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Ward 21 Trustee Newsletter 2008

2008

In This Edition

  • Message from your Trustee
  • Focus on Youth program funds summer jobs and activities for 15,000 youth
  • Historic investments to support ESL and new immigrant students
  • Brookside opens its doors
  • Future Ace is honoured

Message from your Trustee

Dear Scarborough–Rouge River Residents,

After a most pleasant summer, it is once again back-to-school time for over 270,000 students in the Toronto District School Board. I wish each and every one of our students, as well as our teachers and staff, a successful 2008-2009 school year.

Last year, the Board undertook a ground-breaking student census, the first of its kind, to help us better understand which groups of students were achieving success or falling behind. The Toronto District Urban Diversity Strategy was subsequently developed to close the achievement gaps, with a targeted 85% graduation rate for all groups in the next 5 years.

In March, I moved a successful motion at Board that resulted in an additional $11.5 million to support ESL and new immigrant students, thereby ending an era of under-funded ESL programming at the TDSB. An article in this newsletter discusses this wonderful success in greater detail.

We were also reminded last year that our schools are not immune to violence. The shooting death of student Jordan Manners at C.W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute was a sobering moment for us all. As a result, the Board established the School Community Safety Panel and launched it Student Safety Line, which staff report has been highly successful.

Ensuring safe and caring schools continues to be a priority at the TDSB. Most recently, School Resource Officers have been assigned to 19 secondary schools across the city, including Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute in Ward 21, with a focus on developing partnerships and strengthening relationships with students, staff, parents and community members.

Another Board-wide priority is to continue meeting the ever-changing needs of our students and communities. The General Asset and Program Planning (GAPP) process is intended to guide the Board through a multi-year strategy to update our programs and re-invest in school buildings.

In Ward 21, my top priority in terms of GAPP is to ensure adequate and proper facilities for our growing student population. At the top of my list is the construction of a new elementary school to serve the relatively new Rougeville community at Morningside and Sheppard.

Certainly this school year promises to be as eventful as the last. As always, I am humbled by the opportunity to serve as your elected Trustee and look forward to another exciting year. Together, we can continue to make great things happen.

Sincerely,

Shaun Chen
Trustee, Ward 21

Focus on Youth program funds summer jobs and activities for 15,000 youth

90 non-profits ran community programs using free space in Toronto schools during summer

On August 20, more than 250 youth from Toronto's priority neighbourhoods celebrated their success as student employees in the Focus on Youth (FOY) initiative.

Employed as camp counsellors and youth activity leaders, the students worked in summer programs organized by 90 non-profit community agencies using space at 100 schools in the TDSB, free of charge.

In addition to eight weeks of work, students gained valuable knowledge and skills through leadership training in such areas as first aid, workplace health and safety, job readiness, peer mediation, and equity.

Now in its second year, FOY served over 15,000 children and youth in a variety of recreational and cultural activities in local neighbourhoods, thanks to a $6 million grant from the Ministry of Education.

"This program allows for learning to extend beyond the classroom and the regular school year. We are providing opportunities to engage students year-round," said Ontario’s Minister of Education, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne.

Trustee Shaun Chen, who served on the Focus on Youth Toronto Steering Committee, joined Minister Wynne and MPP Bas Balkissoonat Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute to make the funding announcement last April.

"Community involvement is tied to student achievement, as it gives young people choices and opportunities to be engaged in positive ways. Today's grant announcement demonstrates our shared commitment to the success of our students," said Trustee Chen.

The TDSB worked closely with United Way of Greater Toronto to bring in community partners. "Opening our schools to community programs is a significant part of the effort to set our youth on pathways to success," said Frances Lankin, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Toronto.

"United Way is proud to be part of an innovative program that will mean the world to youth in our city. Thanks to Focus On Youth, thousands of young people in neighbourhoods across Toronto will again be able to take part in recreational, leadership and employment opportunities they would not otherwise have," added Lankin.

