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Young Stats said:
Even with the merger's, I think the solution to the mismanagement issues of the TDSB is
1.) Abolish the Trustee system and follow the Australian model of the public school system where every school in Toronto should have its own board that includes staff, parents, business, and other community members.

2)Decentralize/Abolish the Ontario Curriculum and let every Public school have its own curriculum as long as they teach the mandatory subjects (Language Arts, Math, Science, History, Civics, Geography, and the Arts).

This way, it will compete with the private schools!
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Private schools don't necessarily have their own boards, only the larger and more well established ones. But every school in Ontario that's granting Ontario credits has to follow Ontario curriculum. Private schools aren't teaching a different curriculum, and there's actually more oversight in place to ensure private schools are following ministry guidelines than there is for public schools.
 
whatever said:
Private schools don't necessarily have their own boards, only the larger and more well established ones. But every school in Ontario that's granting Ontario credits has to follow Ontario curriculum. Private schools aren't teaching a different curriculum, and there's actually more oversight in place to ensure private schools are following ministry guidelines than there is for public schools.
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Private high schools must follow the Ontario curriculum. They are also inspected by someone from the ministry on a regular basis (every other year, I think). I remember inspectors sitting in on our classes when I was at BSS. :)
 
prosperegal said:
Private high schools must follow the Ontario curriculum. They are also inspected by someone from the ministry on a regular basis (every other year, I think). I remember inspectors sitting in on our classes when I was at BSS. :)
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http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/privsch/index.html

The Ontario Curriculum is Optional for Private schools. Private Schools must use the Ontario Curriculum when they offer OSSD credits. There's two types of private schools in Ontario,

Non-inspected private Schools: When Private elementary and Secondary Schools DO NOT offer OSSD credits. In addition, they are not being inspected by the ministry staff, these schools do not require to follow the Ontario Curriculum, although they must still offer instruction in any of the subjects in the elementary or secondary courses of study.

Inspected Private schools: are seeking or have been given authority by the ministry to provide courses offering credits toward the OSSD. This includes private schools offering a combined elementary-secondary curriculum (in which case only the secondary school will be inspected) and private schools offering credits in an online environment. The inspections are conducted by ministry staff and may be scheduled or unscheduled. The ministry inspects all private secondary schools seeking the authority to grant credits in courses leading to the OSSD. The purpose of the inspection is to determine whether the standard of instruction in courses leading to the OSSD is being delivered in compliance with ministry requirements. The ministry does not inspect or approve items such as the condition of premises, health and safety practices or matters related to staffing. Private secondary schools are authorized to grant credits only after a ministry inspection and this authority may be revoked following an inspection. The credit-granting status of a school is noted on the website. Schools offering credits toward the OSSD are inspected on a cyclical basis to determine whether the school continues to meet ministry requirements regarding curriculum, assessment and evaluation policies. The frequency of inspections depends on the outcome of the inspection reports; ministry staff may recommend that a school be inspected in two years, the next school year, or within the same school year, as circumstances warrant.
 
Johnny Au said:
See here: http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/...lopment-clouds-tdsb-school-closure-issue.html

The condo boom in North York Centre is causing the Willowdale-area schools to overflow, causing some students to be bused off to a school three kilometres away, even though some of those students live only 300m away from an elementary school.
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This is exactly the problem that the closing should fix...and why we should be encouraging the changes.

In low-rise areas of Toronto it was normal to have 3-4 kids back in the 20's through the 60's when the houses were built. Now it is expected that there will be 1 or 2 (even with a basement apartment). A 2 bedroom apartment was even expected to have 2 kids. This will remain the case other than unique situations.

There are areas that have seen growth without the proper growth in schools (or classrooms).

So the simple math is sell off the ones that will never be full and use the money to build (or expand) in areas with growth (such as this area).

The school board should not be a real estate company renting unused space (unless it is an area in which there is a likelihood of growth). Sell them off. Either to the catholic board, the city or to private developers (in that order).

The province has correctly called the Board out and said they are going too slow. The Board has to assess whether the area will have an increased student population in the future but most of them do not have an expectation of growth. There are 130 schools at less than 65% (plus a bunch not at 100%). Simple math tells me that 45 schools should close ASAP.

The Board is looking at consolidating 60 schools (i.e. closing 1 or 2 in a cluster of 10) over 10 years...so about 12 schools. How about the other 35 that NEED TO CLOSE
 
The issue with the closing is of course principals loose jobs as do office staff. You merge 3 school you do not need 3 principals. Of course you do not need as many trustees and this I defintely do not have a problem with.
 
nfitz said:
Why? Closing schools doesn't mean less teachers. Maybe a couple less principals ...
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Right now it is extremely difficult to find a teaching job in the GTA and southern Ontario in general. Teacher's College put out a lot of grads from 2008 to present, and there aren't enough openings. I know plenty of people in this position (including my wife). This is part of the reason why they are moving to two-years teachers college programs, instead of one year.

Part of the problem is that school boards hire you first for the supply list, and then you are considered for LTO (ie. maternity leave / sick leave) or if you are lucky, a full time position. Most boards have supply lists of a few hundred people, so people end up on supply list for two-three years. Many retired teachers are also at the top of the supply list, which limits opportunities for new teachers.

If I remember correctly, from 2008 - 2012, she told me that there was something like 3X as many teachers being certified a year than there were teachers retiring.

Closing schools most definitely could means less teachers. Kids from closed schools can be absorbed into existing rooms without necessarily adding more teachers or rooms. Many school classrooms are below the regulated ratios, but it would obviously depend on the situation in each and every school.
 
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wopchop said:
Right now it is extremely difficult to find a teaching job in the GTA and southern Ontario in general. Teacher's College put out a lot of grads from 2008 to present, and there aren't enough openings. I know plenty of people in this position (including my wife). This is part of the reason why they are moving to two-years teachers college programs, instead of one year.
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Since 2008? I've been hearing the same story for at least 30 years. How does it relate to school closings though?

wopchop said:
Closing schools most definitely could means less teachers. Kids from closed schools can be absorbed into existing rooms without necessarily adding more teachers or rooms. Many school classrooms are below the regulated ratios, but it would obviously depend on the situation in each and every school.
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Many classrooms below regulated levels? Given the 1-2, and even 1-2-3 splits (for example), I doubt amalgamating schools would have a significant change on teacher demand.
 
Are we expected to maintain an inefficient and costly system in order to provide more teachers with jobs?

I sympathize with anybody who is having a difficult time finding employment, no matter what your field, but there's no guarantee for any of us and maybe this is just the universe telling you to move on and try something else. I never did understand why so many go in for teaching despite the pickings being so slim, I can't help but feel that many do it in a last-ditch attempt to make their arts/social science degree work for them in some way.
 
nfitz said:
Since 2008? I've been hearing the same story for at least 30 years. How does it relate to school closings though?
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You may have been hearing it, but that's the reality. Too many people are going to teacher's college, and even the Ministry of Training Colleges & Universities has admitted this, and are trying to address it (moving to two-years teacher college for this year is just such an attempt). I'm not trying to defend teacher's jobs or say that these new grads should be getting jobs (although I sort of blame the Ministry of TCU for encouraging so many people to go to teacher's college). I was just expanding on what TO RealtyBlog was saying about feeling bad for recent teachers college grads.

Less schools presumably means less teachers. I think you'd have to be naive to believe that staffing levels would likely remain the same, although I admit that it is certainly possible. I just don't think that it is very likely. Because of the union, there most likely wouldn't be any immediate reduction in staff, but we would see less hiring, and the consolidated schools would lose teacher's positions overtime through attrition.
 
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