email : Webview : Quick Communicator November 2016

School Zone Safety Announcement

Premier Kathleen Wynne was at Northlea ES for a provincial announcement regarding intended legislation to enhance traffic safety in school zones. If passed, the legislation would permit municipalities to introduce automated speed enforcement technology (photo radar) in school zones. TDSB Chair Robin Pilkey attended and spoke at the announcement, which also included Director of Education John Malloy, Transportation Minister Del Duca and Mayor Tory. For more information on the announcement, please see the province’s news release: https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2016/11/ontario-making-toronto-streets-safer-for-pedestrians-and-cyclists.html

Lest We Forget

In classrooms across the city on Remembrance Day, November 11, students recognize the sacrifices of former students, talk about war and peace, and learn about freedom and oppression. They learn about the battles of Vimy Ridge in 1917 or Juno Beach in 1944. It’s a time when students reflect upon our values as Canadians and honour those who work hard to make sure that we remain safe and secure.

I attended a moving and respectful ceramony at Valley Park Middle School. All of our schools held events to mark and honour the sacrifices of so many.

Parent Invovelment Advisory Committee
PIAC is the umbrella organziation for all the School Councils in the TDSB. It provides advice to the board on parent engagement, communicating with and supporting school councils, and undertaking activities to help parents support their children’s learning at home and at school.

We are fortunate to have Wilmar Kortlever from Northlea along with the new cochair Trixie Doyle in leadership positions. Representing our ward are Nazerah Shaikh from Valley Park Middle School (delegate) and Gazi Rahman from Grenoble (alternate delegate).

On November 19 PIAC organized an informative and free full day conference for parents at Earl Haig Secondary School.

Parents had the opportunity to take part many interesting workshops.

Kudos to the parents who made this a success. Watch for another event in the spring of 2017!

About TDSB history and archives
Did you know that the TDSB Fine Art, Archival and Artifact Collection, and the TDSB Museum, are located at Eastern Commerce CI now the First Nations School on 16 Phin Avenue. The collection has been given the honourary Ojibway name Debwemowin, meaning House where the Truth resides.Some of the artifacts on display include the seats of honour from the original Toronto Board of Education Board Room at Old City Hall and a unique tear drop boardroom table from the 1870s. Also on display, representing a very different time, are Discipline Books which teachers were required to keep of students who got the strap and the reasons for the discipline such as playing on the way to school or throwing pencils in class.

I smiled when I saw this vintage Bedford Park sweatshirt. Visits by appointment only.

TDSB By The Numbers
In case you were wondering - we are big!! The TDSB is the largest school board in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

Our projected enrolment for 2016-17 was 243,192. The actual number of students came in at 245,618. This included an additional 872 Syrian refugee students that we had not anticipated when original projections were developed.
You might be interested in having more details about our current enrollments. This link will provide you with the report that Trustees recently received about our enrollments for 2016-17.