Students from under-represented communities (including Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latinx, LGBTQ+ and students with disabilities) were not included in a lottery for seats at alternative elementary schools in Toronto.

Citing “an oversight by the third-party vendor,” a representative for the Toronto District School Board said prioritized students were not included in the final step of a random selection process, which TDSB staff discovered while analyzing the data and results from this year’s admissions cycle. This was the first year the random selection process was centralized through an online program. In the past, this process has been executed by individual schools, say the TDSB.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit students, as well as applicants with siblings already enrolled at an alternative elementary school, were given prioritized access for admission. All students in these groups received seats.

The remaining seats were supposed to be equitably distributed amongst the remaining applicants. The processing error resulted in racialized, disabled and LGBTQ+ students being excluded from the final step of the random selection process.

In their statement, the TDSB said they are taking immediate steps to address this issue and would add additional seats “where possible, with current teacher allocations.”

This year there were 1,285 applications for 458 available seats in 17 elementary schools.

Toronto’s alternative schools generally offer smaller class sizes, as well as specialized curricula in programs such as arts and environmental education.