Ward 12 newletter header
I hope it was a Happy Spring Break.
Spring is just around the corner and that's really exciting for me since I don't like cold weather much. Things are heating up at the TDSB with our budget process underway. Your voice is always important but will be needed in the coming months. I look forward to working with you to help keep public education public and improve outcomes for all kids.
I am encouraging EVERYONE to get involved in the TDSB budget process. It is always an important process that board staff and trustees have to work on together. I have provided a bunch of information, slide decks, budget projections about the process and next year's budget 2019/20. Check it out and then come to the Ward 12 Budget Forum on March 28th at 7pm - Location: Georges Vanier SS.
In this E-newsletter, I've provided an update on the Avondale PS & Alternative Elementary opening date. It's been a long time, but we finally have a firm opening date. See below
I've also included the March 11th Memorandum sent to school boards from the Government outlining their plan for children with Autism (ASD). I've included comments from TDSB staff to each of the components of the Memorandum. I encourage you to read this as well. 
And as always, you can contact me at alexander.brown@tdsb.on.ca if you have questions or want to talk about education. I hope to see you soon.
Alexander

       For more about TDSB's 5th Annual Greek Heritage Month events

                                                              click here

Click image above for more information
Toronto District School Board Parent Conference 2019      
                                    March 30, 2019

Join us for the Parents as Partners Conference on Saturday, March 30, 2019!
ALL parents/guardians/caregivers of TDSB students are invited and welcome to attend this free event.
This all-inclusive conference is organized by TDSB parents for TDSB parents, guardians and caregivers.
Participate in workshops, network with parents and community agencies and learn new strategies to support your child’s success.
We are so pleased to be able to offer a selection of sessions that cover a broad range of topics to provide parents with useful information and resources to help your child with achievement and well-being at school and at home.

Registration opens in February! Register early as there is limited space in each workshop!

ALL WELCOME . . .





Trustees Alexander Brown (Ward 12)
James Li  (Ward 13)
Trixie Doyle  (Ward 14)
Combined TDSB Budget Consultation
Georges Vanier Secondary School on March 28th, 2019. 
In preparation for this meeting you can read the following documents to get a better idea of how the budget is decided at the TDSB and how your voice can influence it. I encourage everyone to attend the meeting and bring your concerns forward! We really need to hear from you!

Multiyear Strategic Plan                                                                 
Budget Consultations

As Trustees continue to consider the 2019-2020 budget, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB)
is asking for help from parents/guardians, students, staff and community members.
  • You’re being asked to complete the online 2019-20 Budget Community Survey OR attend the Ward Forum hosted by your local trustees (SEE ABOVE).  Public input can assist Trustees in developing this year’s Operating Budget in alignment with its Multi-Year Strategic Plan

  • Your voice is essential.With potentially many funding "efficiencies" (CUTS) on the way, we need to hear from you!

  • If you can come to the ward forum, by all means do! If you can only find time to fill out the survey, that's great too. I look forward to the results of the survey. 
  • The survey provides a description of the eight proposed "Strategic Budget Drivers" that will help guide Trustees in their decision-making process. Following each Strategic Budget Driver, respondents are asked for their comments regarding the Drivers. These drivers will be critical because they will help the Board to ensure that the budget funding decisions support student success.

    The deadline to respond to the Budget Survey is Tuesday, April 2.
    A final balanced budget is expected to be approved this June.

    Trustee Budget Consultation Forums

    2019-20 Budget Community Survey

                             Public Consultation Details 

What is the Ministry of Education's Plan for children with ASD?
Recent annoucements about funding for the Ontario Autism Program have brought a lot of concern, fear and anger about how kids who need extra support and care as they enter our education system are being treated.
Ensuring that these kids can be successful requires educators who understand their needs, are highly skilled and have extra support available in the school when it's needed. At the TDSB, children with ASD  is the fastest growing group of students over the past five years (within Special Education student populations). As the numbers grow, so should the resource base to support their education.
On March 11th, the Government sent out the Memorandum below outlining  measures they will take to support students at the TDSB and all school boards across Ontario. TDSB senior staff have provided a quick anaylsis of how the annoucements / changes will affect our school board - and your kids.
I've added those comments in purple below each section. This is a preliminary analysis - more information is needed for the board to better understand how this is all going to work. It's hard to know when information slowly trickles in, leaving many people wondering if this is an ad hoc approach to government (reactionary) or if there is a real plan that makes sense to supports kids. 

