Support specialized programs & schools made possible by optional attendance!

Please do not take away the opportunities to nourish students' talent in early stage.

These special programs are very well managed, students across toronto who need academically challenged are provided the great opportunity to have enriched learning environments without paying expensive private school tuitions. It is a great example equality tdsb provides over the years, as per my understanding. I don't understand why these special programs are being proposed to stop.

Being a student in the MaCs program at William Lyon Mackenzie CI means that I worked hard to enable me to attend this specialized program. Only pure hard work and dedication let me be accepted, and if the TDSB was to take my hard work away, I wouldn't hesitate to give them a piece of my mind. I don't think that any of the other students in a situation like mine will agree with the demolition of specialized programs, why TDSB?

special programs fullfill the special needs of different students, no matter they are talented or impaired. tdsb should support them.

This is absolutely ridiculous. The only decent thing about our educational system is that it gives an opportunity for students like myself and many others to learn, express and find ourselves through these specialized programs. The only smidge of happiness I've found in school has been through the arts. It's helped me decide what I'd like to do post secondary and what I'd like to do with my life. If you phase these programs out you may be creating "equality" but in this particular situation EQUITY is what's important. Taking away these programs (that teach students how to express, accept themselves and learn in a positive/"unconventional" manner) is a tremendous mistake.

Boi

I think the leftists working for the TDSB should go work at PETA cause this whole equity talk is really stupid.

Attends the Gifted program

I strongly disagree concerning phasing out specialized programs across TDSB.

Please keep special programs

This is horrendous the government should fix what is broken not what is good!

the arts are so important and claude watson is my school. to take claude away would be so bad for so many people.

I'd like to keep my opportunities open with the IB program. Making it extinct will do nothing but harm for my future.

Keep Claude

Instead of trying to promote equity through the means of eliminating special programs, why not try promoting them? Many students that are enrolled in special programs pay more than an average student, so surely the argument that it is too costly is not one that is truly valid. I believe when it comes to a students education, there should never be compromises to inhibit a student from enrichment if they so seek it.

Specialized arts programs got me through social anxiety as a child and teen, helped me gain confidence, have a sense of purpose, honed my creativity, and made me passionate about life. Whenever I’m feeling down I think of my art teachers, Nazy Sakhavarz and Wanda Porter of the Claude Watson arts program; and I paint, draw, and write, expressing myself in ways they helped me understand. Art has always been my happy place, and the thought of these programs being changed or dismantled is appalling, depressing, and not anything I or my family and friends could support.

Why though...

Taking away all specialized programs is taking away important resources for student growth. You can’t replace them with mediocre programs and expect everyone to look the other way.

These specialized programs allow students to improve further in comparison to the average course where all students are mediocre. Removing these programs will jeopardize the future of our generation as students will not be encouraged to exceed further

Wtf