Keep Principal McGilvray at Ontario’s #1 School — Protect Poplar Road’s New Build

Poplar Road Junior Public School in Scarborough just achieved something remarkable: a perfect score of 10 out of 10 in the Fraser Institute’s 2025 Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools, placing us tied for #1 in the province across 3,052 schools. Just one year ago, we were ranked 476th.

That achievement is inseparable from the leadership of Principal Todd McGilvray.

Now, the Toronto District School Board is proposing to transfer Principal McGilvray. The board votes on June 15, 2026 — and we are asking you to sign this petition to stop it.

Our new school build is at its most critical and irreversible stage

The Poplar Road school replacement — a multi-million dollar project using innovative mass timber construction — is entering the pre-tender phase with the Ministry of Education right now. The Construction Tender is imminent. Once construction begins, every decision is permanent and cannot be undone. The new school opening is anticipated for Fall 2028.

Principal McGilvray is named on the TDSB’s own project page as the school contact for this build. He has been embedded in the project since the New School Review Team began in Fall 2023, working closely with architects and planners through every stage of detailed design. The institutional knowledge he carries — about the school’s educational requirements, community needs, and design decisions — is not captured in any project file. It lives in him and the relationships he has built with the project team.

Transferring him now, at the moment the project moves from design into construction procurement, puts millions of dollars of public funds at risk of cost overruns, delays, and decisions that can never be corrected.

There is no institutional continuity left at the school

Poplar Road is an unusually lean school administratively — there is a principal and a secretary, and no other supervisory staff. Our longtime secretary retired this year and has been replaced by someone new who is just getting started.

If Principal McGilvray is transferred, there will be no one remaining who knows the school’s history, its community relationships, its staff, or the details of the build. A new principal would be starting completely from scratch — simultaneously with a new secretary — at the most critical stage of a multi-million dollar construction project.

The five-year rotation is a practice, not a policy — and there is precedent for exceptions

The TDSB has cited a five-year principal rotation as the reason for this transfer. But this is not a written policy — it is a practice, and practices exist to serve the institution, not bind it when exceptional circumstances arise.

Last year, Provincial Supervisor Rohit Gupta reversed the transfer of Principal Barrie Sketchley at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts after the community made its voice heard. We are asking for the same consideration. The exceptional circumstances here are not community preference alone — they are active financial risk on a major public capital investment at its most irreversible stage.

What we are asking for

We respectfully ask the Provincial Supervisor, TDSB CEO, and Minister of Education to direct a formal capital project risk assessment before the June 15 vote proceeds. We are not asking for a blanket reversal of rotation practices. We are asking only that the specific risk to the Poplar Road build — and the complete absence of institutional continuity — be formally considered before a permanent decision is made.

Poplar Road is a #1 ranked school. It is home to a flagship sustainable construction project. And its community deserves to have its voice heard.

Please sign this petition and share it with everyone you know. The board votes Monday, June 15. Every signature and every voice matters.

#SavePrincipalMcGilvray  #PoplarRoadNumber1  #ScarboroughStrong  #ProtectTheBuild  #TDSBListens

SavePrincipalMcGilvray@gmail.com