Toronto preparing for severe winter storm
Get ready Toronto, it’s going to get a bit chilly! Environment Canada has set out a severe winter waning for today and Friday. The city of Toronto will experience significant snowfall from 15 to 25…
TDSB
No sale for excess TDSB lands
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) decided not to sell excess land in order to build more classrooms for students and generate much needed income for the institutes. In the proposed plan, schools with larger plots of land would sell off their unused green spaces in an income-generating attempt. The refusal to sell the lands has left six Toronto school expansions in question, two of which reside in Scarborough.
Construction of Rougeville’s first elementary school underway
Children residing in Rougeville will no longer have to factor in long commute times into their weekly schedule. Construction began earlier this month on a new Toronto District School Board elementary school in Rougeville, slated to open in September 2013.
The school will be located at 50 Rouge Park Dr. in the Meadowvale Road and Sheppard Avenue East area. It is a collaboration between the TDSB and the Ministry of Education as the first elementary school in Rougeville. The school has thus far received $12 million in funding as part of the TDSB’s ongoing efforts to support students.
Shaun Chen, the vice-chair and trustee for Ward 21, where the school will be located, believes students in Rougeville shouldn’t have to travel long distances every morning to receive education.
“The new school will be a growth school, which means there is currently no local school presence,” Chen said. “Since about 2005 when focus started moving into the community, students have been bussed to holding schools that have been identified as having available space.”
With no current local school in place in Rougeville, attendance at the yet to be named elementary school is expected to be high.
Richia Bissoondath, communications coordinator for the Toronto District School Board contends that the school will be well populated to begin with and will only continue to grow.
“There are a sufficient number of students residing in the community to support a viable elementary program,” Bissoondath said. “Enrolment in the first year is expected to be approximately 500-550 students, with the expectation that it will increase over the next 5-7 years.”
In a mixed population area like Rougeville one would expect that feelings would be mixed in regards to the construction of a new school. However, Chen says this is not the case.
“The local residents wanted the school very badly as it’s not ideal to have the students bussed every morning,” he said. “I would safely say that everyone wants to see a local school in Rougeville. It’s been a project we have been advocating for many years now and it’s a pleasure to see it moving forward with shovels in the ground.”
With ground broken, construction underway and a principal selected in Wayne Leavy, all that is left is for the school is to be named. Then Rougeville will finally have its very own elementary school
TDSB budget in recovery
The Scarborough Basketball Association uses TDSB school facilities as a space to run their programs. About 2, 500 kids participate in these programs alone. Meanwhile, the TDSB is facing an $11 million budget shortfall.
English and math class for the 21st century
In a Grade 5 classroom at Scarborough’s Mason Road Public School, something special is happening.
The children are huddled around laptops creating avatars and writing blogs. But most importantly, they are engaged and learning to improve their language skills.
Africentric high school has low turnout
After years of academic research, intense media scrutiny and rowdy debates, Toronto’s first Africentric high school class has launched in Scarborough — with six students.
TDSB academies offer specialized learning experiences
Fifteen students stand in three groups across their classroom, waiting for teacher Fiona Hopkins to count them down.
Gibb the key to Commerce’s back-to-back title attempt
If Eastern Commerce Saints are to repeat as city women’s 4A basketball champs, it likely will be on the shoulders of Tayla Gibb.
Trustee: Trading EAs for ECEs won’t work
“We need enough EAs in these schools,” said trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher. “They are a crucial stop-gap. We can’t turn out backs on them. I am deeply concerned we are stripping those schools too low, where they can’t function safely.”
Hungry for more: Scarborough’s student breakfast programs suffer from lack of funding
There’s a hunger to increase the amount of breakfast and food programs in Scarborough schools, a hunger that can’t be met because of lack of funding. The Toronto Partners of Student Nutrition placed a moratorium on division of the municipal and provincial funding, funnelling funding into existing breakfast and food programs in schools and refusing any new applicants.