Protests by a segment of the Jane-Finch community earlier this year appears to have achieved the desired effect as the proposed closure of at least one local school appears off the table - for the moment.
A committee of parents, students and school board staff examining the future of five elementary schools in the neighbourhood is recommending none of them should close, something that wasn't even presented as an option to the community earlier this year. The recommendation is included in a report from the committee dated Aug. 24 that was sent to Toronto Community News upon request by CUPE 4400, which represents education support workers at the Toronto District School Board. The union said it obtained the report from a member of the committee. The TDSB could not immediately confirm whether the report is the committee's final recommendation to the board. At public meetings in the wintertime, the committee presented four options outlining various changes to the configuration of the schools. In all cases, the JK-5 Shoreham Public School would have been closed and consolidated with the adjacent Brookview Middle School, with the two becoming a JK-8 elementary school.The change would have also resulted in at least one of the three other JK-5 junior schools - Driftwood, Gosford, and Blacksmith - being renovated to handle students in grades 6 to 8.Those options were not received well by a loud and large contingent who showed up at four public meetings, including one that had to be cut short."They (the committee) came in and said status quo was not an option. Obviously status quo was an option because they basically shied away from the community," said Errol Young, a former North York trustee and a member of the Save Our Schools movement, which has called for an immediate halt to the closure of all schools and sale of school properties. A final decision on the schools isn't likely to take place before the municipal election. TDSB staff will have to prepare a response to the committee's report and provide their own recommendations to the board of trustees, but the board's next meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 7 and they aren't scheduled to meet again until November.