A Message from Education Action: Toronto February 23, 2011 Democratizing PARCs, Trading Trust for Advertising Cash, The Growing Gap in School Funding, User Fees for Students and Adults Dear Friends, Will the Board democratize the PARCs? Ontario’s public school boards have taken a pounding over the last decade or so. They have lost almost all their financial and curriculum power and are increasingly micromanaged on every front by the Ministry of Education. All that is really left to our trustees is their capacity to engage their communities in the struggle for educational reform. That’s where the Model Schools for Inner City initiative, for example, has had its best moments. What’s key to this engagement is parent, student, teacher, school board worker and community involvement in democratic processes that matter – making decisions that make things genuinely better for kids and the neighbourhoods in which they live. At the next Planning and Priorities Committee at the TDSB (Feb. 28, 7 pm, 5050 Yonge St.) trustees have a chance to democratize the Pupil Accomodation Review Committee (PARC) structure, which will make a large difference for the parents in Rexdale who have requested it as well for many other school communities, which may be facing school closings or a major restructuring of school boundaries. These Rexdale parents have written to Chris Bolton (the Board Chair and Chair of Planning and Priorities) making their case for democratization (see the letter below) and looking for broad support among the trustees. There’s a chance they could get that support. Many trustees have been disturbed by their communities’ reaction to the current PARC process, which has been deeply manipulative and destructive, and they may be looking for a democratic solution. Check out the Rexdale request in their letter to Bolton, and if you think it makes sense, let your trustee know. Good trustees need all the backing they can get. And come down to support these parents at P. and P. We’ve also included two documents dealing with the hurtful restructuring of school boundaries for the children of Queen’s Plate Drive – a situation that will have to be resolved within this Rexdale PARC. Click HERE to download: Letter to Chris Bolton Click HERE to download: Changes in School Routes Trading Trust for Advertising Cash In addition to the democratization of PARCs, the Board is facing another important issue of values in a proposal now before it from One Stop Media. The company is offering to place 4 video monitors in each of 70 high schools across the city. The Board gets a little cash and the company gets to introduce a significant amount of advertising to students. In the article below, Dudley Paul examines this issue from the perspective not only of the unhealthy growth of corporate influence at the Board, but also from the perspective of the equally unhealthy growth of bureaucratic power and trustee irresponsibility. The One-Stop-Media proposal could go through the Board with no recorded vote, just a wink and a nod to the executive to get on with it. Click HERE to download: One Stop Media Proposal at the TDSB The Growing Gap in School Funding On February 7, 2011, Social Planning Toronto hosted a research and policy forum: “The Real Cost of Public Education: Fees, Fundraising, Equity and Access in Ontario.” It featured Hugh Mackenzie (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives), Annie Kidder (People for Education) and Faduma Mohamed (Labour Community Services and Co-Chair of Education Action: Toronto). In the report (below) on this forum, Lesley Johnson (a research and policy analyst for SPT) opens up the growing divide between rich and poor schools, the continuing under-funding of Ontario education, and some website links discussing these issues. Click HERE to download: The Real Cost of Public Education Hurting the Poor with User Fees The PSSC (Programs and Schools Services Committee) meets tomorrow, Wednesday, February 23, 5:30 pm in Committee Room “A” at the TDSB (5050 Yonge St.), and should have on their agenda the issue of student fees as raised last month at PSSC by members of the ICAC sub-committee. As Lesley Johnson makes clear in the above article, this is an issue of growing importance at the TDSB. To get to this meeting, check out the file on User Fees.. At the same time, we encourage you to sign City Councillor Pam McConnell’s petition to not charge user fees for adult programs in the city’s Priority Recreation Centres. It's in User Fee file below. Click HERE to download: User Fees for Students and Adults All of the issues we have touched on above are largely the product of the McGuinty government’s under-funding of our schools and municipal governments and its determination to squeeze its cutbacks out of our School Boards and City Halls in order to avoid an angry public. There’s a provincial election coming up in October. Wherever you are, make sure McGuinty and Co. wear these cuts.
In solidarity, George Martell and Faduma Mohamed
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