| Toronto District School Board | |
|---|---|
| Board office location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Board identifier | B66052 |
| Number of schools | 451 elementary schools 102 secondary schools 5 adult education schools[1] |
| 2007-2008 budget (CAD $ millions) | $2,543.8 [1] |
| Number of students | 188,304 elementary students 87,273 high school students 14,000 adult students[2] |
| Chair of the Board | Chris Bolton |
| Director of Education | Chris Spence[3] |
Toronto District School Board, also known by the acronym TDSB, is the English-language public school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public francophone (Conseil scolaire Viamonde), English Catholic (Toronto Catholic District School Board), and French Catholic (Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud) communities of Toronto also have their own publicly funded school boards and schools that operate in the same area, but which are independent of the TDSB. Its headquarters are in North York.[4]
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The TDSB board was created in 1998 following the merger of the school boards of York, East York, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, as well as the Toronto and Metropolitan Toronto Public School Boards.
The head office moved from the old Toronto Public Board of Education office at 155 College Street to the 5050 Yonge Street location, adjacent to Mel Lastman Square. Prior to the 1998 amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto, the building was occupied by the North York Board of Education.
The TDSB is the largest school board in Canada[5] and the 4th largest in North America.
There are more than 250,000 students [6] in nearly 600 schools within the TDSB. Of these schools, 451 offer elementary education, 102 offer secondary level education, and there are five adult day schools. The TDSB has 16 alternative elementary schools as well as 20 alternative secondary schools. TDSB has approximately 31,000 permanent and 8,000 temporary staff, which includes 10,000 elementary school teachers and 5,800 at the secondary level.[2]
Dr. Christopher Spence, the former Director of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and a former teacher in the TDSB system took office[7] as the new Director on July 1, 2009. He was preceded by Gerry Connelly.
The school board's organizational mission is "to enable all students to reach high levels of achievement and to acquire the knowledge, skills, and values they need to become responsible members of a democratic society."[8]
Parent and Community involvement occurs at all levels of the school board system, from parental involvement at local schools, the involvement of local organizations at the school level and formal advisory committees at the Board level.[9]
There has also been an effort to include more student involvement in the Toronto District School Board. The "Super Council" is an organization which acts as a student council for the entire board.[10] There has also been an attempt to place student input in the TDSB's Equity Department through the second, and last, board-wide student group: Students Working Against Great Injustice.[11] Both groups have put together various events and have had much success in giving input towards the decisions of the Board.[12]
| Ward | Trustee | Ward Name |
|---|---|---|
| Ward 1 | John Hastings | Etobicoke North |
| Ward 2 | Chris Glover | Etobicoke Centre |
| Ward 3 | Pamela Gough | Etobicoke—Lakeshore |
| Ward 4 | Stephnie Payne | York West |
| Ward 5 | Howard Kaplan | York Centre |
| Ward 6 | Chris Tonks | York South—Weston |
| Ward 7 | Irene Atkinson | Parkdale—High Park |
| Ward 8 | Howard Goodman | Eglinton—Lawrence |
| Ward 9 | Maria Rodrigues | Davenport |
| Ward 10 | Chris Bolton | Trinity—Spadina |
| Ward 11 | Shelley Laskin | St. Paul's |
| Ward 12 | Mari Rutka | Willowdale |
| Ward 13 | Gerri Gershon | Don Valley West |
| Ward 14 | Sheila Ward | Toronto Centre |
| Ward 15 | Cathy Dandy | Toronto—Danforth |
| Ward 16 | Sheila Cary-Meagher | Beaches—East York |
| Ward 17 | vacant | Don Valley East |
| Ward 18 | Elizabeth Moyer | Scarborough Southwest |
| Ward 19 | David Smith | Scarborough Centre |
| Ward 20 | Soo Wong | Scarborough—Agincourt |
| Ward 21 | Shaun Chen | Scarborough—Rouge River |
| Ward 22 | Jerry Chadwick | Scarborough East |
| Student Trustee | Hirad Zafari | |
| Student Trustee | Jenny Williams |
Since the establishment of the Toronto District School Board in 1998, the Ontario College of Teachers had publicly released detailed information about disciplinary cases with incidences dating back to the 1960s. The Discipline Committee held public hearing into allegations of professional misconduct and incompetence against twenty-one Toronto District School Board Teachers up until 2006. Many of the cases involved physical, sexual and psychological abuse against students. All twenty-one Teachers had their Certificates of Qualification and Registration revoked. Some of the cases involved criminal charges, with jails terms against teachers in addition to the disciplinary action from the teachers college. [2] [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]
