Toronto District School Board
Skip to main content

Letter on Old Orchard - February 20, 2014

Letter on Old Orchard - February 20, 2014


Dear Neighbour,


Over the past two weeks, I have heard from many concerned parents and community members about the potential sale of the Old Orchard building at 375 Dovercourt that currently houses West End Parents Daycare and Orchard Montessori. I share these concerns and I am committed to ensuring it remains in public hands, and as a community hub and daycare.

I am working closely with Marit Stiles (Trustee for TDSB Ward 9, Davenport) and City Councillor Mike Layton (City Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) on this issue. I am thrilled that Councillor Layton’s motion at City Council calling on the Provincial government to amend the utilization assessment of schools for use as community hubs passed with overwhelming support on Tuesday February 10th

At the Board Meeting on February 4th, Trustee Stiles and I learned for the first time that the previous Board had flagged Old Orchard for potential sale in June 2014. Following that Board meeting, I met with families and staff at Old Orchard, affirmed that putting a hold on the process toward sale on was the best option. Unfortunately, my motion to this effect was narrowly defeated.

The good news is that this is not the end of the process. The sale of Old Orchard is not final. What was approved was to begin a community consultation process on whether to sell Old Orchard. To be clear, only the Old Orchard building is up for consideration. The playfield and green space will be kept for Ossington/Old Orchard Public School.

According to the TDSB’s policy, we do have the opportunity to shape how the community consultation looks, so that it is locally driven. The outcome of the community consultation then comes back to the Board for further approval.

I believe that selling off school properties is a short-term fix for a long-term problem - Toronto has 12% of students, and only receives 5% of the Provincial capital funding. Our schools deserve their fair share. In addition, selling off an asset like Old Orchard is short-sighted: we have been told by the Provincial Government to expect an influx of 700,000 new residents in our city in by 2022. Our local schools are already at optimal utilization or above capacity, as defined by the Province. If we sell off our public schools, we will never be able to get them back. I will continue to speak out for a review of the provincial funding formula, which has put the TDSB in its current funding bind. 

At the moment, the operations of the West End Parents Daycare and Old Orchard Montessori are not interrupted.

As I receive more information, I will keep you informed. Please do not hesitate to contact me anytime at ausma.malik@tdsb.on.ca or 416.395-8787.

Sincerely,

Ausma