The auditor general’s office has huge latitude to investigate the workings of government agencies, departments, and government-funded or regulated institutions to see if they are working as they should. Here’s the lowdown on the office’s latest annual report. 

[Read more →]

Palmerston Avenue Junior Public School has been educating neighbourhood children for 133 years. Over the past 20 years, a group of neighbourhood parents showed their love for the school by tending a community garden on the property; that is, until the school’s facilities team razed it—without consulting or warning parents, many of whom had spent hundreds of hours working in the garden. Now, as spring approaches, the Parent Council and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) have come to an agreement: they will work together on a complete overhaul of the school grounds. 

[Read more →]

Back at Queen’s Park, Ford resumes his agenda By Jessica Bell After ordering the longest break in almost 25 years, Doug Ford finally let Queen’s Park get back to business last month. While the government signalled they would take a more tempered approach, the legislation the government has introduced shows the premier is continuing his […]

[Read more →]

Classes cut in wake of funding changes By Juan Romero The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has approved a budget reduction plan for the 2019-20 school year. The budget reduction comes as a result of the provincial government’s education cuts across Ontario in the past year.  The board announced that $67.8 million will be cut […]

[Read more →]

The Harbord Collegiate Institute varsity baseball team will have to make do without its star catcher when it resumes play in the fall. Tillie Burlock, 15, their starting catcher, who helped lead the team to a Tier 2 championship, has moved on to Silverthorn Collegiate Institute, where she’ll participate in the Toronto District School Board’s […]

[Read more →]

Improving Huron Street to make a positive impact By Geremy Bordonaro Huron Street Junior Public School hosted a community meeting in late January to discuss plans for revitalizing its playground. “There’s been a lot of rumbling, a lot of discussion, and a lot of thought over the last few years. I think what really started […]

[Read more →]

Community outreach suffers with TDSB ban on SROs By Brian Burchell It was a novel idea: one cellphone, a shoestring budget, and a few bikes. All shared by the four police constables who made up 14 Division’s School Watch Officer (SWO) program. Together, they served ten schools west of Spadina Avenue, including Central Technical School, […]

[Read more →]

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustees are poised to accept a staff recommendation to permanently discontinue its 10-year relationship with the Toronto Police Service (TPS). Instituted after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot and killed in a stairwell at C. W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute, the School Resource Officer (SRO) program was developed after a report on […]

[Read more →]

The deeply divisive debate on whether or not the Toronto Police Service (TPS) should continue the School Resource Officer (SRO) program reveals fault lines among those responsible for ensuring that secondary education be conducted in a safe, supportive environment. Under the program, thirty-six police officers are assigned to work in Toronto’s public and Catholic high […]

[Read more →]

TDSB schools adopt traditional territories acknowledgement Our local acknowledgement: “I would like to acknowledge that this school is situated upon traditional territories. The territories include the Wendat (wen-dat), Anishinabek (ah-nish-nah-bek) Nation, the Haudenosaunee (ho-den-oh-sho-nee) Confederacy, the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations, and the Métis (may-tee) Nation. The treaty that was signed for this […]

[Read more →]

New executive director underscores board’s equity focus By Clarrie Feinstein Parents at last month’s Toronto District School Board (TDSB)?ward council meeting leveraged a meet-and-greet with the new director of education into an opportunity to question him about the lack of resources at their children’s schools. Dr. John Malloy was at the Oct. 24 meeting at […]

[Read more →]

TDSB repair backlog reflects critical state of infrastructure By Annemarie Brissenden With both the federal and provincial governments making significant investments in public infrastructure, the Ministry of Education’s release of information detailing the maintenance backlog in Ontario raises a serious question: are we doing all that we can to maintain our buildings once they are […]

[Read more →]