“Status inadequate and still no action” is the byline of the 2006/07 report describing the state of Toronto’s public and catholic school system.  The report shows suburban schools in Scarborough and North York continue to be some of the most congested in Toronto.

 For full report click here...

While the provincial government continues to provide top-up funding to under-capacity schools in central Toronto, suburban schools must contend with chronic over-crowding, more busing of children further from home, and more classroom portables.   The report is equally critical of Toronto’s school boards that continue to rely on portables and the busing of children as long-term ‘temporary’ solutions to addressing the over-capacity issue.

Currently, Scarborough has 441 classroom portables in active use (an increase of 20 since last year) compared to Toronto’s 68 portables (a decrease of 4 since last year).   The report notes that while there is a problem with declining enrolment, there is a much greater problem with increasing numbers of congested schools in suburban communities, particularly in Scarborough and North York.   This problem is only expected to worsen with the provincial government’s cap on class sizes at the JK to Grade 3 level where the public school board alone forecasts another 100 portables would be needed to accommodate the children. 

The report argues that waiting for enrolment to decline will not solve a growing problem.  “A more proactive and fairer redistribution of schools is required in Toronto, one that includes school closures as well as additional funding from the Province for new schools”, argues Michael Kilpatrick, author of the report.   The report identifies 23 schools that could be closed or amalgamated in order to free up resources for other high-need areas of the city. 

Kilpatrick goes on to argue that “since children learn as much by mentoring as by curriculum, they are more receptive to learning when given individualized attention.  Not only is reducing class size essential, but ensuring an adequate number of local schools is fundamental to increasing individualized attention and improving the quality of students’ learning experience.  It undermines government’s credibility when they argue for smaller class sizes only to see more and more parents watch their children move from portable to portable year after year.   Given the impact on our children’s learning experience, both the provincial government and school boards have an obligation to act in the best interest of all children of Toronto.”