TORONTO – The countdown is on for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to present a three-year plan to the provincial government about closing schools. But the decision on whether, and which, schools to close is complex.
The Guildwood area is one example. Four schools are on their ten-year plan to be reviewed in 2020. Two of the schools, Poplar Road Junior Public and Elizabeth Simcoe Junior Public still have an enrollment rate of 75 per cent. The other two, Guildwood Junior Public and Jack Miner Senior Public are at 59 per cent.
However, just closing the school with the lowest enrollment, doesn’t necessarily add up. The decision is based on things like the distance kids have to walk, school condition and programming. Parents at each school make a strong argument for their school.
Students at Elizabeth Simcoe Junior Public can play on an outdoor ice rink made by parents, Angela Hetherington, a local mother of three, noted as an example of the community involvement in the school.
“I love it. It’s one of the reasons we moved into the area, to have a school close to home,” she said.
Nearly three kilometres away, at Poplar Road, parents are equally engaged.
“We meet there, do fundraising, the day care that we use is in the same building,” said Jay Moonah whose daughter Macy goes to Poplar Road.
So what to do? The local councillor says use the empty space for community hubs.
“We can put a small community library in. The gyms could be used for recreation programming,” said Paul Ainslie, councillor for Scarborough East.
The feeling in the community is that closing Jack Miner Senior, which has grade seven and eight students, and just keeping kids in their respective junior schools longer makes the most sense for the community. It could also make the most financial sense.
Longtime area realtor Janis Evanhoff said it would be the most expensive of the properties considered, even though any development would be subject to the conservation authority because of it’s location on the bluffs.
“But it is a valuable piece of property for sure, on the lake,” said Evanhoff, of Evanhoff Real Estate.
This wouldn’t be the first time the future of these schools has been questioned. A former superintendent put the schools forward for consideration approximately five years ago.
“It certainly wouldn’t have been right then, I don’t think its right now and who knows what its going to be in 2020,” said trustee Jerry Chadwick.
After the TDSB released a list of 130 schools which didn’t meet the ministry mandated 65 per cent enrollment, an analytics company took an in-depth look for Global News. DMTI Spatial found that because of the schools’ distribution as much as 70 percent of the city’s population could be impacted by decisions around closures. They also found some anomalies, so called, “hot spots.” Those are areas where there are plenty of potential students, but the schools are still on the short list for closure, like Braeburn Junior School in Etobicoke.
The analytics company does agree with the board, that the decision making is complex, and involves more than just numbers.
Parents point it out, the board had better get it right – closing a school isn’t exactly a decision you can take back.
“You can change a school into a condominium, but you can’t do the reverse,” said Karen Moonah, a parent at Poplar Road.
There is a community consultation process before a school is closed. Then, when it comes time to sell, first the school has to be offered up to other school boards, then to other government agencies. If there are still no takes, only then is it offered to private buyers.
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