{"id":565110,"date":"2026-02-04T07:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/565110\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T07:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:01:14","slug":"parents-to-hold-rally-at-toronto-public-school-in-wake-of-teacher-terminations-suspensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/565110\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents to hold rally at Toronto public school in wake of teacher terminations, suspensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Parents and members of the teachers’ union rally outside the Toronto District School Board office on Yonge Street on Tuesday.EDUARDO LIMA\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Parents are planning to rally on Wednesday at an embattled public school in Toronto<\/a> they say has descended into \u201cchaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past three weeks, the principal at Bowmore Road Junior and Senior Public School has been reassigned, the vice-principal was let go, two teachers have been terminated and eight other teachers have been suspended. The reasons for the terminations and suspension are not clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the exception of the Grade 7 and 8 special education classes, the entire Grade 7 and 8 teaching team is gone right now,\u201d said Toronto District School Board <\/b>trustee and Bowmore parent Michelle Aarts. \u201cPeople are hurt, and they\u2019re angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions at the school have been rising since September, when a new instructional model was adopted. Some parents believe that the disciplinary action against teachers was done in retaliation for their actions after the model change.<\/p>\n

Previously, two teachers shared responsibility for teaching each Grade 7 and 8 class. That model gave students an experience of what high school will be like.<\/p>\n

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Parents are upset about unprecedented staff upheaval at Bowmore Road Junior and Senior Public School.EDUARDO LIMA\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

But the administration mandated a change to \u201ccore\u201d instruction in which one teacher is responsible for most homeroom instruction, despite objections from parents and students.<\/p>\n

After the change, some teachers stopped providing extracurricular activities as they adjusted to heavier workloads.<\/p>\n

There have also been safety concerns at the school, including bullying, one student allegedly calling a Black student a racial slur, and vandalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s chaos,\u201d Jenn Engels, co-chair of the parent council at the school, said of the fallout from the administrative changes and disciplinary actions. \u201cI really think what\u2019s happening to the teachers is scapegoating them in order to take the spotlight off the TDSB because of this catastrophic rollout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s rally is being organized so that parents can draw attention to their frustrations, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want to make our dissatisfaction known,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Tensions at the school have been rising since September, when a new instructional model was adopted.EDUARDO LIMA\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The labour union representing the teachers held a separate rally outside the Toronto District School Board head offices Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an unprecedented display of heavy-handedness against really beloved teachers in their community,\u201d said Elementary Teachers of Toronto president Helen Victoros. \u201cWe are vigorously fighting the terminations through the grievance arbitration process.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter sent to parents and caregivers on Monday, the school board\u2019s interim director of education Stacey Zucker said matters brought to the school\u2019s attention have been investigated and \u201chave been or are in the process of being addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

An audit will be done to review safety, rules and procedures, according to the letter.<\/p>\n

As well, the board has appointed a new principal and superintendent, and has added two school-based safety monitors, two lunchroom supervisors, a special needs assistant, a child and youth worker, a child and youth counsellor and a student success teacher. <\/p>\n

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Some parents believe that the disciplinary action against teachers was done in retaliation for their actions after the model change.EDUARDO LIMA\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The board will also be adding cameras to the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize that periods of transition can bring uncertainty, and I want to assure families that our focus remains on providing stable leadership, consistent support, and a positive learning environment for all students,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

Mercedes Lee, who has two children in Grade 7 at the school, called the letter \u201ca good first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut these teachers should not have faced reprisals for advocating for the school community,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Both of her children were in classes taught by the two teachers who have been terminated.<\/p>\n

Those teachers and the eight who have been suspended are \u201cbeloved\u201d by the parents at the school, Ms. Lee said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want those teachers back in the classroom where they should be,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Many of the frustrations parents have experienced since the beginning of the school year stem from the fact that, with the board under supervision, parents can\u2019t turn to trustees to advocate on their behalf, Ms. Lee said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll we do is get stonewalled by the administration,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is shocking mismanagement of an organization.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parents and members of the teachers’ union rally outside the Toronto District School…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":565111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-565110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}