Ward 7 Education Council Minutes February 17th at Western Technical-Commercial School, 7pm – 9pm In Attendance School Trustee: Robin Pilkey Ward Council Chair: Marcela Saitua (Parkdale Jr. & Sr. Ward 7 Rep) Superintendents: Curtis Ennis Principals: Virginia Pang (Western Tech.); Irene Chewchuk (Parkdale C.I); Alexander Moy (Fern Avenue Jr. & Sr. PS); Mary Gyemi-Schulze (Warren Park Junior PS) School Representatives: Annette Street Junior Fern Avenue Junior and Garden Avenue Junior High Park Alternative and Senior Public School Senior Public School Public School Junior School 1 1 1 1 Howard Junior Public Humbercrest Public Humberside Collegiate Indian Road Crescent School School Institute Junior Public School 1 0 2 1 Keele Street Public King George Junior Lucy McCormick Senior Mountview Alternative School Public School School Junior School 1 0 No Parent Council 0 Parkdale Collegiate Parkdale Junior and Queen Victoria Public Runnymede Collegiate Institute Senior Public School School Institute 2 1 2 1 Runnymede Junior and Swansea Junior and The Student School Ursula Franklin Senior Public School Senior Public School Academy 1 1 No Parent Council 1 Warren Park Junior Western Technical- Public School Commercial School 1 Host School - 4 Host School Presentation Western Technical-Commercial School spoke about their school achievements in areas such as high academic standards, technical programs such as robotics, cyber arts and skilled trades, the gifted program, as well as excellent co-op programs. Consequently, they believe that Western Tech is an excellent school that any parent would love to enroll their child in. Budget Presentation Craig Snider, Comptroller, - Budget, Revenue & Financial, provided an in-depth presentation of the development and execution of the TDSB budget. Highlights: - The TDSB has an annual operating budget of $3.1 billion, and a capital budget of $137 million. - The operational budget is passed in March so as to allow for more time to plan in advance of the school year. The capital budget is passed in May. - TDSB budgets are planned primarily around people: student enrollment trends and staff salaries. - School-based staff allocations are finalized in early March, and teachers and support staff are allocated in mid-March. - TDSB funding allocations per student are usually higher than the benchmarks set by the Ministry. - Nonetheless, given the often heard complaint that class sizes are too large, and that lowering funding means directly reducing to the number of staff such as teachers, counsellors and librarians, the TDSB tries its best to maintain its funding model to ensure student success. The TDSB sometimes meets its funding standards by moving funding that is not “sweatered” (allocated to specific projects) to other priorities they believe best servers the students. - Still, there is a projected deficit this cycle of 21.5 million this year. The TDSB is looking at a number of options to address the deficit: Increasing transcript fees, changing transportation costs, upgrading technology to improve maintenance productivity, and reducing Special Education staffing. Useful Budget Links/Documents 1) Ward 7 Budget Presentation Slides 2) General Funding Formula for any TDSB Schools 3) Preliminary 2014-2015 Budget Allocation for each Ward 7 School Toronto Foundation of Student Success (TFSS) The TFSS is a registered charity which raises funds to provide programing for children in the TDSB, including nutrition and after-school programs. The TDSB currently provides $400,000 in funding to the TFSS to pay for administrative costs. One way that the TDSB is working to reduce its projected deficit is to ask other organizations that receive benefit from the TFSS to contribute to the TFSS’s administrative costs, so that the TDSB can reduce its own contributions. Please note that no reduction of student support is expected with this proposal. If you would like to visit the TFSS for more information, please click here: http://tfss.ca/ Best Practices Due to time constraints, the discussion of best practices was deferred to the next Ward 7 Council meeting. Ward 7 representatives were asked to consider the following issues for the best practices discussion at the next meeting: - What do schools do when students are late? - Should school councils be politically active? - What are some best practices with respect to fundraising, and in particular, fundraising for IT? Special Education Advisory Committee We are very happy to announce that Nora Green has been re-appointed, and that Paula Boutis has been newly appointed as community representatives to SEAC for the Southwest Region. Nora provided the Ward Council with an explanation of what SEAC is, and of the unique challenges that the committee faces in addressing special education concerns in Toronto. For example, on one hand, SEAC is mandated to be consulted on the budget, and the Special Education Grant is sweatered, (or specifically allocated to be used only for the purposes of special education). On the other hand, the funding is insufficient and is projected to decrease in the future. Special education funding was reduced by $7.3 million this year, although the effects of this reduction will not be felt until the coming school year. A further reduction in the range of $5 million is also expected for the upcoming year. The TDSB is unique in that it has a very high number of congregated special education settings. Paula added that with the move to an inclusionary policy, the TDSB is intending to move students currently in intensive support programs back to their home schools and phase out certain congregated settings. Students formerly identified for these settings would be placed in regular classrooms in their communities. There are questions about whether sufficient resources will be provided to the students in those classrooms. Nonetheless, the TDSB maintains they are supposed to have the resources for these students. Nora’s Report on Inclusion Policy Trustee Update Ministry Directives The TDSB has begun to implement the Ministry directives. Robin has been to a number of meetings to try and work through these transitions. These include the removal of the offices at 5050 Yonge for example. Please note that Robin’s TDSB phone number has been changed to 416-395-8787 due to these changes. Long Term Program and Accommodation Strategy There are concerns about school utilization rates and under capacity schools in the TDSB. It is important to be assured that no Ward 7 school is slated to be reviewed for closure. Still, boundary changes and other initiatives will need to be pursued in order to address to the problem of over- capacity schools. Please read the following documents to better understand the TDSB’s plans to address enrollment pressures in Ward 7. Accommodation Strategy Documents 1) Ward 7 specific sections of Long Term Program and Accommodation Strategy 2) LTPAS Fact Sheet 3) LTPAAS Brochure Summer School Locations Locations for the 2015 Summer School has been announced. In our Ward, the elementary schools are Swansea PS and Parkdale Jr & Sr PS. Please note that Swansea PS will be offering French Summer school programming. While there are no secondary school locations in our ward, the closest ones are at Etobicoke CI and Central Tech. Schedule for secondary school begin in March 23rd with registration on May 4th. We will keep you up to date as more information is released. Summer School Information and Registration Links 1) TDSB Summer School and Programs 2) E-Learning Registration Next Meeting 7pm March 24th at Howard Junior Public School Topic: IT Policy with guest speaker Peter Singh – Chief Technology Officer, TDSB Please start thinking of best practice questions for our discussion next meeting; probably on the use of technology in schools. If you think of any, send them to [email protected]. Also, feel free to invite parents to join our Ward 7 Facebook Group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TDSBWard7Coucil/ .