More On Arrowsmith
The Toronto Sun reported today that the Scarborough-North York trustee for the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), John Del Grande, has called for an emergecy meeting to reopen the TCDSB’s decision to drop the Arrowsmith Program, for reasons of cost, just two days before the school year end last June. This latest move happened just hours after some parents of chidren who had been in the program filed a lawsuit naming the Minister of Education, Kathleen Wynne and the province’s supervision team as well as the TCDSB. The notice of application for judicial review asks for the immediate reinstatement of the Arrowsmith program and that the court review the decision to cancel it. Lawyers acting for the parents claim the supervision team headed by Norbert Hartman was acting outside of its jurisdiction when they cancelled the special education program. John Del Grande said that the move goes against the decision of the Board’s special education advisory committee which had recommended keeping the program until at least 2011. One of the parents involved in the suit said, “All we want is a fair shake for the kids.”