I have some concerns that I will share with you in the future if they turn out to be valid. During the Budget process your voice on certain issues will help me and other trustees decide what course of action to take. Please read what I've provided below and if you have questions - let me know anytime...and as soon as possible.

READ Recent Government Annoucement Changes to Ontario Autism Program (OAP)
READ Ontario autism program changes raise concerns about effects on schools

NOTE:                                                                                                                  
The dollar amounts in the Memorandum below are for ALL school boards across the province - not just for the TDSB.
Memorandum From the Ministry of Education
DATE:     March 11, 2019
SUBJECT:  Supporting Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ministry of Education Annoucement
_____________________________________________________________________________
 
The Ministry of Education recognizes that as a result of the recently announced changes to the Ontario Autism Program (OAP), children and youth with ASD will be entering school and/or transitioning from part time to full time school, beginning in April 2019 and into the 2019-20 school year.
 
To support school boards in responding to the needs of these students, the ministry intends to provide additional funding for the remaining months of the 2018-19 school year. The ministry will also provide a range of new and ongoing supports for the 2019-20 school year. 
 
Please note that hiring of staff with expertise to support newly enrolled students with ASD, or students with ASD transitioning from part time to full time school, should proceed in order to support these students.
TDSB: TDSB is expecting approximately 180 new students and based on this projection expect approximately $2.2M of funding. Additional funding appears to be in the form of new students who register between now and June 30th. These students for whom the Board would normally receive partial or no funding at this time of year will receive the full Grant for Student Need (GSN) funding. This is for new registrations only. There is no additional funding for students who are currently registered (approximately 130-140 students) with us and transitioning from part-time to full time status as a result of this announcement. This is one-time funding for students registering this spring and does not represent any further or additional funding into the 2019/20 academic year. Please note, our initial projection of 250 students was based on both new and current transitioning students. We have now worked with Surrey Place to clarify which are new (180) and which are current (130-140).  In the weeks ahead these number may slightly change as actual students start to enrol. 

2018-19 School Year
 
To address school boards’ in-year needs, the ministry intends to provide for an extended count date for those students who have been receiving OAP services and are newly enrolling in the April to June 2019 school months. School boards will report enrolment as of March 31 as usual. However, an extended count date will allow school boards to receive full school year funding for eligible, newly enrolled students for the remaining months of the 2018-19 school year.
This mechanism will provide an average of $12,300 per pupil to allow boards to plan supports for the remainder of the current school year.
 
The ministry will propose a change to the 2018-19 GSN regulation to support this funding and will further advise school boards about the proposed regulation change.
 
 
2019-20 School Year
 
For the 2019-20 school year, the ministry intends to provide additional funding, and continued funding, to support school boards and students with ASD. The supporting initiatives are outlined below.
 
The ministry will propose a 2019-20 GSN regulation to support this funding and will further advise school boards about this proposed regulation.
TDSB: Additional funding will be focused on such things as professional development and after school skills development. Continued funding means that come next school year, all students will receive the same per pupil funding allocation As far as we know there is no additional funding allocation for students with ASD to further support transitions.
 
Promoting Professional Learning
 
The ministry is committed to supporting school boards, school leaders, teachers and educational assistants (EAs) to be well prepared to support students with ASD.
 
Currently, over 70,000 of Ontario’s teachers have additional qualifications in special education. Over 1,000 have additional qualifications for Teaching Students with Communication Needs (Autism Spectrum Disorder). T
he ministry will provide $1 million in annual funding to fully subsidize teachers who wish to acquire the Teaching Students with Communication Needs (Autism Spectrum Disorder) additional qualification. The ministry anticipates that this support would allow up to 4,000 teachers to acquire this qualification over the next three years.
 
The ministry will also increase training opportunities available to school boards by doubling annual funding for the Geneva Centre for Autism to $2 million to provide training opportunities for educators, including teachers and EAs. Training will include access to the Registered Behaviour Technician (RBT) course. The ministry anticipates that up to 4,400 educators could be trained annually through this new investment.
 
In 2019-20, the ministry will request that school boards focus the special education topic on the list of Professional Activity Day permitted topics on supporting students with ASD. Policy/Program Memorandum 151 will be amended to include this direction.
 
