Toronto Catholic District School Board
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- For French language Catholic schools in Toronto, see Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud.
| Toronto Catholic District School Board
TCDSB |
|
| Board office location | 80 Sheppard Ave. East, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6E8, Canada |
| Number of schools | 201 schools.[1] |
| 2008-2009 budget (CAD $ millions) |
$852.48[2] |
| Number of students | 91, 667[3] |
| Chair of the Board | Catherine LeBlanc-Miller |
| Director of Education | Ann Perron (Interim) |
| Elected Trustees | 12 |
| http://www.tcdsb.org/ | |
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) is one of three school boards in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a separate school board and is one of two English boards of education in the Toronto area. It serves the former cities of Scarborough, North York, York, East York, old city of Toronto and Etobicoke.
Contents |
[edit] History
Prior to 1998, the Metropolitan Separate School Board was the governing body of all publicly-funded Roman Catholic schools in Toronto. In 1998 the board was reorganised, resulting in the separation of English and French language schools, the latter of which are now part of the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud. The resulting board was named the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
[edit] Schools
The Toronto Catholic District School Board governs 201 schools in the Toronto area: 30 secondary schools, 168 elementary schools, and 3 schools that combine both secondary and elementary grades.[1]
[edit] Secondary schools
[edit] Elementary schools
[edit] Combined schools
- Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts (Grades 7-12)
- Francis Libermann (Grades 7-12)
- St. Michael's Choir (Grades 3-12)
[edit] School Bus Transportation
The following service providers have been contracted by the school board:[4]
- Altug Transportation
- Attridge Transportation
- First Student Canada
- McCluskey Transportation Services
- Stock Transportation
- Toronto Transit Commission
[edit] Trustees
The TCDSB has 12 wards and 12 trustees and 1 student trustee (who is not entitled to vote). The Chair of the Board, the Vice-Chair and the Honourary Treasurer are elected at the inaugural meeting of the Board, and serve for one year. As of May 2008, Catherine LeBlanc-Miller serves as chair, Ann Andrachuk serves as vice-chair and Barbara Poplawski is honourary treasurer. Trustees are paid $18,500 a year in salary and an additional $18,000 for expenses.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Enrolment of non-Catholics
While Catholic high schools are funded by the provincial crown, making them open to any students who wish to attend, elementary schools do not have to enroll non-Catholic students. Many argue that the practice of fully funding separate schools exclusively for the Catholic faith is discriminatory to other religions (i.e.the United Nations has twice chastised the province for this policy). Supporters of the current Catholic education system point out that it has existed, in some form or another, since Confederation, and that the Constitution Act, 1867, enshrines the right to government-funded religious education to all Catholics. The opposition, however, argues that this is an appeal to tradition and point to other provinces in Canada which amended the constitution to abolish Catholic school funding.
[edit] Government funding
Recently, the issue of government funding for religious schools has become a major political issue (see Ontario general election, 2007), with PC Party Leader John Tory supporting an extension of funding to all religious schools, Dalton McGuinty's Liberals and Howard Hampton's NDP supporting the status quo, and Frank de Jong's Greens alone calling for elimination of public funding for all religious schools (including Catholic Schools).
[edit] Trustee spending scandal
The board was embroiled in controversy in May 2008 when a report commissioned by the provincial government uncovered spending abuses by some trustees, including frequent meals and meals with alcohol charged to the public purse, thousands spent on promotional materials, and illegal benefits.[5][6] Provincial supervisor Norbert Hartmann was appointed to oversee administration of the board as a result of the scandals.[7]
[edit] See also
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto
- Toronto District School Board
- Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest
- Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud
[edit] References
- ^ a b TCDSB Alphabetical School Directory
- ^ http://www.tcdsb.org/about%20us/default.htm
- ^ http://www.tcdsb.org/about%20us/default.htm
- ^ Toronto Catholic District School Board school bus providers
- ^ ParentCentral.ca - Education - Catholic board cuts 85 teachers
- ^ http://www3.thestar.com/static/PDF/080508_EPTCreport.pdf
- ^ http://www.tcdsb.org/homePage/EDU%20-%20Minister%20to%20parents%20re%20TCDSB%20-%20June%204%2008.pdf

