The playground at Bannockburn School, a Montessori school in the area of Avenue Road and Wilson Avenue which leases its land from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), is set to lose two of its current five acres. The TDSB recently listed the land for sale to the disappointment of many parents in the community.

“It’s just great green space,” said Jane Connell, an area parent who fears that the TDSB may sell the land to a developer. “To take that away and have a development or something else go in there is taking away from the children and the families within the area.”

It’s part of a controversial policy that the TDSB proposed last winter to sell off some of their land in order to provide more classrooms and better facilities. Kevin Ackhurst, a local soccer coach whose children also attend Bannockburn, said that the lack of community input has been disappointing.

“There were supposed to be studies done, opportunities for the community to give input, none of that happened,” said Ackhurst. “It’s frustrating for us knowing that the school board, which is in charge of educating our children, isn’t following their own rules.”

Ackhurst and fellow parents have been working closely with Coun. Karen Stintz to find a solution that would keep the green space green. Stintz moved an urgent motion at last month’s Toronto City Council meeting to inform the TDSB’s Toronto Lands Corporation that the city has an interest in purchasing the land and for city staff to examine funding opportunities to consider the future of the area.

“We need to be partners in this sense,” said Stintz, who remains optimistic — “As long as they don’t overvalue the land,” she said.

TDSB Ward 8 trustee Howard Goodman also hopes the city will purchase the lands. “I really do appreciate the motion that Karen put forward,” said Goodman. He said that this was a very hard decision for the TDSB to make. “It’s something that we shouldn’t have to be doing because the province shouldn’t be forcing us to do it.”