In 2020-21, the ministry will mandate that school boards support learning opportunities for all educators in supporting students with ASD, within a professional activity day.
 
The ministry will support new teachers by revising the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) Induction Elements Manual to include increased ABA-based training opportunities.
TDSB: The TDSB continues to be committed to providing quality professional development (PD) focused on supporting students with Autism through behavioural supports and PD focused on Educational Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA). We offer courses through Key to Learn, and have long partnered with the Geneva Centre to provide courses to support staff capacity from basic to advanced understandings of Autism, ABA, and behavioural strategies. Our goal is to meet staff where they are at to increase their capacity to serve locally. Any additional funding to support this work is appreciated.
 
We will continue to partner with the Geneva Centre to provide such PD opportunities. In the TDSB, we provide PD to support ABA and behavioural strategies for central, school staff, and leaders through workshops as well as in schools as central staff work collaboratively with staff locally. Financial support for teachers to take Additional Qualification Courses focused on Autism is welcome. The additional financial support for teachers to take Additional Qualification Courses focused on Autism is indeed new money as a result of this announcement and is welcome funding to support teacher PD. Such PD is teacher-initiated, rather than offered through TDSB professional development.


 
Funding for Student Supports
 
The ministry will continue all aspects of Grants for Student Needs (GSN) special education funding in 2019-20, including key allocations that are intended for students who require significant supports. Special education funding is projected to be $3.01 billion in 2018-19, which will continue in 2019-20. 
 
A number of components of special education funding are claims based and responsive to changes in enrolment of students with high needs. School boards are encouraged to access these allocations and to engage the ministry if additional flexibility is required to ensure this funding is fully available for students with ASD.
 
In particular, school boards are reminded of existing components of special education funding, which may be particularly relevant in supporting newly enrolled students with ASD:
 
The
Behaviour Expertise Amount Allocation (BEA) provides funding for school boards to hire board-level ABA expertise professionals. These professionals support principals, teachers, educators and other school staff by providing and coordinating ABA coaching, training and resources. They are also intended to support transitions, collaboration and information sharing between community-based autism service providers, school staff and families. This funding also provides for training opportunities to build school board capacity in ABA. The BEA allocation will be $15.2 million in 2018-19 and will be continued in 2019-20.
 
T
he Special Incidence Portion (SIP) provides up to $27,405 for students who require more than two full-time staff to address the health and safety needs of both the high-need student and others at their school. School boards may submit SIP claims to the Ministry of Education regional offices for approval. The SIP allocation is projected to be $105.3 million in 2018-19 and will be continued in 2019-20. Administrative dates for SIP claims will be extended in 2018-19 for eligible students.

The
Special Equipment Amount (SEA) provides enrolment-based and claims-based funding for school boards to support high need students. This funding can be used for computers and communication technology, and non-computer based equipment including sensory equipment. The SEA allocation is projected to be $106.6 million in 2018-19 and will be continued in 2019-20. Administrative dates for SEA claims will be extended in 2018-19 for eligible students.

Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) funding was introduced in 2018-19 to support high need students, including students with ASD. School boards are continuing to recruit staff with appropriate credentials to fully benefit from this funding. The ministry will work with MCCSS and school boards to facilitate the recruitment of staff with appropriate expertise. The MDT funding allocation will be $50.8 million in 2018-19 and will be continued in 2019-20.
TDSB: This information references existing funding such as Special Equipment Amount (SEA), Special Incidence Portion (SIP) as part of Special Education funding and do not represent new or additional money for school boards
 

Expanding After School Skills Development Programs
 
The ministry has been supporting a pilot program in many boards to allow the provision of the After School Skills Development Program. The ministry will make an investment of $6.1 million to allow this successful pilot to be extended to all school boards across the province in the 2019-20 school year.
TDSB: We have completed two After-School pilot programs in this 2018/19 academic year for students with Autism focusing on social skills and self-regulation strategies. Each session has served between 50-60 students. Additional funding to support this program will allow TDSB to explore expanding this program to more locations throughout TDSB
 
Supporting Transitions
 
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services will continue supporting transitions of children with ASD to school through the Connections for Students model, during the transition to the redesigned OAP.
 
The ministry will also host a series of virtual sessions about exclusions and modified days to engage parents, educators, administrators and others in a dialogue about these complex issues. The details will be communicated at a later date.
 
