Donna Quan stepping down as Director of Education at TDSB
Posted November 16, 2015 6:43 pm.
Last Updated November 17, 2015 5:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Donna Quan has stepped down from her position as Director of Education at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to lead a joint Ontario Government and York University research project aimed at addressing the needs of students in Ontario.
The announcement came on Monday afternoon and means Quan will be leaving her post with the TDSB a year-and-a-half early to take on the new role.
Quan, 57, has been hired by the province to work with York University to study whether all school boards should be required to do the kind of demographic surveys of students that the TDSB has been doing.
A press release said the project will “potentially provide information to further inform understanding of student populations and school communities.”
The research will be done to collect province-wide data and address the principles outlined in the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Achieving excellence: A renewed vision for Education in Ontario.
The TDSB said that Quan will begin her new position on Dec. 14.
The study is expected to be completed in the fall of 2017.
“My time at the TDSB has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. Ontario is recognized as one of the best education systems in the world and our Toronto students are achieving and are among the strongest,” Quan said in a press release.
Quan’s new position is adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education at the university, reporting directly to the Deputy Minister of Education.
The university says it is thrilled to welcome Quan, noting that she brings more than 30 years of experience in education.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with the Ministry in gaining valuable insight into aspects of education that are very consistent with our commitment to equity and social justice,” Ron Owston, Dean of Education at York University said.
Quan’s tenure has been controversial after she took a pay hike and refused to make her contract public when the Education Minister ordered all school boards to freeze wages.
TDSB said that Quan will remain in her role until a new interim director has been appointed.
