OUTDOOR EDUCATION
Despite the rain, 150 Thorncliffe Park students spent Day 2 of sex-ed protest taking informal classes in a park. So what were they learning?
The group of Grade 2 and 3s took a “field trip” to the library, looking for books as they learned about sentence structure, while the Grade 5s practised multiplication times tables during Day 2 of the outdoor education being provided to about 150 kids in a park as their parents protest against Ontario’s new sex-ed curriculum.
Meanwhile, enrolment in the adjacent Thorncliffe Park Public School was 1,028, below a projected 1,460 — but better than the first day of school, when it was half-empty.
However, the school was dealt another blow Wednesday morning when the vice-principal arrived to find it, and neighbouring Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy — a kindergarten-only school — defaced by graffiti saying “shame on you” in four separate locations.
Premier Kathleen Wynne was visibly alarmed at the vandalism in her home riding of Don Valley West.
“I was very dismayed to hear about the vandalism. I was dismayed yesterday, when kids were being kept home from school,” Wynne told reporters.
“If we’re going to keep kids safe in school, they need to have information. They need to understand what they’re seeing on their smartphones and on SnapChat and all of the machines that they have,” she said at an event on Richmond St. W. “In terms of the vandalism of the school, that enters a whole different realm. Obviously that kind of behaviour has nothing to do with a civil protest against a particular government action. That has to be for the police to deal with.”
Parents have accused the Liberal government of not properly consulting them on the curriculum — which was last updated in 1998 — and which they believe to be age-inappropriate or at odds with their religious beliefs. And the Thorncliffe neighbourhood, near Don Mills Rd. and Overlea Blvd., has not been alone in taking the fight this far by temporarily withdrawing their children from public schools.
Nearby schools also reported lower-than-expected enrolment, with 374 of 510 showing up to kindergarten at the Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy, and Gateway elementary 70 students short of the projected 850. At Valley Park Middle School, 146 pupils remained out of class.
Parents have started a makeshift school in a park tucked in behind Thorncliffe school, with 150 children returning for a second day, despite the rain.
The class of 20 Grade 5s began the day huddled under cover, taking part in a circle time, before the skies cleared and they were able to sit on tarps on the ground, where volunteer instructor Saima Tariq began teaching them their four-times table, and “mental math” (adding in their heads) and even handing out homework before an 11:30 a.m. dismissal.
“As you can see, the kids are very excited,” she said after they took a break for recess. “As time passes, we will be more organized” and offer school all day, instead of just the morning, she said.
In the background, other children of all ages were on the swings as parents stood around or sat chatting on benches. Every so often, the park’s splash pad would erupt with fountains of water.
Volunteers were collecting donations to help pay for supplies used by the community volunteers, who protest organizer Khalid Mahmood said were all university educated, though not certified teachers.
“More parents are coming, and bringing more children,” he said, adding he’s asked the city for indoor space at the library or community centre when the weather is bad.
Grade 2-3 teacher Sarah Abid said she was surprised the children weren’t familiar with sentence structure, and took kids to the library to find books as they studied how to form a question.
She had two helpers for the group of 57 kids, which she said will be divided into two classes on Thursday because of the numbers.
Some parents have said they will keep going to the informal lessons for a month to register their disappointment with the government over the curriculum. Others have said they will remove their kids from public school permanently.
It’s assumed the graffiti found Wednesday was somehow related to the ongoing sex-ed uproar in the neighbourhood.
“It could be aimed at the parents, it could be aimed at the school, it could be aimed at the people in the park — we’re not sure,” said Thorncliffe Park principal Jeff Crane.
Meanwhile, Wynne said she was encouraged to see that1,028 students had shown up at Thorncliffe school Wednesday, meaning hundreds more had returned to classrooms.
“What dismays and makes me feel very distraught about this is that the kids are caught in the middle,” she said. “Little children who are going into that school today are not going to understand why that (graffiti) has been written on the walls. They won’t understand why there’s such anger from the adults.”