Closing enrolment of Grade 9 students has parents concerned about future of Eastdale Collegiate and its specialized programs

By NATASHA JACKSON

Eastdale Collegiate Institute, a small specialized high school on Gerrard Street East serving students with intellectual disabilities, will not be admitting a Grade 9 class next school year due to low intake numbers.

While the school remains open, families of students attending the East Toronto school are concerned that stopping Grade 9 intake may gradually destabilize a program that plays a vital role for vulnerable students in the community. Run by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Eastdale offers its 114 students both a regular high school program and a Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) program that many local parents have come to rely on.

Eastdale serves students ages 14 to 21 in Intensive Support Programs (ISP). It ranks among the most challenged schools on TDSB’s Learning Opportunities Index (students’ ability to learn successfully at school). The school provides intensive, relationship-based programming for students who often struggle to succeed or remain enrolled in large mainstream high school environments.

The intake closures will affect families who largely depend on these specialized programs for their children and indisputably determine their futures into adulthood, said Andrea Seaborn who is chair of Eastdale’s School Council

Her son, who has an intellectual disability and autism, has been attending the school for three years. She said Eastdale has allowed her son to engage in the classroom and learn essential life skills in a way he wouldn’t be able to in a larger, neurotypical high school environment.

“My son right now is in his first year of learning how to take the TTC independently. He’ll do this for a few more years before he’ll hopefully be able to have that life skill,” said Seaborn.

Like Seaborn, many parents are concerned that the enrollment closure will affect the number of teachers at the school. Less teachers will mean reduced programs and class options and could prevent continuing students from graduating.

“Teachers are assigned based on headcounts of students, and once we sort of dwindle down to a small population, we will have very few teachers with very few course options. So, in effect, it’s starving the school,” said Seaborn.

She noted that the next-closest high school with a Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) program is Central Technical School on Bathurst Street, which has a population of about 1,000 students.

“There’s just no way that our kids, who face multiple barriers already, are going to make it in a big, 2,000-student school with a tiny little program in busy hallways and bullies and all the kind of typical things you imagine in a high school. Those things will not work for our students,” said Seaborn.

Eastdale integrates experiential learning courses such as rooftop gardening, culinary training, and TTC travel training to build independence for students and help them with life skills, co-op, certification completion, and transition planning to adulthood. These are programs that prevent disengagement in the classroom, and what parents say ultimately reduces long-term public costs for the city.

“People are just mortified. For most of us that have kids with special needs, it’s already a terrifying prospect to think about how they’re going to go through life,” said Seaborn of the possibility of a school like Eastdale not existing.

Eastdale is the second specialized high school in Toronto that will no longer accept new students come the next school year.  

The other is Heydon Park Secondary School on D’Arcy Street in the Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue area. Parents at Heydon Park have been notified that the Grade 9 and 10 intake will be cancelled for the upcoming school year due to low enrollment. 

TDSB Acting Superintendent of Education, Anastasia Poulis, sent a letter to parents informing them about Eastdale’s intake closures. She wrote: “There are currently only four students registered for Grade 9 next year. There are also not enough incoming Grade 9 students in the Mild Intellectual Disability program.”

However, Seaborn said it is too early to make a final decision on what the student numbers will be for the next school year.

“It’s sort of late February to March when we typically host a lot of families or teachers and kids that come in to look at the environment and make sure it’s the right fit for them. So a lot of the offers that had unfortunately gone out already had to be rescinded,” said Seaborn.

She said she wants the TDSB to reevaluate its decision and work with the Eastdale community to understand what the needs of the students and the community are.

“I’m very eager to work with the TDSB and, of course, by extension, the Ministry (of Education) at this point because they’re under supervision. We’d love to look at ways that we could strengthen enrollment for Eastdale for future years,” said Seaborn. “I’m hoping that they’re in touch with me, in touch with our school. We want to start spreading the word about how special these programs are.”

Poulis said discussions about the future of Eastdale “will be continuing,” adding that the current provincial moratorium on school closures means the school will remain open next year but with a focus on Grade 10 to 12 students.

For more information on efforts to keep Eastdale in operation, please go to the Save Eastdale Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/saveeastdale/