Little Weed has been in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Gifted Program for elementary school for a couple of years now. Overall it has been a great experience, though not without the occasional bumps on the road. I thought I’d write down some of my impressions, from one who is in the middle of the journey, to those who may be thinking about starting the journey.
Difficult as it may be, hard decisions often need to be made. The Toronto District School Board, Toronto, Canada, has seen an average of 4% falling enrollment for their students for a good decade or more. This is a well known problem, but has been highlighted recently because of funding shortfalls and possible scandal at the school board. The under utilization problem is very well known. There was even a Queen’s University study on the subject.Yet there is no political will to close schools, even in the face of an obvious decline in students and therefore, government funding. Elected school trustees seem to not be able to do their jobs.
Sometimes you identify programs that are working well and help so many people. One of these is the summer sports day camps in Scarborough. This camp provides summer jobs for youth in addition to providing a fun day camp for about 250 elementary school kids. This year they even provide lunch. The kids remain active all summer, learn skills and are happy. The youth gain valuable experience in mentoring and coaching. The parents are happy because their kids are doing something other than sit on a computer for the summer. In all, it’s a win-win situation for all concerned. Sponsors include the Boys 2 Men Institute, the Cabbagetown Youth Centre and the Toronto District School Board.