Howard Goodman not running

[attach]7855[/attach]After 11 years as trustee of Eglinton-Lawrence, Howard Goodman is calling it quits.

The 63-year-old three-term Toronto District School Board representative announced via email on May 10 that he will not be seeking re-election come Oct. 27, a decision he’d previously said he’d been grappling with.

“A load has been lifted off me,” he said during a phone interview two days after his announcement.

The decision came less than a week after a riotous public meeting surrounding the school board’s role in the severance of land at Bannockburn School saw the standing-room-only crowd verbally attack Goodman.

“Part of the job is to get yelled at,” he said, laughing. “It’s disturbing for a couple hours — having to maintain some composure and have the ability to communicate in such a hostile environment — but I understand completely why people are angry, so it’s easier not to take it personally.”

While Goodman spoke frankly about how he’ll miss working on “keeping the province and school board to account” for their decisions and reverse “wrongheaded” decisions, he spoke emotionally of what he’ll miss the most.

“I really took a lot of pleasure in helping families sort out problems,” he said. “That is and was a very gratifying experience.”

Goodman said he has a history of doing “12-year stints” in his professional life, but doesn’t know what his next stint will be.

“I don’t think I’m going to get to 87, but maybe I’ll be a vigorous old codger,” he joked.

Acknowledging he still has a job to do until December, Goodman said there isn’t time to relax just yet, but he can reflect.

“You always like to go away from a period of your life being a more capable, well-rounded and better person than you were when you started that journey,” he said.