that helped shape him, supporting and inspiring a new generation of students much as his teachers and coaches once did for him. “To see the trajectory of his own success… this resonated on so many levels,” Mancini says. 

In her office, a tack board is filled with letters, notes, drawings, emails, and other small tokens of appreciation from students over the years. They serve as reminders of why she continues to show up with the same optimism and enthusiasm. “I am so lucky and fortunate to work in an environment so rewarding,” she says. 

Her advice to those beginning their own journey with the TDSB is simple: get involved. Some of her most meaningful experiences have happened beyond the classroom, through the relationships built, interests discovered and communities created along the way. 

“Student engagement and enrichment are extremely validating,” she says. “It helps all in the field of education feel that they are a part of something bigger.”