The ministry will survey school boards regularly to assess the impact of increased school enrolment and attendance by children and youth with ASD as they transition into the school system. The ministry will also ask boards to provide information on their websites for families seeking to enrol their children and youth.
TDSB: Information about how to register and initiate any transitions process from therapy to full time school has been posted on our website with links to the Centrally Assigned Principal in each Learning Centre who can assist families accordingly. The Connections for Students model is a transition program that connects TDSB staff from the Autism team with clinical staff and families to discuss how to best support a successful transition. While no additional funding has been announced to support it, this process will continue. Each student registration and transition will be considered on a case-by-case basis to support individual student needs for the transition and beyond


Beginning in September 2018, the Toronto District School Board established Extended Day Programs (EDP) for children in Kindergarten to Grade 6 at select schools. Together with existing third-party (licensed child care) and authorized recreation programs, the implementation of EDPs is aimed at providing greater access to before-and after-school programs in TDSB schools.
 

What is an Extended Day Program?
Extended Day Programs(EDP) provide seamless learning for children from Kindergarten to Grade 6 who require care before school starts and at the end of the school day. Children will develop skills such as collaboration, responsibility, problem-solving, creativity, citizenship and leadership through interesting activities. Extended Day Programs will be delivered by TDSB staff including a Designated Early Childhood Educator. Children will receive two nutritious snacks per day.

More Information:

Program Overview
Registration Information and Locations
Subsidy Information


REGISTRATION FOR THE 2019-20 SCHOOL YEAR IS NOW OPEN!

Registration for the Extended Day Program at the following schools is open from Monday, February 18 to Friday, March 8, 2019.

Avondale Public School (Willowdale)
Avondale Elementary Alternative School (Willowdale)
Birch Cliff Public School
Brookmill Blvd Junior Public School
Ellesmere-Statton Public School
Glen Ravine Junior Public School
Grey Owl Junior Public School
Market Lane Junior and Senior Public School
Sloane Public School
Willow Park Junior Public School

Avondale Public School & Alternative Elementary will be open on Tuesday April 2nd, 2019
It has been a much longer than expected wait, so I am very pleased to make this annoucement. Read details in the letter from Linda Curtis below. All parents and gaurdians should have received this letter by now.
Questions?
Contact Linda Curtis, Superintendent of Education for Learning Center 2 - Avondale









Vision Zero Plan Overview 2017-2021

The Vision Zero Road Safety Plan is a comprehensive five year (2017-2021) action plan focused on reducing traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries on Toronto’s streets. With over 50 safety measures across our six emphasis areas, the Plan prioritizes the safety of our most vulnerable road users, through a range of initiatives.

The Vision Zero Road Safety Plan is a bold pledge to improve safety across our city using a data-driven and targeted approach, focusing on the locations where improvements are most needed. The Plan addresses safety for the most vulnerable users of our transportation system—pedestrians, school children, older adults and cyclists. Based on factors that contribute to serious injury and fatality crashes, the plan will also focus on aggressive and distracted driving, and safety for motorcyclists.

The City is committed to Vision Zero and accepts its fundamental message: fatalities and serious injuries on our roads are preventable, and we must strive to reduce traffic-related deaths and injuries to ZERO.


In April I will provide meeting minutes, a video and other useful information from the February 23rd Ward Forum on School Zone Traffic/Street Safety.
Seven out 20 schools in Willowdale were represented at the meeting. Presenters included Richard Christie, Manager ..., Louise XXX Green Communities Canada, Markus O'Brien-Fehr Chief of Staff for Councilor John Filion's; Peter Bouhs, TPS.
I want to thank everyone who attended and presented. The meeting was packed with useful information, good advice and action items. I look forward to working with everyone to improve school zone street safety in Willowdale. 
Recent Media: Police Target Aggressive Drivers - Toronto Star, March 12, 2019
Snow Removal  

I am hopeful that we won't need to worry about snow again this year but you never know...
Snow removal at TDSB schools is performed by 3 different parties; snow removal contractors, in-house trades staff and on-site Caretaking staff.  Each school has a snow removal map posted in the Caretakers office outlining who performs what work.  
Typically, parking lots are plowed by contracted staff and they are called out when there is 5 cm of snow on the ground.  This standard matches the standard used by the City of Toronto. 
In house trades staff assist site based caretakers and plow snow on long pathways, some public sidewalks and remove excessive snow from school sites as required.  In addition, they salt parking lots and driveways when the snowfall is below 5 cm.  At some schools, they will also plow the snow from the paved play areas provided the school meets an established criteria as follows:

