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rfmcdonaldI reported here last month Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday's statement that downtown Toronto wasn't a suitable place for children, Holyday making particular references to the burgeoning condo developments of the downtown core as not safe places for children.
As reported by CBC, though, in the most basic sense Toronto's condo developments are inhosptable places for children: Toronto's education system might not have the capacity necessary to include the children leaving in these developments in existing schools.
As reported by CBC, though, in the most basic sense Toronto's condo developments are inhosptable places for children: Toronto's education system might not have the capacity necessary to include the children leaving in these developments in existing schools.
The Toronto District School Board has started posting notices in some communities warning buyers of new condos that there may not be room for their children at schools in the area.
One such sign has been erected in the Davenport Road and Lansdowne Avenue area, prompted in part by the situation facing nearby Regal Road Public School, said Maria Rodrigues, the school trustee for the area.
The board has already had to ask a nursery school at Regal Road to move out in order to make space for the rollout of full-day kindergarten there.
"We want parents to be aware that there is a possibility that their children may not be enrolled in the local school and they should do their research before," Rodrigues said in an interview on CBC's Metro Morning.
Meanwhile, 3,200 new condo units are in various stages of approval and development in the High Park area.
Local trustee Irene Atkinson says that will mean 400 new elementary students in her ward over the next few years.
"We have nowhere to put these kids," she said.
Atkinson says several of her schools are already over capacity, and about 270 kids are already being bused to schools in neighbouring wards.
The TDSB is in the process of expanding several schools. But Atkinson says the school board has no say in how the city of Toronto approves condo developments.
"We write back and say, 'Sorry, there is no room in the local schools.' And they go ahead and build," she said.
"So there is absolutely no planning and co-ordination on the part of the city planning [department]."
