Parents of children at an alternative school in Toronto’s west end say it feels like their school is being penalized for its smaller size after students from three grades were moved into the same classroom following the annual reorganization at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). “We cannot grow our class sizes even when there’s demand because the TDSB won’t let us,” Anaya Ohri, outgoing co-chair of The Grove Community School’s parent council and parent to a Grade 3 student, told CTV News Toronto. “They’re manufacturing a problem and punishing our children for that.” The Grove, located on Gladstone Avenue, is an alternative public school serving students from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 6. The school focuses on teaching students through three pillars: community activism; equity, diversity and social justice; and environmental justice. Earlier this month, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) reorganized staffing at the school, resulting in the loss of one of its five teachers and the introduction of a split grade class for Grades 4, 5, and 6. This means the 27 students in the class will range in age from eight to 11 years old. Rebecca Singh, a Grade 6 parent and co-chair of the school’s accessibility and neuro-inclusivity committee, says nearly all children at the school were affected, adding students were told about the changes before parents were. “My kid is usually pretty calm and able to roll with changes, and he’s lost sleep,” she said. Forty per cent of the students in the split class have an Individual Education Plan (IEP), according to Singh. “These are kids that need those individual conversations and individual attention, and the teacher needs to provide that according to the strategy that the TDSB itself has created for working with kids with different learning needs,” she said. Geoff Miracula, who has two children enrolled at The Grove, echoed that concern about one-on-one time in the classroom. “This is what I’m afraid of for our children: is that the children that need extra help won’t get it. Academics will suffer, social emotional regulation will suffer,” he said. “I’m really not looking forward to what’s going to happen this year as we progress.” TDSB unable to ‘reconsider’ The superintendent, Jhonel Morvan, wrote an email to parents on Sept. 28, obtained by CTV News Toronto, saying triple-grade classes can, and often do, occur at smaller schools when there are too many students for one classroom, but not enough money to fund other single-grade classes with a dedicated teacher. “At a small school such as The Grove Community School, enrolment changes (up or down) can have an impact. In this case, with fewer students this year, a reorganization of classes was necessary resulting in the reduction of one teaching position at the school,” the email reads, adding that the staffing adjustments were made in line with the board’s staffing procedures and collective agreement rules. “While I appreciate some have requested us to reconsider these changes, we are not able to do so,” the email continued. “With 474 elementary schools across the TDSB, an exception at just a fraction of those schools can have a significant ripple effect on the system and would require relocating staff from schools where they are needed.” The TDSB noted there are 85 students at The Grove, with 27 of them in the triple split class. “With such a small number of students across those three grades, we cannot provide a full-time teacher for each class—one of which would have just six students in it,” Emma Moynihan, senior communications advisor at the TDSB, wrote in an email statement to CTV News Toronto. ‘Restore our classes’ The parents CTV News Toronto spoke with say they aren’t asking for special treatment, only for the same admissions policy as other TDSB schools. “There is an absolute demand for these schools and these parents are being told no. If the demand is there, and this is what parents want, and the school is already in place, why are you not helping the school grow?” Miracula said. Amirah El-Safty, another Grove parent, said their enrolment intake is capped at 14 students but said there were at least 19 families who were on the waiting list. “We would be happy to grow as a school. We’re just not able to because of these enrolment cap policies,” she said. Archer Pechawis, a Grade 6 parent, believes the situation is part of a bigger plan. “For the record, as an Indigenous person, as far as I’m concerned, the Doug Ford administration—there’s a state of animosity, and it’s not coming from us,” Pechawis said. “The Grove School, seven per cent of the student populace is Indigenous, whereas in the GTA, the population of the GTA is 0.8 per cent Indigenous. So, proportionally speaking, we have a really significant Indigenous presence at our school. I think that puts a target on our backs.” The parents say they want their children’s classes restored, enrolment caps raised so more families can join, and the intake cutoff extended so students can enroll at any time. “Restore our classes. It’s not that big of an ask, really,” Pechawis said. The parents all said they’re grateful for the teachers, and that the impact of reorganization says more about the system than about any educator’s skills. “We’re very lucky at The Grove for the teachers that we have, and to expect teachers to be even more superhuman than they are—that’s not how a school is supposed to function,” Ohri said. “As remarkable as our teachers are, 27 kids, high needs, one teacher, is an equation that doesn’t work for anybody.”
