Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies

Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies (Midland Campus)
Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies in the former Midland Avenue C.I. building, since 2010.
Location
720 Midland Avenue Scarborough, Toronto , Ontario , M1K 4C9 Canada
Coordinates	43°43′42″N79°15′20″W / 43.728364°N 79.25549°W / 43.728364; -79.25549
Information
Former name	Tabor Park Vocational School
School type	Alternative High School Adult High School
Motto	Fast forward your future Accomplish as you may
Religious affiliation	Secular
Founded	1986
Status	Active (Midland) Leased out (Tabor Park) Sold (Progress)
School board	Toronto District School Board (Scarborough Board of Education)
Superintendent	Brendan Browne LC3, Executive Diana Panagiotopoulos LN17
Area trustee	Parthi Kandavel Ward 18
School number	4175 / 940445 4177 / 940445
Administrator	Ronda Sinclair
Principal	Melissa Spencer
Grades	10-12
Enrolment	1689 (2014-15)
Language	English
Colours	Blue and Silver
Mascot	Eagle
Team name	SCAS Eagles
Website	scasonline.com

Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies (SCAS), formerly Tabor Park Vocational School is an alternative and adult high school serving Scarborough, a part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school operates under the Toronto District School Board serving grades 10-12. Prior to 1998, it was part of the Scarborough Board of Education.

Originated at Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute in 1977 as the re-entry program, the school opened in 1986 at the Tabor Park building and as of 2010, this school is located in the campus of the former Midland Avenue Collegiate Institute sharing with the fellow schools, South East Year Round Alternative Centre and Caring and Safe Schools Alternative Program Area C. SCAS is located on Midland Avenue south of Eglinton Avenue East.

History

Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies Historical Campuses

Original SCAS Building at the former Tabor Park.

SCAS in Highbrook grounds from 1989-1994 after the Tabor Park property was transferred to the Catholic board. The building previously housed the Overflow Centre.

Former SCAS campus built in Centennial College Progress Campus lands from 1994-2010.

Beginnings

Further information: Tabor Park Vocational School

The Re-entry Program in Scarborough began in November 1977 at Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute with one teacher and fifteen students. Envisioned was a program which would meet the needs of dropouts or disadvantaged learners wishing to return to school; the program had grown and transformed into an adult program. By 1985, the program featured 9.33 teachers and 200 students.

In 1980, the Co-Op Re-entry Program was established. The program featured an in-school component with a job experience placement and grew from the original two teachers and 35 students to 5 teachers and 170 students in 1986.

Formerly known as Tabor Park Vocational School, the Re-entry Programs were united and expanded as Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies originally opened on September 2, 1986 at 959 Midland Avenue operated by the Scarborough Board of Education with 360 adults. At Tabor Park, agencies operating at SCAS included a rooms registry service called Scarborough Housing Assistance: Placement and Education for Singles (SHAPES), the counseling service Metro Youth Services, a day care facility operated by NYAD (Not Your Average Day Care), and the board's Community Liaison Office. ^[1]

Relocation

In May 1988, the SBE was planning to move the SCAS to a new facility. ^[2] The Tabor Park campus was one of seven high schools in the Metro being given to the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now the Toronto Catholic District School Board), so the Scarborough board had to vacate it along with the user groups. School board trustees considered closing one of the following collegiate schools to make room for a new SCAS: Winston Churchill, Midland, Wexford, W.A. Porter, and David and Mary Thomson. ^[3] In November 1988 the school had 850 adult students. ^[4] Parents in Donwood Park protested one of the relocation plans for SCAS. ^[5]

Meanwhile, the SBE moved classes as a method to quickly find a temporary location before the Tabor Park property being transferred to the MSSB on July 1, 1989. To save the costs, 28 classes were moved to the former Highbrook Senior Public School on 39 Highbrook Drive, Thomson Collegiate received 20 classes at 2740 Lawrence Avenue East (along with the Carpentry program) and moved the remaining six to a commercial site in the area totaling to 54 classes. ^[6]

The original SCAS campus was reopened and became known as Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School in September 1989. The need for a new adult school led to a 'unique partnership' between the SBE and Centennial College, in 1992, to establish the new campus for SCAS, (originally the Scarborough Career Planning Centre) on 939 Progress Avenue that opened in September 1994. ^[7] The programs were previously had been in temporary locations after the loss of Tabor Park. ^[8]

After 16 years, in September 2010, the school moved to 720 Midland Avenue, the site of the former Midland Avenue Collegiate Institute as Centennial expanded the teaching space by acquiring the latter site. ^[9] The centre currently shares the Midland building with South East Year Round Alternative Centre and Caring and Safe Schools program.

SCAS also operated a satellite campus at the David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute for the Carpentry (Fix-It Shop) program until the Lawrence building was closed at the end of June 2019.

See also

• Canada portal
• Schools portal

• List of high schools in Ontario
• Midland Avenue Collegiate Institute
• St. Joan of Arc Catholic Academy

References

1. Astorga-Garcia, Mila. "'Supermarket' education offered for adults at centre." Toronto Star . December 23, 1986. Neighbors p. E17. Retrieved on July 29, 2013.
2. Daly, Rita. "Scarborough centre for adult learning needs new home." Toronto Star . January 10, 1989. Neighbors p. E3. Retrieved on July 29, 2013.
3. Daly, Rita. "Trustees resent turning school over to Catholics." Toronto Star . September 20, 1988. News p. A7. Retrieved on July 29, 2013.
4. Daly, Rita. "Scarborough board tries to relocate adult school." Toronto Star . November 15, 1988. Neighbors p. E3. Retrieved on July 29, 2013.
5. "Donwood area parents oppose learning centre." Toronto Star . October 31, 1988. News p. A6. Retrieved on July 29, 2013.
6. "Theft suspect nabbed after alert shoppers flag a cruiser." Toronto Star . February 1, 1989. News p. A6. Retrieved on October 8, 2013. "In a desperate attempt to find[...]served mostly single parents who had dropped out of school. "
7. Boyle, Theresa. "Adult education centre will be constructed at Centennial College." Toronto Star . January 23, 1992. Scarborough/Durham SD p. 4. Retrieved on October 8, 2013.
8. Deverell, John. "'One-stop' career training centre." Toronto Star . January 27, 1994. Scarborough/Durham SD p. 3. Retrieved on October 8, 2013. "The city's adult education programs, which usually enrol about 1100, have been in temporary accommodations ever since Tabor Park Vocational School was ceded to the separate school board several years ago."
9. "Centennial College | $10.8 million budget surplus and 24% enrolment growth fuels expansion plans at Centennial College". www.newswire.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12.

External links

• Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies
• TDSB Profile (EdVance)
• TDSB Profile (Adult)