City-School Boards Advisory Committee
The full agenda, as filed
All 9 items in the clerk’s order. Each carries the city’s own words: the staff recommendation, what the body decided, and its status. Nothing below is written by us.
TS2.1amended
In accordance with Section C.4. of the Terms of Reference, at its first meeting or as soon as possible, the City-School Boards Advisory Committee will elect a Trustee member as Vice Chair.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee: 1. Elected Yalini Rajakulasingam as Vice Chair of the City-School Boards Advisory Committee for a term of office starting on June 18, 2024 and ending November 14, 2026, and until a successor is appointed.
TS2.2received
The Corporate Management and Policy Consultant, Governance and Corporate Strategy, City Manager's Office, will give a presentation on the City Governance Overview and the City-School Boards Advisory Committee.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee received the item for information.
TS2.3received
Meeting Processes and the Simplified Rules of Procedure
An Administrator from the City Clerk's Office will give a presentation on Meeting Processes and the Simplified Rules of Procedure.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee received the item for information.
TS2.4amended
Community Safety and Well-being and Schools
The Associate Director, Violence Prevention, Social Development, Finance and Administration Division, and the Centrally Assigned Principal, Toronto District School Board, will give a presentation on Community Safety and Well-being and Schools. This presentation will highlight ongoing engagements and activities led by the City, school boards, and multi-sectoral partners to advance SafeTO, the City's ten-year community safety and well-being plan.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee recommends the Executive Committee: 1. Request the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to advance violence prevention opportunities for youth during the upcoming summer months, including recreation programs.
TS2.5amended
Refreshing the Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan and Building a Cricket Strategy
The Senior Project Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, and the Project Officer, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, will give a presentation on Refreshing the Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan and actions specific to Building a Cricket Strategy, as well as potential opportunities with school boards.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee recommends that: 1. City Council encourage City Councillors in all wards to explore opportunities for outdoor improvements like shade structures, misting stations at schools that benefit the students and the local neighbourhood. 2. The Executive Committee request that the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation report back to the City-School Boards Advisory Committee at its October 21, 2024 meeting on a plan that outlines how the City of Toronto can formally collaborate with school boards to develop partnerships to identify opportunities to build and provide access to cricket fields, practice cages and cricket equipment as well as to increase access to cricket programs for children and youth in both City of Toronto and school board facilities. 3. The Executive Committee request the General Manager, Parks Forestry and Recreation, in consultation with the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration to work with respective school boards to identify locations for this summer within schools located in neighbourhood improvement areas to fill programming gaps. 4. The Executive Committee request the General Manager, Parks Forestry and Recreation to provide an update to the City-School Boards Advisory Committee at its first meeting in 2025 on the status of the Facilities Master Plan with a focus on what is being undertaken for gender equity in sports field usage.
TS2.6received
Parks, Forestry and Recreation and School Board Agreements
The Director, Community Recreation, Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Director, Client and Business Services, Parks Forestry and Recreation will give a presentation on Parks, Forestry and Recreation and School Board Agreements. This presentation will provide an overview of existing school board agreements with Parks, Forestry and Recreation for the facilitation of community programming and services.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee received the item for information.
TS2.7received
Eliminating Education Development Charges on Missing Middle Housing Forms
City Council on March 20 and 21, 2024, in adopting Item PH10.13 , headed "Eliminating Education Development Charges on Missing Middle Housing Forms", adopted the following: 1. City Council request the City-School Boards Advisory Committee to examine the broader issue of the relationship between Development Charges and Education Development Charges.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee received the item for information.
TS2.8received
Supporting potential city-building opportunities on Toronto District School Board lands
City Council on April 17 and 18, 2024, referred Item EX13.2 to the June 18, 2024 meeting of the City-School Boards Advisory Committee for consideration. Summary from the letter (March 22, 2024) from Mayor Olivia Chow on Supporting potential city-building opportunities on Toronto District School Board lands. As stewards of over 5,000 acres of land throughout the city, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has unique opportunities to advance city-building initiatives on its lands that are deemed surplus, which could bring significant benefits to students and local communities as the city grows. A recent example is the Davisville Community and Aquatic Centre, a new City-led aquatic and multi-use community centre on the site of the Davisville Junior Public School and Spectrum Alternative School. There will be shared facilities so the school will have access to the swimming pools, and the City will have access to the school's gymnasium and underground parking outside of school hours to support City recreation programming. To help facilitate future opportunities, TDSB has requested the Ministry of Education to amend provincial regulations to enable them leverage broader city-building benefits on its surplus lands. Currently, under provincial rules, if a piece of property owned by the school board is deemed surplus, the school board is required to obtain fair market value for the public asset. The TDSB has recommended that school boards be able to request an exemption from the Minister of Education on the requirement to obtain fair market value for the lands, where there are opportunities to enhance education and learning opportunities for students, or if the proposed use would advance a provincial priority, such as long-term care uses, strategic housing opportunities, or Truth, Justice and Reconciliation. While fair market value would be sought in most circumstances, this proposed change would help achieve some of the City and Province's broader goals on publicly-owned lands. City Council, as part of 2022.CC2.1 "2023 Housing Action Plan", has directed staff to engage with school boards to encourage the creation of housing on their lands. Additionally, through 2022.MM45.6, in support of a 'For Indigenous, By Indigenous' affordable housing project, City Council requested the Province of Ontario and/or the Minister of Education and Training to exempt from the requirements of Ontario Regulation 444/98, Disposition of Surplus Property, TDSB-identified surplus sites that can be conveyed to Indigenous housing developers at lower than market or nominal cost for the purpose of building permanently affordable rental housing for Indigenous communities; and requested that the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Land Corporation consider conveying a narrow strip of greenspace neighbouring the project to Gabriel Dumont Non-Profit Homes Inc. at lower than market value or nominal cost for the purpose of building more permanently affordable rental housing for Indigenous communities as part of the project. This letter proposes to endorse the TDSB's request, and to forward this endorsement to the provincial Minister of Education.
The City-School Boards Advisory Committee received the item for information.
TS2.9not adopted
School Board Role in Citywide Approach to Dog Off-Leash Areas
As Chair of the City-School Boards Advisory Committee, I received correspondence from my colleague Councillor Alejandra Bravo with a request for this committee to consider a matter within our advisory mandate. Councillor Bravo's correspondence asks our committee to consider a recommendation that requests the Executive Committee to request Parks, Forestry and Recreation to work with all four school boards to consider how school board properties could be considered as part of the under-development Citywide Approach to Dog Off-Leash Areas. City staff began to undertake the development of this Citywide approach following Council direction in October 2023 and the TDSB also received a report contemplating similar considerations earlier this year. This matter also falls within one of our committee's priorities 'Schools as Community Hubs'. As such, I submit Councillor Bravo's request for the committee's consideration and deliberations.
Item TS2.9 was not adopted by the City-School Boards Advisory Committee on June 18, 2024.
Staff recommendation as filed
Councillor Parthi Kandavel recommends that the City-School Boards Advisory Committee recommend to the Executive Committee that: 1. City Council direct the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to consult with the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Conseil Scolaire Viamonde, and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir on options for offleash dog areas on school properties, as part of the development of a Citywide Approach to Dog Off Leash Areas, and in light of the Toronto District School Board's January 2024 report entitled "Pilot Dog Run Update."