I hope your family’s fall has gone well and that you were able to enjoy Halloween and other seasonal delights before the snowy season arrives!
Keeping our schools safe and open, while keeping COVID-19 case counts low has been top of mind for all of us. And it looks like our collective efforts at schools and city wide are working. I want to commend our staff, students and families for all they are doing to support this outcome. We are all looking forward to further opening up of restrictions. I recently co-authored this op ed with a colleague to encourage the government to add the COVID-19 vaccination to the school-age vaccination legislation, to support our students and staff return sooner to school as we remember it before the pandemic arrived.
Many of our school councils had elections recently. I congratulate everyone who has stepped up for the coming year, and thank all those who are stepping back and passing over the reigns. Our schools are richer for your hard work and dedication. I look forward to working with many of you in the year ahead.
Yours in community,
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Save the Date:
Ward 15 School Councils, Student Councils, Parents/Caregivers, Community Members, and School Staff, please join me at my next ward forum:
School Council 101
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The meeting will include a special presentation on school council best practices with Michelle Monroe, Central Coordinator, Parent and Community Engagement, TDSB, and a Q&A session. Ward 15 will also be holding elections for PIAC & FSLCAC Alternates.
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COVID-19 Vaccines
Toronto Public Health is reporting 84% of eligible Torontonians are now fully vaccinated - and nearly 88% have their first does.
TDSB’s COVID-19 Vaccination Procedure for Employees, Trustees and Other Individuals
The TDSB continues to implement the COVID-19 Vaccination Procedure for Staff, Trustees and Other Individuals to support the health and safety of staff and students in our schools and workplaces. To date, more than 88.5% of our 40,000 staff members are compliant with the procedure. To ensure that we can continue to support service levels to staff, students and our community, the TDSB will be gradually implementing compliance measures for employees over the next three weeks, starting on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
Voluntary Disclosure of Student Vaccination Status
The TDSB continues to prioritize keeping schools safe for students and staff and to focus on limiting the number of disruptions to learning as a result of COVID-19. In the event of an interim cohort dismissal related to COVID-19, students who are fully vaccinated are allowed to continue to attend school as long as they have no symptoms. Fully vaccinated staff and students will still have to pass the COVID-19 screening tool each day, confirming they do not have symptoms.
To more effectively manage possible COVID-19 cases and outbreaks in schools, Toronto Public Health has requested that Toronto school boards begin collecting the voluntary disclosure of vaccination status by students born in 2009 and earlier.
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Toronto Public Health School Immunization Program
Toronto Public Health is offering free Vaccination Clinics in Toronto for the following vaccines:
- Meningococcal-ACYW to prevent meningitis
- Human papillomavirus to prevent cancers
- Hepatitis-B to prevent liver cancer
All students in Grade 7 and higher who have not received any or all of these vaccines are eligible.
These vaccines will be available Tuesdays through Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the City's vaccination clinics located at:
- Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St W, North Building
- Scarborough Town Centre, 300 Borough Drive
- Cloverdale Mall, 250 The East Mall
- Mitchell Field Community Centre, 89 Church Ave
- Woodbine Mall, 500 Rexdale Blvd
Meningococcal vaccination is a requirement for school attendance. Your child must be up-to-date with the meningococcal vaccine or have a valid exemption to avoid school suspension.
For information about these vaccines talk to your doctor or call Toronto Public Health at 416-338-7600. Read the full letter from Toronto Public Health and complete the consent form to access the vaccinations.
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Grade 8 Virtual Open Houses and Information Nights
Grade 8 students and families are invited to attend virtual open houses and information sessions (live or pre-recorded) hosted by high schools beginning in November. These sessions offer important information to help make an informed decision when choosing a high school. To learn more about important program and school information, access the pre-recorded information sessions and see the dates/times for information sessions, please visit the Virtual Open Houses and Information Sessions website at www.tdsb.on.ca/OpenHouses.
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Share Your Voice: Consultation on the new Specialized Schools and Programs Policy
Students from across the TDSB are welcomed into a variety of specialized programs including arts-focused schools, specialized programs in math, science and technology, CyberArts and International Baccalaureate. These specialized programs and schools are part of our commitment to ensure students have opportunity and variety in their school experiences.
We want to ensure that more students have access to these programs and opportunities and that the process to apply is consistent and fair. To do that, we have drafted a new policy – the Specialized Schools and Programs policy. This new policy, which is currently in draft, will outline clearer and more consistent admission procedures, practices and timelines, which are different from those in regular schools. This policy, along with the revised Optional Attendance Policy will play an integral part of the Secondary Program Review that will be happening over the next several years. We will be continuing to engage all community stakeholders in this important future work.
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Letter to the Minister: Pandemic Funding Support
On Oct. 22, 2021, Chair of the Board Alexander Brown wrote to the Minister of Education to request predictable and stable pandemic funding and support for school boards, to ensure the health and safety of students and staff. The full letter is now available online.
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Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement – Community Consultations
The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement in collaboration with select community partner organizations are facilitating a series of community consultations. Community members and parents of students who self-identify as Black are invited to register for a virtual session. Upcoming dates are November 9, 16, 17 and November 23 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. For more details and to register, https://www.tdsb.on.ca/cebsa/community-engagement
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Director's Gender and Sexuality Alliance Awards Applications Now Open
For the past ten years, the Director's Gender Sexuality Alliance(GSA) Awards have recognized and honoured GSAs across the Toronto District School Board, however during these last two school years (2019-20 and 2020-21) the GSA Awards were postponed due to the pandemic. But this year, the Director’s GSA Awards is back. We know GSAs have been working hard to support each other while having to pivot to remote learning. During this time, some GSAs transitioned their individual school-based groups online whilst others partnered with grassroots activists and community organizations to connect queer, trans, and non-binary students with even more support. One of the most outstanding initiatives created during the pandemic was the TDSB’s GSA Network, which continues to connect hundreds of staff and students across the school board through incredible broad actions of collective care. To honour all of this creative work by GSAs to support each other, the TDSB wants to commit to providing the necessary resources for these groups to continue and expand. Therefore, this fall/winter the Director’s GSA Awards will be awarding $1,000 to eight GSAs from across the TDSB that operated during the 2019-2020 and 2020-21 academic school year. In Spring 2022, four more awards will be announced for GSAs operating during the 2021/22 academic school year. The application deadline is Friday, December 3, 2021 at 4 p.m. Please send applications to GSAAwards@tdsb.on.ca.
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Join us for the PIAC Parent Conference!
Save the date for November 27 and 28 for the PIAC Parent Conference. Bridging the Gap is a two day virtual event with speakers and workshops focused on bridging the gap in our schools in mental health, parent engagement and school councils. Engage with other parents and caregivers from across the TDSB as we learn and share best practices on reconnecting mentally and socially with ourselves, students, schools and communities. More information will be available online at http://www.torontopiac.com.
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Heritage and History Months
The Toronto District School Board is proud to celebrate the following heritage and history months during November:
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Sign-up for TDSB Update and stay informed about recent Board decisions and district-wide news.
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