The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) says they are making changes to eliminate 40 vice-principal positions and changing some assignments across the board by the next school year.
TDSB Spokesperson Ryan Bird said in a statement to Humber Et Cetera that the planned changes come after the board winds down temporarily funded COVID positions and as a result of declining numbers of students.
“Every spring, the TDSB goes through a process to determine how staff are placed in schools for the upcoming school year,” Bird said. “This planning helps ensure that every school has the staff required to support the needs of students.”
The board says 28 positions were supported from one-time funding as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic while 12 positions are being eliminated due to declining student enrolment.
The Ontario NDP's education critic argues that underfunding is to blame.
“The province isn’t just eliminating COVID funding, they’ve cut more than $6.3 billion from the education over the past eight years,” said Chandra Pasma, NDP MP for Ottawa West-Nepean and the official opposition's education critic. “We need the government not only to step up with funding to maintain these positions, but to increase the number of caring adults who are supporting our kids everyday.”
The TDSB is one of the boards that have been placed under provincial supervision by the Ontario Ministry of Education, revoking the responsibilities of elected school board trustees. This action was taken after the province claimed that there was financial mismanagement in the board.
The board also plans to change the structure of responsibility for full time vice principals, making one full-time vice-principal responsible for two schools in smaller schools – something seen widely across other boards in the province.
“In some cases, combined vice principal teaching positions may still be required,” Bird said.
The TDSB also mentioning that most of these staffing changes will come as people leave and retire from the board as opposed to laying off the staff.
Pasma said that some vice principals have instructional duties that are targeted towards kids who need extra help in addition to their administrative duties.
“Many of these vice principals who are being divided between two sites are not getting to their instructional duties,” said Pasma. “This is going to represent a significant harm to students who are already vulnerable and who are already being failed by the system.”
The TDSB said that these changes are part of their annual staffing changes process and they will ensure every school has staff required to support their students. They did not indicate how many schools specifically will be affected by these changes.