On November 14, 2005, the Ontario Human Rights Commission reached a settlement with the Toronto District School Board following a Commission-initiated complaint against the Board in July 2005. On July 7, 2005 the Ontario Human Rights Commission initiated a complaint against the Toronto District School Board in the public interest and on behalf of racialized students and students with disabilities alleging that the application of the Safe Schools Act and the Toronto District School Board’s policies on discipline are having a disproportionate impact on racial minority students and students with disabilities. The complaint alleges that the TDSB had failed to meet its duty to accommodate racialized students and students with disabilities in the application of discipline, including providing adequate alternative education services for racial minority students and students with disabilities who are suspended or expelled and that the above amounts to a failure on the part of the TDSB to provide equal access to education services and that this constitutes discrimination and contravenes sections 1, 11 and 9 of the Ontario Human Rights Code. The TDSB accepts and acknowledges a widespread perception that the application of Ontario’s school disciplinary legislation, regulations and policies can have a discriminatory effect on students from racialized communities and students with disabilities and further exacerbate their already disadvantaged position in society.[24][25]
In 2005, controversy erupted when the TDSB's Board Chair Sheila Ward and Executive Officer of Student and Community Equity, Lloyd McKell, spoke in favour of “Black-focused schools”.[14][15] The proposal brought about a media backlash, as many interpreted this as a "Black-only" school. After long and sometimes raucous debate, the proposal for an Afrocentric school was adopted and registration began.[16] Similar controversy had taken place in the North York Board of Education in the 1980s when the board attempted to turn Georges Vanier Secondary School into a black-only school. [26]
In 2002, the Government of Ontario stripped all power and authority from the school board trustees because they failed to balance the board's budget. Paul Christie was appointed by the province to serve as supervisor of the Toronto District School Board, with authority for all financial and administrative functions of the Board. This allowed Christie to supersede the authority of elected school trustees. The provincial government argued that the appointment was necessary, as the TDSB had not submitted a budget to the Ontario Minister of Education as legally required. Representatives of the TDSB claimed that they could not find the necessary operating expenses for the year, given provincial regulations which prohibited deficit spending. Christie balanced the TDSB's budget through a dramatic spending reduction of $90 million. Under his watch, the TDSB eliminated many secretarial positions, phased out school-community advisors, reduced the number of vice-principals, cut outdoor education and adult education, and re-evaluated the position of social workers in the system. Christie's staff reports were not made public, and some critics argued that there were no adequate checks or balances on his authority.[17] In 2007, again due to alleged mismanagement by the trustees, the board will try to submit a budget with a deficit of $84 million. [27]
In December 2001, a $70 million class-action lawsuit was filed against the Toronto District School Board on behalf of the parents of special needs students who were sent home during the boards support workers strike in April 2001. The suit claimed that 27,000 special needs students were discriminated against on the basis of their disabilities because they were sent home during the month long strike while the schools stayed open for their able-bodied counterparts. The claims were based on the fact that they weren’t permitted to go to school and missed a month of school while everyone else was able to go. The suit also claimed that the Toronto District School Board should stop treating special needs students as lesser students. The four-week strike, led by 13,000 support workers ended in early May 2001.[18]
In 2001, Toronto School Board Trustee Sam Basra was convicted of Immigration Act charges and was forced under the Education Act to resign his seat. He pleaded guilty in August 2001 to selling fake offers of employment to potential immigrants for US$1,500.00 each. This came to light after being tipped by a former employee, police raided Basra's paralegal firm and found 250 false letters of employment. In March 2001 Arjan Singh launched a $15 million lawsuit against Basra alleging that while doing paralegal work, Basra forged documents to make him think his rights case was active more than a year after it was closed. After much infighting among the trustees and display of lack of leadership from then Chair of the Board Donna Cansfield to make an appointment to fill the vacant trustee seat left by Basra, a by-election was called for April 2002 costing the board $160,000.00. Stan Nemiroff defeated former Mayor of Etobicoke Bruce Sinclair in the by-election to become the new Ward 1 trustee representing Etobicoke North.[28][29][30][31]
