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I understand that Education Minister Kathleen Wynne is encouraging the Toronto District School Board to devolve to some degree in order to bring the administration of education in the area closer to the parents and communities of Toronto.

The people of Scarborough suffered many losses as a result of the amalgamation of Toronto contrary to the expressed wishes of the populace in 1997. The most obvious was the reduced effectiveness of local municipal institutions and the resulting loss of community pride.

Since Scarborough has been victimized by prejudice against this area, a feature of Toronto politics since some time in the late 19th century, this was a heavier blow in Scarborough than it was in the other two surviving suburban communities of Etobicoke and North York. But, due to the tenacity of many Scarborough residents, there is now a resurgence of community pride here, which is being expressed vigorously by Scarborough Community Council, the Scarborough Preservation Panel and other community institutions that were allowed to continue.

But the Scarborough board of education did not survive in any form. This was a crippling loss to our community because, contrary to conventional wisdom in other areas of Toronto and, to some extent even within Scarborough itself, our board was arguably the most effective in Toronto.

The particular strength of this board was its sensitivity to the needs of students at any given time and through changing times. That sensitivity was acquired through the relentless pursuit by the board of effective communication with the community.

I am aware of this fact because most of my career was spent as a secondary school counsellor in Scarborough. The focus of my job was to place students in appropriate programs regardless of their educational skills, social situation, ethnic background, first language, colour, religion, attitude, motivation, age, aspirations and so on.

I found this work to be challenging, but I always had the support of compassionate and skilled administrators and trustees who ensured the programs we needed to suit our incredibly varied population were available. The only times I became frustrated were when I could not find appropriate matching programs or even a welcoming attitude for Scarborough students who had to move to another school board area, including those in other parts of Metro Toronto.

These frustrations occurred more frequently when the transferring students had special needs, but also by the failure of other systems to welcome and place "regular" students as well.

Now that I am retired, I volunteer as a cataloguer in what has become the Scarborough Archives.

Significantly, this institution has evolved from the old Scarborough board of education's archives department. That department was responsible not only for the official records, which have now been transferred to the archives of the Toronto District School Board, but also school collections, photographs of activities, memorabilia, yearbooks, personal files of administrators and trustees, records of multicultural programs, ethnic sensitivity workshops for secretaries and caretakers. These collections continue to be used at school reunions and special celebrations in our community as the enlightened administrators and trustees who found the money to fund this department had planned.

The Scarborough board of education's archives department became, and still is, the soul of this community. All we need now is some semblance of an educational body within which that soul may continue to survive.

I am requesting Wynne encourages the Toronto District School Board to reconstitute its East Division as the Scarborough Division with the same boundaries as the old Scarborough board and with sufficient independence to re-establish the relationship between our school system and our community as it existed before the 1997 amalgamation.

Furthermore, I am requesting the number of school trustees be changed back to what it was in 1997 in order to restore effective communication between Scarborough parents and their educational system.

Donald B Smith