In Ward 21, FOY programs were delivered by the 3T Program, Chitra's Child Care Services, Malvern Family Resource Centre, Malvern Rouge Valley Youth Service, and Youth Unlimited.


Historic investments to support ESL and new immigrant students

Trustee Shaun Chen proposes motion to address newcomer achievement gap

Last March, the Toronto District School Board approved an additional $11.5 million in staffing to help support new immigrant students, following a successful motion by Trustee Shaun Chen.

In recent years, the TDSB used approximately half of its provincial grant for English as a Second Language (ESL) to pay for other operational expenses. In 2007-2008, the Board received an ESL grant of $81.5 million, but only allocated $41.7 million for ESL programs and services.

"Many immigrants come to Toronto with high hopes and dreams of educational opportunities for their children, and we know that developing English language skills is integral to student achievement," says Trustee Chen, whose motion resulted in the hiring of 142 additional ESL teachers.

A staff report released last October found that 2,447 ESL-funded elementary students were not receiving any ESL programming. The Board's newcomer reception centres, located downtown, were inaccessible to students in other parts of the city, while grade 10 literacy test scores showed a widening achievement gap for ESL students.

"Each and every ESL child is now guaranteed ESL supports, and additional newcomer reception centres will soon open in the northwest and northeast parts of the city," reports Trustee Chen.

"I am proud of our Board for supporting this motion and for demonstrating our commitment to new immigrant children, who, like all of our students, deserve a fair chance at success," he says.

Brookside opens its doors

Board's newest school is also its greenest

With an official opening ceremony last December, Brookside Public School opened its doors to the Morningside Heights community, offering the public a first-hand glimpse of an innovative new facility, where reduced energy use translates into fewer greenhouse gas emissions and efficient design results in lower operating costs for the Board.

"This school is environmentally sound, made with high-performance design, and is energy efficient, but its most impressive feature is the charismatic, talented and intelligent students who fill these halls every day. The opening of this building means a promising future for these kids," says Trustee Shaun Chen.

TDSB's Director of Education,Gerry Connelly, agrees. "The official opening of Brookside Public School marks an exciting new beginning for students, staff and the community. We are pleased to unveil a school that is not only eco-friendly but is an exceptional place for children to learn and grow," she says.

Students who attend the Ward 21 school experience the many benefits of environmentally-friendly design, which makes for a healthy and stimulating school environment. The school has been designed to obtain a gold level of LEED certification for sustainability.

The objective of any eco-friendly school is to use energy from the earth and sun to eliminate its reliance on fossil fuels. In order to improve resource efficiency, high-performance school buildings like Brookside incorporate durable, long-lasting materials that require less maintenance; use significantly less energy; have excellent indoor air quality; offer abundant natural daylight; provide exemplary classroom spaces designed to meet the needs of students; and have a reduced overall impact on the environment.

Future Ace is honoured

Agincourt CI student Ema Hazra organized against violence, bullying

For Ema Hazra, it was simply about making a positive difference. But her efforts in tackling violence and helping those in need have also made her a Future Ace.

"To live everyday wanting to give back to the community is something that I am very proud of, and I'm very grateful for having won this amazing award," says the recent graduate who now studies at the University of Waterloo.

Hazra was president of Empowered Student Partnerships at Agincourt Collegiate Institute, where she spearheaded a winter clothing drive for families in need, initiated an anti-bullying campaign and raised funds for a shelter for abused women and their children.

"Not only is it an award, but a creed which I feel that every member of the community should live by," says Hazra, referring to the Future Aces Creed authored by Herbert H. Carnegie.

"It is a creed of positive thinking that has helped students, parents, staff and communities for over five decades," says Gerry Connelly, TDSB’s Director of Education.

A star hockey player in the 1940s, Dr. Carnegie was denied his chance to compete in the National Hockey League because it was uncommon for black men to play professional hockey at the time.

"Like Dr. Carnegie, many of you also experienced adversity, or saw others in pain, and you channelled that energy into something positive and great," says Trustee Shaun Chen, who spoke to the recipients as a 1999 Future Aces alumnus.