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School boards say destreaming unlikely for 2020/2021 year

Local Catholic and public boards say they had not been informed of the change prior to announcement through media reports on Monday
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When the news came out on Monday morning that the provincial government plans to end academic streaming in Grade 9, it was also news to local educators.

Pauline Stevenson, communications manager with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, said the board found out about destreaming through news reports.

“That was the first we had heard of it,” she said.

Ontario is one of few places in Canada that continues to separate students into the hands-on applied stream and the post-secondary track academic stream as they start high school.

Stevenson said, after conversations with local board staff, that destreaming is not something that would be reasonable to implement for the 2020/2021 school year.

“It would mean a complete change to the timetable, which we would not be able to do at this time. This, most certainly, would have to be a year out from now,” she said.

Stevenson said overall, the board couldn’t say anything for certain as they have not yet received any communication from the Ministry of Education on the change.

At the Simcoe County District School Board, trustee chairperson Jodi Lloyd said the school board chairs were having a conference Tuesday evening with the Ministry of Education, but as they had not received an agenda, she didn’t know if destreaming would be a topic of discussion.

“Quite honestly, at this point in time, we learned about it at the same time everyone else did through the media,” said Lloyd. “We’ve received no details or information. The board has not yet had the opportunity to discuss it.”

As part of the announcement, the province also said it plans to end suspensions for Grades JK to 3.

The government says school board statistics show the practice of streaming has meant Black and Indigenous students are streamed into the applied classes in higher numbers and are less likely to earn a diploma than other students.

- with files from Canadian Press


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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