As education workers, students, parents and other community members in Ontario battle Doug Ford for a better education system, alliances are forming or expanding to strengthen the fight. Spring spoke with representatives from the Toronto Education Advocacy Network (TEAN) to learn how they empower parents and caregivers to contribute to the struggle. Thanks to Sara B., Jen V., and Sandra H. from TEAN for sharing this important information. We hope it will inspire networks in other cities.
Can you tell us briefly about the history of TEAN? When and why did it start? How are people getting involved?
TEAN: TEAN began as a way to unify organizing efforts beyond just our individual neighbourhoods. It began in 2025, with a group of Toronto East End parents concerned about education and wanting to focus on advocacy actions. We were hearing about small groups taking on advocacy actions, and the idea was to connect all the groups together to share, communicate and create a stronger voice. While we started off as a Toronto centred network, there are members from other publicly funded boards across the province.
We share information about events that are happening, we share the resources being created (fact sheets, graphics, background info, handout materials, petitions, etc.), we share ideas about how you could host an event in a school community. And we support one another’s work.
We encourage folks to participate in TDSB’s Parent Involvement Advisory Committee, and Special Education Advisory Committee, their school councils, and communicate with our ousted elected trustees. The idea is to be a network of networks, or a hub for all the work being done.
We have ended up creating resources, including letter writing templates, flyers, and toolkits. Our aim isn’t for TEAN to be the ones making everything, but to be a community where we can collaborate, knowing we don’t need to duplicate, that we can share and amplify the work of other groups as well.
What are the main successes you have had? What contributed to these successes?
TEAN: We are very clear in the TEAN mission statement what our goals are — equitable, accessible, fully funded public education for ALL. That clarity is important because while we all have different opinions and ideas, we agree on this fundamental core goal.
The Community that has been formed is in itself a huge success. Having a group of people with the same goals, supporting one another, and sharing information is an incredible resource. Knowing we’re not alone in this fight has helped us succeed.
We’ve applied significant pressure to support the role of trustees, even though that role has diminished since Ford had a “Supervisor” take over the role of directing policy and budget in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). But the TDSB trustees are not gone, so we have done a lot of work to highlight and promote the importance of trustees. While Trustee roles have been diminished, there was a real threat to losing them entirely, so retaining their roles as democratically elected officials for publicly funded school boards was definitely a win. One that many members helped with.
We generated media coverage about key education issues through press releases and school walk-ins. (A walk-in is usually a before-school action taken jointly by school staff, students, parents and caregivers to demand the TDSB or provincial government takes action around key demands). And we are creating a community where we have quick access to people who are able to speak to the media, making us a “go to” place to find media spokespeople.
We’ve also been promoting the advocacy work of other groups, such as the Ontario Autism Coalition and Fund our Schools (events, rallies, phone zaps, etc.). We are sharing resources from Policing-Free Schools. We support parents and caregivers who are organizing their own advocacy. For example, bringing together others to write public letters about their experiences with the provincially appointed TDSB supervisor.
We have been successful in continuing to have new community members join, to collaborate, and share their experiences, insights and wins.
Our grassroots movement is unique in its ability to be collaborative and a source for other communities to use and get inspiration from. We have been holding meetings that help keep people connected and to bring up their concerns, creating space for disappointments, wins, and future dreams.
What have been or are the main challenges you face?
TEAN: It’s us against the machine. We are parents, caregivers and community members with jobs and caregiving responsibilities up against the resources of the government. They have the apparatus of the Ministry to send out communications to the inbox of every parent.
Our TDSB Trustees, the representatives accountable to parents/caregivers and students, have been removed from their roles. And the livestreams and recordings of public meetings have been banned by the Education Minister, including the Parent Involvement Advisory Committee, and the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). Access to information and transparency is at an all-time low.
Our community is resourceful and we are able to access some information and share it, but they (TDSB and Ford government) are not making it easy.
What are your main priorities heading into the school year? What about the next steps?
TEAN: Our main priority is communication! We want to help parents/caregivers understand what is going on and WHO is responsible for the mess we’re walking into in September. As part of our awareness-building we will continue the discussions around education amongst our group and help create messaging that is clear, concise, and sharable with parents and caregivers.
We do and will make connections between what labour is fighting for and what we as parents and caregivers want for our children, because these are the same things.
We want to continue to empower people to act in their community, to be advocates, leaders, ambassadors, to share information and to lead actions.
We will continue promoting the advocacy work being done in the city and beyond, and encourage others to join in.
Overall, we will be helping communities understand that their voice is not insignificant and that little actions can lead to big outcomes for students, education workers, school communities, and society at large. We will be encouraging dialogue and curiosity amongst neighbours and communities across the GTA (and provincially) around education issues, policy, and decision making.
How can supporters who aren’t already involved get to be part of TEAN?
TEAN: Join our WhatsApp group — join in one or all of the many conversation threads, don’t be shy. The group is very supportive and welcoming of new voices!
Follow us on Instagram, and check out the resources on our Linktree, including the Google Drive full of resources.
Do you have any other comments or suggestions?
TEAN: You don’t have to do everything and you don’t have to know everything in order to advocate for publicly funded education. You don’t have to be an expert in education, your own personal experience and your values matter.
We believe that everyone in Ontario deserves access to equitable, accessible, and well-funded public education. If that matters to you as well, that’s as good a place as any to start.
Use the resources available through our group or others, and share with your community. Lots of folks don’t realize what’s going on in education. Every phone call, every email, and every conversation we have to share what’s happening really does help.
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