Loss of language and reading programs at TCDSB ‘devastating,’ parents say

Children are pictured learning in a Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) classroom in this file photo.

Parents of students who take part in an international language program at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) are speaking out after the sudden announcement that the program would be axed as of next year for budget reasons.

“I am so disappointed at how this has happened,” Sabrina Rodriguez, who has two daughters enrolled in the program, told reporters at Queen’s Park Wednesday. “The lack of communication with the board overall has been absolutely disappointing, to say the least. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. I have other parents who feel the same way, and we just want answers.”

Last week, the provincially appointed supervisor running the TCDSB suddenly announced that the board’s international language program would be phased out starting in the 2026-27 school year.

Board Supervisor Frank Benedetto also announced a literacy program would be phased out and replaced with another one from the ministry and that school start times would be adjusted. He said the changes were being made to help the TCDSB reduce its deficit.

Speaking at Queen’s Park this week, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the changes bring the board in line with what is offered across the province.

“They had a unique program that no other board in the province of Ontario had but we will continue to support those programs on weekends,” Calandra said.

That would mean kids taking language classes on Saturday instead of getting the instruction during school hours.

Loss of program ‘devastating’: parents

Danielle Xavier, whose two children attend St. John Vianney Catholic School, said her son will be “devastated” by the loss of a beloved Italian teacher who will not be around next year.

Her family has sent her children for weekend instruction in Portuguese and “it’s definitely not the same” when compared to the level of weekday language education they’ve received in Italian, she said.

Xavier’s daughter has also benefited from the Fifth Block literacy program, which is being cut.

“I honestly don’t think that she would be where she is... without that support and the guidance from the school,” she said.

While the Xavier family won’t be impacted by the change of the bell time from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., she said the switch will make life difficult for many parents who will struggle to get to work.

The St. John Vianney Parent Council, which Xavier chairs, recently started a petition calling for the cuts to be reversed, and it has already received more than 700 signatures.

She said parents are upset about the manner in which the changes were made.

“Our goal is, number one, to make sure that the board does not think that they can make these significant changes without consultation to the stakeholders that it directly affects, whether that’s the parent community, the instructors, the teachers, the principals or the children,” Xavier said.

Ward 2 Trustee Markus de Domenico said he’s seen a similar level of concern.

“I’ve received an absolute avalanche of messages regarding the end of the international language program, and, of course, the change of the bell times, which affects 39 schools, and the cancellation of our reading recovery program called Fifth Block,” de Domenico said.

“People are upset. They’re upset about the cuts, but they’re also upset about the process, which they didn’t have a chance to be part of. So that, combined, has really created an enormous wave of discontent.”

De Domenico, along with his other trustee colleagues, has been suspended since June, when Education Minister Paul Calandra announced he’d be seizing control of the board, citing alleged financial mismanagement.

Benedetto has been running the school board since then, and parents say they’re frustrated they don’t have a voice.

“It’s extremely difficult not having a representative that supports you and understands the school community,” Xavier said.

Parents say the language instruction provides an important cultural bridge for many students and helps them learn in other ways, including making it easier to learn French in some cases.

Ukrainian schools to keep weekday instruction, but community will have to pick up tab

Three Ukrainian schools within the board will get to keep language programming during the week, but it will be through religious instructors who partner with the schools, and they will have to pick up the full cost instead of splitting it with the board.

“Honestly, this is very devastating for our community,” said Oksana Cherchyk, whose two children attend Josyf Cardinal Slipyj Catholic School in Etobicoke.

She said the school will be losing three full-time board-certified language instructors.

“We do have three teachers that are currently supplemented by the parish, and we do have a priest who comes in, but we have a huge school, and we welcome hundreds of refugees. So with this change, it essentially means that we’re losing half of half of the staff,” Cherchyk said.

She said the language instructors play an essential role, especially for the newcomers, and it will be difficult for families who benefit from the program to pick up the extra cost.

“They’re helping them assimilate into the culture, showing them around, even helping them with usual day-to-day things,” Cherchyk says. “So losing three teachers when you have more kids, and assuming that the parish and parents will be able to pick up the budget deficit, it won’t work, because a lot of these kids and their parents obviously are still struggling establishing themselves in a new country.”

Ontario NDP Education Critic Chandra Pasma, also speaking at Queen’s Park Wednesday, said parents shouldn’t have to scramble to figure out how to keep language instruction themselves.

“Every language program should be taught by qualified, experienced instructors who know and understand the pedagogy of teaching languages,” she said.

While most boards don’t have an international language program during regular school hours, de Domenico said the TCDSB shouldn’t have to be the same as all the others just for the sake of it.

“Are we all supposed to do what everybody else does?” he said. “This is why Catholic education, for example, is unique. You know, we’re smaller than (some of) of the other public boards, but does that mean that we’re not unique and special?

“The language program here is not something the trustees just invented. Fifty years – five decades of this at Toronto Catholic – is super important. So I would say, you know, let’s keep things going that are working.”