Start of school will be delayed for kids ‘unless we're able to pull off a miracle’: TDSB director

The Toronto District School Board’s Interim Director of Education Carlene Jackson said Tuesday that barring “a miracle” it is very unlikely that thousands of students at the TDSB will be back learning on Sept. 8 as scheduled.

“At this time we really don’t think it will be feasible,” Jackson said at a lengthy meeting of the school board that went late into the night Tuesday.

The delay would apply to both elementary and secondary students.

”We are currently having conversations with the system including the principals to determine the state of readiness,” Jackson added.

Jackson’s assessment comes in the wake of a memo to school boards Tuesday by Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce. In the memo, Lecce said that boards may stagger the start of the school year by up to two weeks if they feel that it would make the start of school safer.  

Boards will not need to seek special approval to implement the staggered starts.

Facing a chorus of criticism about a lack of funding to properly space elementary school kids, the province said last week that boards could dip into their reserve funds to pay for extra teachers if they wish to do so.

However critics had said that even if they make use of reserve funds, the last-minute change left boards little time to hire new teachers or find new space for kids to learn.

According to the memo from Lecce, students are expected to be back learning by Sept. 22.

If the start is staggered, TDSB staff said, they are contemplating starting older students first.

Nearly 25% of elementary parents won’t send kids to class

The latest development comes as roughly a quarter of parents with children in TDSB elementary schools say they don’t plan to send their kids to physical classes this coming school year, even if class sizes are smaller.

The number was included in pre-registration survey results considered by the TDSB Tuesday night.

The survey was conducted by automated telephone survey from Aug. 11-14.

Asked if they plan to return their child to the classroom in September if there is a regular school day model with normal class sizes, 71 per cent of parents said yes, while 29 per cent of parents said no.

Asked if they would return their children to class if smaller classes of 15-20 students were implemented, 77 per cent of parents said yes, while 23 per cent said no.

Among parents of secondary school students, 83 per cent said they plan to send their kids back to physical high schools where they will be in smaller cohorts of 15 students, while 17 per cent said they would keep their kids at home.

The phone survey had a 67 per cent response rate, receiving some 169,312 responses.

A new survey is expected to be sent out once plans for the school year are confirmed by the board and the ministry.  

Board working to finalize plans for September

The survey results come as trustees worked into the night to try and hammer out details about back-to-school plans.

Questions have swirled around what the return to the classroom will look like in September.

At the meeting Tuesday, Jackson said the board knows that it won’t have the resources required to achieve proper spacing, as recommended by Toronto Public Health, throughout the elementary school system.

While the Ministry of Education has allowed school boards to dip into their reserve funds to increase spacing in classrooms, the TDSB has previously said it would not be practical or financially responsible for them to use the money.

Board staff said Tuesday that reserve funds are not considered “rainy day funds,” but rather have specific allocations to a range of programs. Nevertheless, staff laid out two possible options that would see the board dip into reserve funds to hire more teachers.

Three possible options for hiring more teachers

At the meeting Tuesday, staff offered three possible options for increasing spacing by adding more teachers.  At least 400 teachers would be added to the system in all three plans.

Option 1 would see the board use $6.3 million from the Ministry of Education and $2.9 million of funding repurposed from the TDSB’s budget to add an additional 86 teachers.

Options 2 and 3 contemplate dipping into either $29.5 million or $59 million in reserve funding to add even more teachers, 280 or 560 respectively.

Trustee Robin Pilkey pointed out that even the most ambitious option is still a far cry from original board estimates that it would take 2,500 teachers to properly space all students in the system.

The extra teachers would be deployed to schools in areas where COVID-19 has hit hardest in the city.

Jackson said the board is working with Toronto Public Health to determine where the extra teachers would be most needed.  She acknowledged that the limited resources likely mean that some schools in the system will not receive any additional teachers.

Challenges in all three plans include student supervision, finding adequate classroom space and transportation.

Options 2 and 3 carry additional financial risks by using reserve funds, especially if COVID-19 continues for a second school year, board staff said.

Option 2 would result in an operating deficit of two per cent, while option 3 would lead to an operating deficit of 3 per cent – a deficit large enough that it would require special ministry approval.

A number of trustees expressed frustration at the limits imposed by the ministry. Pilkey called it “astonishing” that the ministry is now suggesting the board dip into funds that it has previously warned boards to guard against spending.

Ward 8 Trustee Shelley Laskin said she is “beyond frustrated” that the board is being forced to send kids back to school without proper support from the province to distance them.

She said even if the board does reach deeply into its reserves to the tune of $59 million, spacing will still be inadequate in elementary classes.

Jackson said she can confirm the board does have an adequate supply of personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, though Plexiglas will not be installed in classrooms.

Trustees are expected to vote on which option to proceed with at a special meeting on Thursday.

Children who are kept home to learn remotely fulltime will be put into a centralized virtual school rather than connecting remotely to the school their child normally attends, staff said Tuesday.