TCDSB: special meeting on Thursday 12 July to save the language program in elementary schools
On Thursday, July 12, TCDSB trustees will hold a special board meeting to determine the fate of its International Languages (IL) Integrated Day Program and instructors are urging parents and community leaders to turn out in force to defend the program, which has been in place since 1969.
“This move by the TCDSB has taken everyone completely by surprise,” said Domenico Paglia, an Italian-language instructor with the board and president of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) 3155, which represents IL instructors at TCDSB. “It looks like they plotted in secret, waited until the school year ended, and now plan to propose eliminating the integrated day program.
“But whatever process it followed, TCDSB hasn’t consulted parents or community leaders and it stands to break every commitment it has made to communities about the program. The board also appears to be ignoring every piece of expert evidence about the value and importance of integrating language-learning into the school day.”
TCDSB employs 80 instructors in the integrated day IL program, in which dedicated native speakers deliver language learning to elementary students as part of an extended school day. In 45 of the board’s elementary schools, they deliver 30 minutes a day of IL instruction (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Filipino, Mandarin, Polish, and Ukrainian) as part of the school day for students from kindergarten to Grade 8.
Leading up to next week’s special board meeting, TCDSB IL instructors and their supporters will warn parents, students and the community allies about this expected attempt to cancel the decades-old program in the board’s elementary schools. They are urging supporters of integrated day languages instruction to contact TCDSB trustees, calling on them to preserve the program, and to register on TCDSB’s website to address trustees at the July 12 meeting.
“This is an indefensible ploy on the part of TCDSB, but we are determined to defend IL instruction in the board’s elementary schools,” said Paglia.
