school shortage in major Ontario cities
Provincial funding restrictions have led a number of Ontario’s 72 school boards short of much needed schools. By SALMAAN FAROOQUI The Canadian Press TORONTO—Serina Manek has been living in Leslieville for seven years and has watched it go from a rough-around-the-edges area in Toronto’s east end, to one of the city’s most desirable […]
The Defunding of Public Education
In a comprehensive report on Ontario’s education funding for ETFO this month economist Hugh Mackenzie has produced a revealing and very readable testament to the critical importance of the Campaign for Public Education founded in Toronto in 2002. “September 22, 2017 marks the […]
School Closures put Communities at Risk
In Ontario, over 2,000 schools have been permanently shuttered since 1990. Right now, 600 schools are under review for potential closure; 500 of these schools are located in rural communities and small towns. This is an important and high-profile issue for small towns and rural communities that are already stressed by the local impacts of a […]
Racialized youth face barriers
High school graduation season was marked by a good news story this year. Ontario’s province-wide graduation rate reached an all-time high, with nearly 80 per cent of students finishing high school in four years. But while there’s reason to celebrate, that number also belies a persistent and troubling reality. Kids from minority groups, and Black […]
Being black & queer in school; what its like
by Shantal Otchere nowtoronto.com Jamea Zuberi is a teacher with the TDSB and member of the Black Student Achievement Advisory Committee (BSAAC). […]
Education Charter – a vision for Ontario
To ensure a healthy democracy we as a society need an educated electorate. A quality public education is the right of every Ontarian. To ensure that all residents of Ontario receive a quality public education that meets their individual needs and serve them well in later life, the following are essential: Funding of school boards […]
anti-black racism in schools
For Black students to succeed, the entire school system may have to be brought to a grinding halt and redesigned from the bottom up BY NEIL PRICE Over the past six months, I’ve been working on a research project focused on improving literacy in the Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park (KGO) community of Scarborough. It’s a community that media […]
Cops out of schools?
When the Toronto police board met [last] week, a lesser-known police initiative called the School Resource Officer program was a minor item buried deep on a packed agenda — and nowhere near the chopping block. But by the end of the monthly board meeting, the 36 uniform cops assigned to work in 75 schools across […]
Optional attendance kills Vaughan Road Academy
Race and class key to school’s demise. How odd it is to walk down these empty hallways. For the past 30 years, I’ve only visited them in dreams – and nightmares. Vaughan Road Academy, my old high school, is dying. In a month’s time it will be dead, the victim of declining enrolment (there are 200 […]
closing schools based on skewed utilization numbers
An internal Liberal government document obtained by the NDP shows the Kathleen Wynne government knows it’s closing schools based on skewed utilization numbers, party leader Andrea Horwath says. The concern is revealed in a ministerial briefing note the NDP obtained through access to information laws. In part, it reads: “Utilization does not typically recognize all […]