BASICS Issue #22 (Sep/Oct 2010)
Errol Young
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has decided to close 11 schools in the next two years. These schools are primarily in working class, racialized areas.
The board targeted numerous schools in working-class, racialized communities, presumably because they figured that working-class parents and communities would have less ability to resist the school closure process.
But Jane and Finch proved otherwise, where parents, teachers, and community members stood up against the TDSB’s proposed school closures. People from Jane and Finch who were already organized around issues of poverty were able to raise awareness throughout the community and, in the end, force the board to back down (see BASICS Issue #20).
The decision by the TDSB to close 11 schools is just the most visible reduction to school services for working people.
Last year, the TDSB tried to cut over 250 teaching assistants, but staff and parents opposed and stopped the cuts in its tracks.
In addition, there are the quiet cuts that we do not hear about. School cuts are happening bit by bit each year as programs like libraries, outdoor education, gyms, and music are reduced and facilities deteriorate.
What we don’t hear about, we can’t protest against.
This upcoming year, the TDSB is planning more school closures, in spite of it being an election year. The TDSB is committed to closing over 100 schools in the next decade. Because the board plans to sell school property to developers, communities are at risk of losing a valuable community resource and local green space.
While the provincial government and the TDSB are making more and more cuts to public education, the federal government is shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars into the prison system (see article in this issue “Canadian Government to Build More Prisons” by Mike Brito).
So stay vigilant and organize.
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