January 2022
The TDSB is a large and complex organization, serving more than 250,000 students, and how our leadership is structured has a significant role in ensuring that system directions and resources resonate and have impact at the school, classroom and individual student level.
This is a pivotal time for education nationally, provincially and for the children and families in the TDSB. Every decision we make in the TDSB is guided by our priorities of academic success, achieving equity, and supporting students’ sense of belonging and well-being, which is more important than ever.
As we reflect on the tremendous changes of the past two years, we have an opportunity to rethink how we approach education, create authentic human connections, and be more purposeful about ensuring students’ lived experiences and identities are respected in their learning. Reconsidering our organizational structure is part of that work giving much-needed stability to our system and aligning and supporting our goals and commitments in a post-pandemic era.
Our new senior leadership structure will adapt to the current contextual realities while remaining focused on achieving the priorities in the Multi-Year Strategic and Pandemic Recovery plans. It underscores that making progress in eliminating racism and oppression is our collective responsibility and that together, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to Indigenous education and implementing the Calls to Action.
And, it supports our core purposes of ensuring that business and operations processes are modern, responsive, and deliver quality service and that every student has the conditions and experiences needed to engage fully and be successful in school and beyond. Now is the time for us, to be future-oriented in order to meet the challenges ahead.
Colleen Russell-Rawlins
Director of Education
Overview of the Changes
The new organizational structure returns to the model of four Associate Directors -- two academic and two business -- who will work together as a cross-functional team in the successful execution of the Multi-Year Strategic Plan, achieving positive results and the overarching commitment of the TDSB to eliminate disparities and disproportionality in outcome and experiences among historical and currently underserved students.
The new structure also includes the proposed addition of two new System Superintendent positions to further support our work. This includes one additional position, the System Superintendent of Leadership, Employee Development, and Continuous Improvement, and a review of the leadership structure of the Human Rights Department based on agreements with the Ministry of Education.
The total additional investment for 2021-2022 would be $270,000, which would come from existing resources and the annual allocation would be brought forward as part of the 2022-23 budget.
Overall, these changes will:
- Underscore that every role has responsibility for aspects of equity, anti-racism and anti-oppression & human rights
- Prioritize high achievement and well-being
- Invest in human rights
- Allow for strategic execution, change management and continued growth in the organization
- Support service excellence and responsiveness
- Encourage shared leadership
Read more about the four Associate Director positions:
Together with strong business operations, and school-level leadership we are growing and changing to meet the demands of the future and ensure that every student, regardless of identity or postal code, has they need to pursue their dreams.