• Schools with 6 or more portable classrooms
• Schools with students having mobility issues
• Schools with unique geographic features/drainage issues
  
At the present time, there are 45 TDSB schools that receive this service.  
If you have a concern, complaint or comment about snow removal at TDSB schools, please get in touch with me at alexander.brown@tdsb.on.ca 
I am especially concerned with mobility issues and accomodations for those with disabilities.
You can also contact the school principal and superintendent since they are the people who will work to resolve any issues. 
If the concern is with snow plowing/removal on city property you can contact me or City Councillor John Filion's office. I would suggest speaking to his chief of staff Markus O'Brien-Fehr. Email John Filion by clicking here click
Chief of Staff
Markus O’Brien-Fehr
Markus.Obrien-Fehr@toronto.ca
416-395-6452    Website



trending@tdsb will take you inside schools across the Toronto District School Board to discover some of the exciting changes underway behind the classroom door. Fresh kinds of learning, new ways of teaching, reaching deeper into their communities, putting equity into action and all-round cool schools with stories to share.

Louise Brown covered education for the Toronto Star for almost 20 years, over nearly four decades. She is fascinated by schools trying new ways to engage students in the most diverse school board in the country. These are the stories she will share on trending@tdsb 
Ford Government Bans Cellphones from classrooms for noneducational purposes - 2019/20 school year

Starting this fall, Ontario students won’t be able to bring their cellphones to class unless teachers are using them for educational reasons.

“Ontario’s students need to be able to focus on their learning — not their cellphones,” Education Minister Lisa Thompson said in a statement released Tuesday. 

I wanted to provide some background on how TDSB teachers handle the use of technology (smart phones) in the classroom now:
  • We encourage the use of technology in the classroom.

  • It may make sense to use a cellphone in one class, but not make sense in another. That is why we leave the cellphone decision up to individual schools and classrooms to do what works best for them.

  • Our own data shows some of the impacts of technology, such as screen time and time spent on social media, on students. Part of our plan moving forward is to teach students how to use technology responsibly in their daily lives — both inside and outside of school.

  • With regards to the TDSB banning cellphones a number of years ago — the cellphones at that time were not the cellphones of today (also called smart phones), which can be valuable tools during certain lessons. When the ban was lifted, there was a realization that cellphones weren’t just for talking and texting but could be used in so many more valuable ways.

    *
    **The Toronto District School Board used to have a cellphone ban, but reversed it after four years to let teachers dictate what works best for their classrooms. The board has previously said that enforcing an outright ban was next to impossible, and said that to curb technology use would be to place limits on educational opportunities as well.
Court Dismisses Charter Challenge to Sex-Ed Curriculum Change

On February 28, 2019, the Ontario Divisional Court dismissed the challenges brought by ETFO (Elementary Teachers Federation Ontario) and other parties who alleged the recent changes to the Health and Physical Education curriculum violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ freedom of expression, right to life, liberty, and security, and equality rights: Read the article
The Court determined that teachers had the freedom to teach the additional topics covered in the 2015 curriculum (e.g., consent, cyber bullying, sexual identity, etc.) as long as the 2010 curriculum learning objectives were met.
The Court added that the legislative and Ministry policy context, and the curriculum itself, already required teachers to teach the curriculum in an inclusive, diverse, and non-discriminatory manner.  A copy of the decision is available online.
The Ministry of Education has not informed school boards of any further changes to the curriculum. At this time, the currciulum prior to 2015 (known as the 1998 currciulum) is being used. Once we have new information - if any - I will cover the topic in this newsletter. 
Media:

Van Attack Memorial Being Planned for Willowdale...



I will have much more information about this at the beginning of April when the steering committee has a better laid out plan. I will keep you posted on events, times and all associated activities. I am hopeful that TDSB students from local schools will participate in the official ceremony at Mel Lastman Square. 
If you want to get involved or volunteer, please contact:
Jesse James
Special Consituency Assistant for Community Engagement
Ward 18 Willowdale – Councillor John Filion
416-338-5298



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