Support specialized programs & schools made possible by optional attendance!

please keep this program!

My teenage son is thriving because of his arts school he switched to this year. If he didn’t have that he wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning. This is not funny. Children have differing needs and learning styles and need safe places to express themselves.

My daughter went here and she continued her studies and now works in the arts field. Toronto District School Board you are decreasing opportunity for a lot of young people. Heartbreaking.

These are vital programs that offer intangible benefits to students. Please do not get rid of them!

Against it. For Canadian future, please keep those programs, let those outstanding kids be a scientist, specialties in order that Canada can be a leader in the world. Otherwise, all of the kids like drugs, no study, who will do the research and use their brains? Canadians technology is way behind the world, no own new brands products. Shame to be a Canadian.Think about future generations, please keep it.The US tries to attract talents from all around the world, Canadian even tries to cut out their own talents.If there is the third world war, Canadian will be a colony of other countries for sure. Future competition depends on brains. The way TDSB is doing is cut off their throat, and kill their own and their kids.Specialised programs such as MACs and Tops were created to benefit those that are excelling in class. Some students have a passion for learning and want more challenges in their life, so the normal programs in school will not benefit them. If these students are to return to the regular programs, they will be bored out of their mind. This is not equity. What the TDSB is attempting to achieve right now is equality. Equity is supplying students with programs based on what they need. Equality is supplying every student with the same programs no matter their strengths and abilities. If this proposal were to be passed, it would be extremely unfair to those specialized program students as all their handwork to study and work for auditions meant nothing. "The Toronto District School Board is a leader in equity" is completely wrong. Please stop ruining things for others, and benefit every student based on individual skills.TDSB needs to wake up and realize what is gonna happen afterward if this was to occur.The kids that get into these types of programs, particularly the arts, strive to achieve a higher than average arts education, so they can go out into the world prepared for the intense work it takes to be successful in the competitive art world (music, dance, vis

Phasing out special education programs from the TDSB is a VERY FOOLISH decision that will effect thousands of students and teachers. Students audition and try out for these programs every year in hopes of getting in. Why should the selected students be punished? This talk of equity is hypocritical in itself. For what purpose would this achieve? Equity of what? Is it ethically right to sacrifice the student's education? The removal of these programs will instead exacerbate current problems. The voices of the students in these programs must be heard! How will students face this problem? How will the parents? How will the teachers? I urge the TDSB to rethink this decision. Think about how each individual would feel.

ESA one of the best school experiences my son has had

I was in a specialized program. The community was amazing and truly supportive. Everyone really cared and tried to make a difference. This specialized program are truly special and are essential to building a successful society.

The TDSB has not provided enough time or facilitated public consultation on the phase out of specialized programs. Such action will have far reaching detrimental effects on a generation of children striving to achieve excellence in specialized environments that are designed to ready them for contribution to society.

Arts schools forever!

THIS IS SO UPSETTING. It saddens me that amazing arts programs like Claude Watson are being threatened. I am Claude Watson alumni and a graduate of the full arts program at Earl Haig. I owe so much of my success and who I am as an adult today to being given the opportunity to attend a school with such amazing programs. Watering these programs down, or getting rid of them all together would completely ruin the great success these programs have at creating our community's (and the world's) greatest artists and leaders. One of the things that makes these programs great is the quality, variety, and range of so many different arts classes and programs available within the same school. They allow students with an interest and talent in the creative arts to truly immerse themselves in the arts and work with other like-minded students to develop their creativity and have access to all the resources they need to blossom as artists. Cutting back on or shutting down world-class programs like the Claude Watson Arts Program would be a huge mistake and a terrible loss for the school board and future generations of artists.

Against it. For Canadian future, please keep those programs, let those outstanding kids be a scientist, specialties in order that Canada can be a leader in the world. Otherwise, all of the kids like drugs, no study, who will do the research and use their brains? Canadians technology is way behind the world, no own new brands products. Shame to be a Canadian.Think about future generations, please keep it.The US tries to attract talents from all around the world, Canadian even tries to cut out their own talents.If there is the third world war, Canadian will be a colony of other countries for sure. Future competition depends on brains. The way TDSB is doing is cut off their throat, and kill their own and their kids.

STOP IT TDSB! JUST STOP IT!!!

I went to ESA, and it profoundly changed me as a person and an artist. The dedication of its arts teachers, the rigor of its specialized performance opportunities, and the environment of growth and friendship has launched me into my professional career as an actor in New York. Ontario will rue the day it sacrifices the integrity and vitality of this gem of a school.

Why head for the middle when excellence is attainable? More opportunity not less is what's needed

should keep for the needed kids for our better future, after all, those are to pay for our pension in the future. thanks.

this would be a shame.

Claude Watson made me who I am today. I can't imagine the me without the experience.

Claude Watson fostered my love for the arts at a young age. As a pre-teen with an overactive imagination, the Claude Watson arts program was a safe space where I met and bonded with other like minded young artists who deeply impacted my growth and are still a vital part of my life to this day. Without any doubt I attribute my current success as an art director in the film industry to my beginnings as an arts student, and the access it gave me to exploring my creativity and becoming comfortable in my own skin at such a young age. I am confident that to abolish the Claude Watson Arts program, and programs like it, would deprive young creatives of reaching their potential.

This program was the best thing that ever happened to me, launching me into a successful career into the arts. It is essential that programs like this are continued for the growth and development of younger generations.