Students walk out of Toronto school amid 'constant chaos,' violence
CTV
Students walked out of a Toronto high school they say has become the site of 'constant chaos' in which students detail deplorable conditions, teachers say it’s violent and parents are demanding action from the school board.
Students walked out of a Toronto high school they say has become the site of “constant chaos” in which students detail deplorable conditions, teachers say it’s violent and parents are demanding action from the school board.
At a walkout staged outside of The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) office on Friday, York Memorial Collegiate Institute students described a constant police presence, bathrooms without toilet paper or sanitary products, and classrooms that are construction zones.
York Memorial Collegiate Institute and George Harvey Collegiate Institute amalgamated in September, cramming 1,300 students into one building near Keele Street and Rogers Road. The TDSB said the merger “hasn’t been without its challenges.”
“When you walk into school, it feels like a prison,” a Grade 12 student said on Friday afternoon.
“I have never seen anything like this happen in my whole entire high school experience. As a student, I’m very angry.”
Students gathered to demand a “safe and stable” learning environment, which they described as void of a police presence and racial violence, a school brimming over capacity and staff not showing up to class. On Thursday night, parents attended a TDSB meeting to address these ongoing issues.
"She's scared to death to go to school, "the mother of a Grade 9 student said at the consultation. "She's coming home saying, 'Mom, I could have died today."
