The Toronto District School Board is cutting more than 200 administrative staff a little more than a month after it announced planned cuts for some teaching roles.
A total of 218 central staff are being laid off, along with the elimination of 91 vacant positions, according to TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird.
“The important thing is that we are trying to minimize the impacts to the classroom to the greatest extent possible and I don’t think that there is any significant impact to classrooms by any means as a result of these central cuts,” Bird said in an interview.
This week’s reductions come after the board said in early April that there would be staffing cuts among teachers in the upcoming school year, with the board estimating slightly less than 300 jobs lost.
But the Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT) and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF Toronto) said the numbers released by the board showed a total of 607 teaching staff would be cut.
At the time, Bird said the layoffs were the result of nearly 5,000 fewer students expected in the upcoming school year.
He reiterated the issue of declining enrolment as part of this week’s administrative staffing layoffs, but told Global News that budgetary issues are also a factor.
“It’s also about living within our means,” he said. “We have a set number of dollars that we receive and we really have to live according to a budget, just like everyone does.”
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However, the board’s claim that the cuts won’t impact classrooms is in question.
Toronto Education Workers Union local 4400 president John Weatherup called the claim “misleading,” saying staff who have been cut still work with children.
He said this includes staff who assist special education students with tasks like toileting, fixing wheelchairs, taking youth on trips and other tasks within schools.
“I don’t know how you refer to that as central administration staff,” Weatherup said. “This is about cuts that will impact students. It’s going to directly impact parents.”
Community support workers who work at numerous schools will also be affected, Weatherup said.
Cafeteria workers are another example of staff lost to the cuts, Bird said Tuesday.
Reductions were coming to outdoor education, Bird said, stating this week’s cuts will include the ending of operations at two outdoor education centres and the leases on two other centres. Outdoor education programs at schools will also be cut at two locations.
Some special education supports at the board are also being cut, though Bird said in-classroom supports won’t change.
Ontario’s auditor general released a report on Tuesday showing special education programs have not “consistently fulfilled the requirements of students,” a report Weatherup says underlines the underfunding the union has been stressing for years.
“They’ve abandoned [special] ed students for the last number of years,” Weatherup said. “Parents know that their kids have been more and more impacted and these students are just being pushed into the regular class without resources.”
“By making these reductions, we’re able to maintain and in some ways increase the supports for our schools and our classrooms and our students by making these very targeted decisions,” Bird said.
“I do think at the heart of it all is that we must minimize any impact on classrooms as a result of these reductions, and I do believe in large part we have.”
Last August, Education Minister Paul Calandra announced Rohit Gupta would be tasked with overseeing the financial and operational management of the TDSB.
Calandra said Gupta would take “time needed” to bring the board’s budget into balance and ensure funding goes into classrooms to support students and teachers.
Asked if any further cuts could be coming, Bird said no.
“All staff that are impacted by this most recent round of central staffing reductions have been notified. There are no further reductions planned at this point when it comes to staff,” Bird said.
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