The Toronto Star is reporting "Peel’s public board warns it won’t open all 45 full-day kindergarten classes in 2011, as announced Tuesday by the education ministry, unless they are fully funded."

Starting next fall, the Ministry of Education will begin phasing in full-day early learning for up    to 35,000 four- and five-year old students in Ontario. The Peel District School Board will host   105 early learning classrooms beginning Sept. 2010. At its board meeting on April 13, trustees approved the implementation of full-day early learning programs for phase two in 11 schools, pending final approval by the ministry.

Providing the early learning program in schools with the highest social risk index while balancing equity of opportunity and equity of access across the region remains a high priority for the Peel board.

Janet McDougald
Chair, PDSB

The following Peel schools—45 classrooms—are proposed locations for full-day early learning programs beginning Sept. 2011:

Peel District School Board is seeking community input in updating its equity policy.

“In the Peel board, we understand that equity and excellence go hand-in-hand,” says Tony Pontes, director of education. “One of the core goals in our strategic plan is to achieve equity for students and staff—to provide equity of access and opportunity for students and staff to learn, work and develop in an environment that is nurturing, engaging, respectful and inclusive."

The Ontario Ministry of Education has released an equity and inclusive education strategy for Ontario. To guide school boards in implementing this vision, the ministry has issued a policy/program memorandum about developing and implementing equity and inclusive education policies in Ontario schools.

In the Peel board’s action plan to respond to the Ministry strategy and policy memo, as well as the board’s organizational goal, the board is consulting widely with parents and the community to review and revise its equity policy, Policy 54—Antiracism and Ethnocultural Equity. The updated policy will become the guide for all of our implementation activities.

Parents and community members are invited to help the board shape its equity policy and implementation plans by providing input and feedback:

• Complete an online consultation survey by visiting the Peel board website—see “Help us shape the vision of equity and inclusive education in the Peel board” in the Spotlight section of the home page. The survey can also be printed out and returned by mail or fax.
• Phone 905-890-1010/1-800-668-1146 ext. 2809 to receive a copy of the consultation survey mailed or faxed.

The schools are Blessed Trinity in Mississauga, which closed in June 2009, and Mother Mary Ward in Brampton, which is scheduled to close in June 2010. The board has decided to retain a third school closed as a result of the Pupil Accommodation Review (St. James in Mississauga) and is considering board-related uses for this facility. A fourth school, St. Mary in Port Credit, has been closed for a number of years and is currently being leased as a day care facility. The board will retain this property and continue to lease it for child care purposes.

There are three steps outlined in legislation regarding the disposal of properties by a school board: