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Support specialized programs & schools made possible by optional attendance!

2,353 Comments

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Angela Zhang
8 years ago

I would be nowhere near the person I am without an arts education. Phasing out specialized programs like Claude Watson is just regression, and completely disregards the potential of every student.

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Idiris Mohamed
8 years ago

We shouldn't limit the success of students in schools. Getting rid of specialized programs hinders success rather than promoting it.

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Randy Debartolo
8 years ago

Don't shut em down pls

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Lavinia Auhoma
8 years ago

Specialized programs are there to put like-minded students together and pave the way for our future, and I don't think "results in divisions" but rather inclusion.

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Gabby Kamino
8 years ago

This board just keeps inventing and floundering. Spending money where money doesn't need to be spent instead of concentrating on it's students and it's teachers.

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Jim Wei
8 years ago

Stop political correctness

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Liz Haines
8 years ago

What we need is to let more students know about the opportunities that are available to them, let them see and experience what these schools have to offer. It's not about taking away schools that excel in offering meaningful, engaging teaching, it's about communicating and sharing these opportunities for kids who would likely thrive in them. You can't keep mainstreaming education. If anything, more schools like these should be opening....

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Anonymous
8 years ago

I’m currently a visual arts major at Etobicoke School of the Arts. This school has made me a better person and helped me grow! This is crazy, people can’t ever take away what we have!!!

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Kirstine Hyslop
8 years ago

Please don't phase out specialized schools like this. They are there for the people who have interests in careers related to the specialization of their respective schools. Speaking from experience: general schools are often lacking in the quality of their arts programs with some schools and administrators wishing to focus more on other areas of academia and take away the arts.

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Lisa Doan
8 years ago

Additionally, the recommendations are much more of "equality" than "equity". You cannot just assume the "over-representation" of one race if most people of another race don't want to audition for the arts. Much of the grade 8s at my middle school (which has a lot of racialized students) last year had zero interest in the attending an art school.

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Anonymous
8 years ago

TDSB, please don’t turn into Torturing Dreams of Special People

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Caroline Pike
8 years ago

Shutting down special programs would do harm to every single student's future.

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Evan Reynolds
8 years ago

I went to Rosedale. Specialty schools make such a difference in so many lives. Schools wouldn't be able to help these kids reach their full capabilities if they're in a regular school with mediocre facilities. Theyd be forced to pay for private schools, which unfortunately, not everyone can do

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Qi Wang
8 years ago

We respect diversity of all people. Every child deserves proper education tailored for them instead of exact the same education for all. Cancelling special program is a setback for education. We need more special program to suit different students.

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Paul Tyndall
8 years ago Featured

I don’t see how taking special studies away from the students who have put in so much work to get there will help anyone else. The limited special resources would end up becoming so diluted across the much larger base as to be basically meaningless.

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Bill Tang
8 years ago

Decreasing the quality of education for students who are clearly looking for more specialized than what the default system can provide is not what the TDSB should be doing. If for some budgetary reasons, perhaps I may be able to understand better, but for "equity", as the board administration can even pretend to care about induvidual students is disgusting. This is not the kind of equity that drives student success, it's a gesture, a mere pretense. These program existed for very specific reasons, removing them is to pretend all high school students have the same needs; I see no proposals to remove programs for special needs students, why should it be any different for studwbts at the other end of the spectrum? The TDSB administration needs find some other things to do, maybe starting with some introspection at how disconnected they are with actual teaching and students needs.

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Anonymous
8 years ago

Keep our programs!!!!

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Leah Sota
8 years ago

We need to keep our arts and specialized programs!!

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Joey Hunter
8 years ago

This is outrageous you can’t do this TDSB! Keep the specialized schools!

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Kevin Wu
8 years ago

As someone who has benefited from specialized programs under the TDSB, it is sad to see the TDSB will refuse to aid students in pursuing specialized careers under their false sense of "equity."