TDSB reassures parents who were worried about the future of gifted ed programs
TORONTO — A Toronto District School Board task force has walked back a proposal to restructure gifted and special education programs, which stoked major concerns among parents and advocates last week.
Many families were alarmed by an initial draft report from a TDSB task force which recommended, in part, that gifted students and students who need “special education” be integrated into regular classrooms.
Teachers would receive special ed and gifted training, and kids would still get the specially tailored learning they need. But, instead of travelling to one of the TDSB schools that offers “congregated” classes of exclusively gifted kids or exclusively special ed kids, the students would be in schools closer to home, mixed into regular stream classes.
In the updated finalized version of the report posted late Friday, the task force – which is dedicated to making the district more accepting, inclusive and fair for low-income, racialized and otherwise marginalized students – changed its gifted and special ed proposal, saying the board should retain congregated classes “while exploring options to include Special Education” at local schools.