| Name | Location | Dates | Students | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALPHA II Alternative School | Bloor and Dufferin | Alternative school | |||
| A. Y. Jackson Secondary School | Hillcrest Village | Founded 1970 | 1214 | ||
| Agincourt Collegiate Institute | Agincourt | Founded 1915 | 1356 | ||
| Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute | Brimwood | Founded 1976 | 2600 | ||
| Alternative Scarborough Education 1 | Bendale | 139 | Alternative school | ||
| Avondale Elementary & Secondary Alternative | Willowdale | 82 | Alternative school | ||
| Bathurst Heights Secondary School | Bathurst Heights | Closed, today John Polanyi Collegiate Insititute | |||
| Bendale Business & Technical Institute | Bendale | 572 | To be merged with David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute[19] | ||
| Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute | Birch Cliff | 1335 | |||
| Bloor Collegiate Institute | Dufferin Grove | Founded 1925 | 522 | ||
| C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute | Northwood Park | 834 | |||
| Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute | Cedarbrae | Founded 1961 | 1267 | ||
| Central Commerce Collegiate | Palmerston-Little Italy | Founded 1916 | 667 | ||
| Central Etobicoke High School | Richview | 304 | Alternative school | ||
| Central Technical School | Bathurst and Harbord | Founded 1915 | 1785 | ||
| City School | Harbourfront | Founded 1979 | 96 | Alternative school | |
| Contact Alternative School | University and Dundas | 225 | Alternative school | ||
| Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute | The Danforth | Founded 1923 | 1092 | ||
| David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute | Bendale | Founded 1958 | 1180 | ||
| Delphi Secondary Alternative School | Agincourt | 133 | Alternative school | ||
| Don Mills Collegiate Institute | Don Mills | Founded 1959 | 1025 | ||
| Downsview Secondary School | Downsview | Founded 1955 | 578 | ||
| Dr Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute | Agincourt | Founded 1979 | 1284 | ||
| Drewry Secondary School | Newtonbrook | 145 | Special needs school | ||
| Earl Haig Secondary School | Willowdale | Founded 1929 | 2026 | ||
| East York Alternative Secondary School | Old East York | 110 | Alternative school | ||
| East York Collegiate Institute | Old East York | Founded 1927 | 1650 | ||
| Eastdale Collegiate Institute | Riverdale | 219 | |||
| Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute | The Danforth | Founded 1925 | 574 | Also home to Subway Academy I | |
| Emery Collegiate Institute | Emery | 901 | |||
| Etobicoke Collegiate Institute | Etobicoke | Founded 1928 | 1311 | ||
| Etobicoke School of the Arts | The Queensway | Founded 1981 | 866 | Arts school | |
| Etobicoke Year-Round Alternative Centre | Eatonville | 49 | Alternative school | ||
| Forest Hill Collegiate Institute | Forest Hill | Founded 1946 | 885 | ||
| Frank Oke Secondary School | Mount Dennis | 169 | Special needs school | ||
| George Harvey Collegiate Institute | Keelesdale | 792 | |||
| George S. Henry Academy | Graydon Hall | 822 | |||
| Georges Vanier Secondary School | Don Valley Village | 793 | |||
| Greenwood Secondary School | East Danforth | Founded 1965 | 226 | English as a second language school | |
| Harbord Collegiate Institute | Harbord Village | Founded 1892 | 976 | ||
| Heydon Park Secondary School | Baldwin Village | Founded 1962 | 178 | All girls school | |
| Humberside Collegiate Institute | High Park North | Founded 1892 | 1040 | ||
| Inglenook Community High School | Corktown | 99 | Alternative school | ||
| Jarvis Collegiate Institute | Jarvis and Wellesley | Founded 1807 | 1099 | First public secondary school in Toronto | |
| John Polanyi Collegiate Insititute | Bathurst Heights | 2011 | Specialized in apprenticeship programs | ||
| Keiller Mackay Collegiate Institute | Etobicoke | 1971–1981 | Closed | ||
| Kipling Collegiate Institute | Richview | Founded 1960 | 689 | ||
| L'Amoreaux Collegiate Institute | L'Amoreaux | Founded 1973 | 917 | ||
| Lakeshore Collegiate Institute | New Toronto | 887 | |||
| Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute | Lawrence Park | Founded 1936 | 943 | ||
| Leaside High School | Leaside | Founded 1945 | 965 | ||
| Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute | Malvern | 1132 | |||
| Malvern Collegiate Institute | Upper Beaches | Founded 1903 | 996 | ||
| Maplewood High School | West Hill | 265 | Special needs school | ||
| Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute (formerly Overlea Collegiate) | Flemingdon Park | Founded 1973 | 1823 | ||
