SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

Dear reader,

The first day of school has always been a mixed bag of emotions for families. While kids are fretting over whether they’ll fit in or be in the same classes as their friends, parents are celebrating the end of juggling summer camps and family vacations with their work schedules. But, lately, the return to school comes with a whole new set of worries.

The TDSB is facing major hurdles—chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, cutbacks to programs and a new cellphone ban, the logistics of which have yet to be tested. The problems are playing out very differently across the city’s 600 schools. In some neighbourhoods, the systemic failures have become disastrous.

In her 2023 feature “Epic Fail,” Danielle Groen wrote about the consolidation of two high schools into one chaotic building, where, before long, anxious and angry students were fighting in the halls. As she put it, “At York Memorial, the TDSB’s poor planning and poorer choices propelled a bad first day into what would become a horrible year.”

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—Chris Bilton, features editor

In 2022, the Toronto District School Board consolidated two high schools into one crumbling, crowded building. Within weeks, stressed-out students were brawling in the halls. Teachers refused to come in to work. Parents yanked their kids out of class. Inside York Memorial’s descent into chaos

BY DANIELLE GROEN | MAY 23, 2023

In the fall of 2022, burnt-out teachers and overwhelmed students returned to full-time learning in Toronto schools that were under-resourced and falling apart. For the newly consolidated York Memorial and George Harvey student bodies, it was chaos. Kids were crammed into hallways by the hundreds. They were given timetables riddled with errors. And they were forced to manoeuvre around facilities that were still under construction. Staff and students were already struggling with their mental health after the pandemic. At York Memorial—where they were left to navigate an increasingly tumultuous environment—they reached a breaking point.

In the latest issue: the expensive, obsessive, addictive quest for a perfect life. Plus, the bone-rattling reality of Ontario Line construction, rich-people problems in Rosedale, and more. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today.

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