Borden closing
High school a victim of declining enrolment,
Four other high schools are within walking distance, and the students at Borden come from such a wide area that it’s not considered anyone’s “neighbourhood” option.
Perhaps its specialty — training teens in the trades — wasn’t as big of a draw, as many parents want their kids to focus on university.
Or maybe it’s Borden’s reputation or its location, with gang activity in surrounding neighbourhoods and a horrible mass shooting back in the summer of 2012 on nearby Danzig St. — a crime that had nothing to do with the school, but led to a rapid drop in enrolment all the same.
There are many explanations as to why Sir Robert L. Borden Business and Technical Institute went from a thriving school of almost 1,000 to just 183, but in the end, it was low numbers that determined its fate.
So, just a couple of weeks after celebrating its 50th anniversary, staff and students are preparing to shut down the Scarborough school for good.
“When I got here, the school had about 950 kids — it was packed,” visual arts teacher Caron Magill said. She has been at Borden for 30 years.
“All the classrooms were packed; the portables, too. I was hired to teach offset lithography (printing) . . . across the hall from me was dry-cleaning, a full-blown dry-cleaning shop. Drafting was down the hall, cosmetology around the corner — hairdressing. The food school taught the kids meat-cutting and butchery, and taught them quantity baking . . . there was plumbing, construction, auto mechanics, too.
“This was a busy place.”
The tight-knit staff would come to school an hour early just to hang out with one another in the staff room, at a time, she recalls with a laugh, when they were allowed to smoke in there. While teachers remain close today, there are far fewer of them.
“We were supportive of each other; our kids were tough. We would work with other teachers and go to each other for help if we were having trouble, so that students had one more guardian angel.”
Winding down a school during a milestone year has been bittersweet for principal Patrick Knight, who has run clubs and activities to keep an upbeat mood.
He’s held workshops for students heading to new schools about how to handle transition, and used mentoring groups such as Brotherhood Unlimited for boys, or Sisters Rising for girls, to talk about issues such as socializing with new groups and conflict resolution.
He’s helped students earn as many credits as they can before they move on and the school used grant money to pay students’ $125 college application fee because, “for these kids, $125 is enormous. That is a barrier — just applying to college is a barrier.”
In his yearbook message, he called this time “a strange crossroad.”
“The challenge is, and it really falls on my shoulders, to motivate the staff and students to be the best they can be under circumstances worthy of celebration and, at the same time, worthy of tears,” he told the Star.
Some 52 students are graduating this month, the rest heading to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Oliver Mowat and West Hill Collegiate or Bendale. Maplewood is nearby, serving students with special needs.
This school year, Borden offered cosmetology, hospitality/food services, automotive and construction, and students will transfer to schools that offer their chosen specialty.
Laurier, for example, has an auto program and is introducing green industries and West Hill is getting a new commercial kitchen and cosmetology facility.
Unlike other school closings, there was little fight to save Borden. Area trustee Jerry Chadwick recalls one parent who appealed to the board to keep it open, and there were a couple of letters, but that was it.
“I wasn’t surprised . . . even as a former principal, it was such a difficult process talking parents into even considering that school, even with the great programming there. There were a couple of factors — reputational and location. For parents who were looking for a place, especially for their daughters, they did not want to send them to the Galloway and Kingston Rds. area.
“But if you could get them to tour the school, they changed their mind. I had parents come back to me and say ‘Thank you so much, it was the school my son or daughter needed.’ ”
Chadwick said those in need in the community will miss the once-aweek hot meal provided by students in the food program, with food donated from the Daily Bread Food Bank.
“There were three generations coming in for meals — little kids, mothers and grandparents all coming in. I don’t know what’s going to happen with that.”
For Max Hansen, the teacher in charge of the food program, the thought of losing that weekly lunch is tough, as are the bonds he has with his students.
He’s had a busy year with them, working closely to serve up lunch every day in the “Maple Leaf Room” restaurant, which reopened for the school’s final year serving teens and teachers home-cooked food at a bargain price.
“I’ve seen a whole range” of reactions to the closing, he added. “Some are excited about the change, some apprehensive. But, by the same token, there are more friends to make.
“They are great kids and we had just that little bit of influence on their lives. You can’t get any better than that.”