Update: Regular Board Meeting, February 5th, ten of us attended the Regular Board Meeting of the TDSB (including the principal). We intentionally dressed in red or wore our York Memorial hoodies so that no one could wonder why we were there. Wisely, this prompted our Ward Trustee Chris Tonks to ask to “bring forward” our Agenda point. By bringing forward our agenda point, we were allowed to witness questions and discussion regarding our requests for a standard Pupil Accommodation Review. Although no Trustee amended the items up for vote, we were able to make public record some additional details. I consider this a “win”. We, as a community, now know their target timeline for the PAR and can plan accordingly.
I need to be honest: it is a huge endeavour to attempt to create change in system that is designed to work a particular way. Fortunately, after all my research, I still feel it is worth fighting. The Board is setting a precedent with this action, and what we do can impact or influence any future PARs.
The Initial Staff Report http://bit.ly/ISR0129 contains very specific language that must be read carefully. The Ministry of Education (MOE) defines what must be included in the Report and the format it must be presented in (in fact, there was a slight delay because the format is SO new that they hadn’t fully developed the template). The MOE is taking school closures very seriously…and this is making the work of the TDSB in this financial climate much more difficult.
There are three Scenarios. Two of the scenarios are not in the least economically viable therefore it is not a surprise that the Board Staff made the bold move of recommending the third:
The Staff has outlined the case in the Initial Staff Report, but leaves the opportunity option to consider additional scenarios – THIS IS IMPORTANT. I believe that our new goal as advocates and authors of our own future is to create the case for an additional scenario – Scenario 4:
NOTE: The above scenario does not actually exist as yet. The goal is to get the Board Staff to include it in the considerations.
Stay tuned….
YM Parent Advocacy 2019-2020 