| Martingrove Collegiate Institute | Etobicoke | Founded 1966 | 1161 | ||
| Midland Avenue Collegiate Institute | Scarborough Junction | 1961–2000 | Closed | ||
| Monarch Park Collegiate | East Danforth | Founded 1964 | 784 | ||
| Nelson A. Boylen Collegiate Institute | Downsview | 370 | |||
| Newtonbrook Secondary School | Newtonbrook | Founded 1964 | 1247 | ||
| North Albion Collegiate Institute | Rexdale, Toronto | Founded 1962 | 1098 | ||
| North East Year-Round Alternative Centre | Don Valley Village | 23 | Alternative school | ||
| North Toronto Collegiate Institute | North Toronto | Founded 1910 | 952 | ||
| Northern Secondary School | North Toronto | Founded 1930 | 1733 | ||
| Northview Heights Secondary School | Branson | Founded 1957 | 1190 | ||
| Oakwood Collegiate Institute | Oakwood | Founded 1908 | 793 | ||
| Oasis Alternative Secondary School | King and Spadina | 111 | Alternative school | ||
| Overflow Centre | Bendale | 83 | |||
| Parkdale Collegiate Institute | Parkdale, Toronto | Founded 1888 | 635 | IB World | |
| R. H. King Academy | Cliffcrest | Founded 1922 | 1234 | ||
| Richview Collegiate Institute | Richview | Founded 1958 | 912 | ||
| Riverdale Collegiate Institute | Riverdale | Founded 1907 | 1200 | ||
| Rosedale Heights School of the Arts | Rosedale | Building formerly Castle Frank High School | 957 | Arts school | |
| Runnymede Collegiate Institute | Runnymede | Founded 1927 | 555 | ||
| Satec at W.A.Porter Collegiate | Clairlea | 1143 | Technology focused school | ||
| SEED School | Riverdale | Founded 1968 | 50 | Alternative school | |
| Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies | Markham and 401 | 185 | |||
| Scarlett Heights Entrepreneurial Academy | Richview, Toronto | 534 | Entrepreneurship based | ||
| School of Experiential Education | Etobicoke | Founded 1971 | 71 | Alternative school | |
| School of Life Experience | East Danforth | 171 | Alternative school | ||
| Silverthorn Collegiate Institute | Etobicoke | Founded 1966 | 1171 | ||
| Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute | Agincourt | Founded 1963 | 1329 | ||
| Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute | West Hill | Founded 1970 | 1128 | ||
| Sir Robert L. Borden Business and Technical Institute | West Hill | 689 | |||
| Sir Sandford Fleming Academy | Lawrence Manor | 379 | Closing June 2011 and replaced by John Polanyi Collegiate Institute in September 2011 | ||
| Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute | Guildwood | Founded 1965 | 1350 | ||
| Sir William Osler High School | Agincourt | 303 | Technical school | ||
| South-East Year-Round Alternative Centre | Scarborough Junction | 53 | Alternative school | ||
| Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute | Tam O'Shanter | 887 | |||
| Subway Academy I | The Pocket | 178 | Alternative school | ||
| Subway Academy II | Baldwin Village | Founded 1976 | 73 | Alternative school | |
| The Student School | High Park North | Founded 1979 | 139 | Alternative school | |
| Thistletown Collegiate Institute | Rexdale | Founded 1957 | 729 | ||
| Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute | L'Amoreaux | Closed 2009 | 357 | Closed at end of 2009 school year[20] | |
| Ursula Franklin Academy | High Park North | Founded 1995 | 512 | Special teaching program | |
| Vaughan Road Academy | Oakwood-Vaughan | Founded 1927 | 706 | I.B. World School, INTERACT Program | |
| Victoria Park Collegiate Institute | Parkwoods, Toronto | Founded 1960 | 1341 | I. B. World School | |
| Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute | Etobicoke | 1961–1985 | Closed, today Michael Power-St. Joseph High School | ||
| West End Alternative School | Korea Town | 137 | Alternative school | ||
| West Hill Collegiate Institute | West Hill | Founded 1955 | 1190 | ||
| West Humber Collegiate Institute | Smithfield | Founded 1966 | 980 | ||
| West Toronto Collegiate | Dufferin Grove | Founded 1972 | 376 | Closed | |
| Western Technical-Commercial School | High Park North | Founded 1927 | 991 | Also home to Ursula Franklin Academy and The Student School | |
| Weston Collegiate Institute | Weston | Founded 1857 | 1234 | I.B. World School | |
| Westview Centennial Secondary School | Jane and Finch | Founded 1967 | 1176 | ||
| Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts | Wexford | Founded 1965 | 1139 | Arts school | |
| William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute | Bathurst Manor | Founded 1960 | 1110 | MaCS Program (Science, Math, Computers & English enriched program) / Gifted Program | |
| Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute | Dorset Park | Founded 1953 | 1021 | ||
| Woburn Collegiate Institute | Woburn | Founded 1963 | 1408 | ||
| Year Round Alternative School | Lawrence Heights | 44 | |||
| York Humber High School | Weston | 189 | Special needs school | ||
| York Memorial Collegiate Institute | Keelesdale | Founded 1929 | 1121 | ||
| York Mills Collegiate Institute | York Mills | Founded 1957 | 1187 |
