Midtown Group

The Hodgson Community Working Group is looking for 2 (or 3) representatives from Hodgson MS and each of its feeder schools: Oriole Park PS, Eglinton PS, Davisville PS, and Maurice Cody PS.
If you are interested in being part of this group, please contact your school council chair by Monday, May 20, who will share that information with us.
The notes from the May 7th meeting: here!
The handout from Trustee Laskin and Trustee Chernos Lin: here! Join the Facebook group Midtown Toronto Schools Parents Group! Our amazing neighbourhood of Midtown Toronto is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of development. This Facebook group will help to bridge the communication between the residents and the TDSB. Don’t have Facebook? Send an email to midtowntorontospg@gmail.com and request to be added to the mailing list.

Update on Hodgson Middle School

– Trustee Shelley Laskin, August 27th, 2018 Hodgson Middle School Questions and Answers from July 18th can be found here – Trustee Shelley Laskin, June 17th, 2018 Context – The 2015 Program Area Review Team (PART) explored a number of options to address accommodation pressures in Yonge-Eglinton area. In addition to boundary changes, the grade configuration changes that the Board voted on as part of the 2015 PART were necessary to accommodate the growth in K-5. At the time of that review, all of the junior schools—Eglinton Jr PS, Davisville Jr PS, Maurice Cody Jr PS, and Oriole Park Jr PS—were already at or over capacity. Enrolment growth was projected to occur at all of the schools, and small and/or constrained school sites limited the number of portables (if any) that could be placed on those sites. The only option available to accommodate the projected student growth was Hodgson—the site could accommodate portables, as well as an addition. Reconfiguring the grade ranges of all of the junior schools from K-6 to K-5 (as opposed to keeping some schools K-6) was also felt to be the most beneficial from a pedagogical and social/emotional perspective by enabling all students to transition into Hodgson MS together – and this began in September 2017. Options for Hodgson – A community meeting was held on June 11 to provide information about what has happened with enrolment in the area, and to share why the TDSB proposes the scope of the original project (12 room addition) should change. We met with ministry representatives in January 2018 to discuss the concerns with the project and staff were directed to explore options for providing additional capacity – architects were engaged to conduct an assessment of the building and to develop the options. We shared the options and listened to feedback. Please click here to review the slide deck presented at the meeting and click here for the meeting notes. We will be submitting a business case to the ministry for the addition to be 3 storeys as opposed to 2 (construction scheduled for 2021). We will be back to the community in the fall with another update. Where we are now? Enrolments have continued to grow at the junior schools even with the grade changes. Based on an annual review of accommodation pressures, we are changing a portion of catchment area from Eglinton to Maurice Cody beginning September 2019. Staff will also be bringing forward a number of residential development redirections to Board in June to provide additional accommodation relief to Eglinton Jr PS. Phase 2 of the Yonge-Eglinton PART will begin this Fall to continue exploring a series of accommodation options for mitigating growth in the Yonge-Eglinton area, particularly at Eglinton Jr PS. Included in the Board’s LTPAS is a study to explore the construction of a new JK-8 elementary school to accommodate new students generated from significant residential intensification within the Yonge-Eglinton area. For more details on the LTPAS in Ward 11, please revisit my update from last week here.