A growing number of students and parents are calling on the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to stop a controversial plan that seeks the removal of the running track at Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute (LPCI), as well as the partial privatization of its field.

The Change.org petition, “Stop the Removal of Lawrence Park CI’s Track. Stop the Privatization of the School Field”, criticizes the deal’s potential impact on student athletics and public access. As of publication, it has received 296 signatures.

According to the petition, on June 20, the TDSB announced a joint agreement with the Toronto Scottish Rugby Football Club to convert LPCI’s natural grass field into a professional-grade artificial turf facility. The Club would invest $1.5 million in the project, with the TDSB matching that investment. To meet World Rugby standards for competitive play, “the existing six-lane 400m running track will be eliminated.”

The deal would also reportedly give the Club “exclusive use of the field” during evenings from Tuesdays to Thursdays, and all day on Saturdays.

Petition organizers argue that track removal will only hurt student athletics.

“For competitions and training requiring a 400m track, the TDSB says that LPCI students will need to use facilities at John Polanyi CI or North Preparatory JPS. This is unacceptable for an accomplished and proud athletics program that dates back to the school’s founding in 1936,” the petition states, adding that there are thousands of students from surrounding schools who also rely on the LPCI track for their phys-ed programs.

Since the deal hands over a public field to a private sports organization during evenings and weekends, this raises “serious equity issues”, the petition states, “and undermines the principle that public education spaces should prioritize students and the broader public good over external use.”

Although the TDSB said the process included community letters of support in 2022, the petition is adamant that many students and parents were unaware of and “shocked by the trade-offs” this agreement entails.

“A broader, more transparent consultation process is needed before moving forward,” the petition states, urging the TDSB to pause the current plan and consider three alternate proposals previously submitted by community members. These proposals will reportedly provide a “win-win” solution where both the new field and a four- to six-lane 400 m running track could be accomplished, without the need for excavation.

“My son is a student at LPCI and he loves running track,” one parent wrote on the petition page. “Please don’t take that away from the students. If anything the track should be improved but definitely not removed.”

Another user questioned, “How can a school board the can’t balance its budget spend $1,500,000 to support a private club (and damage its students at the same time)[?] This is corrupt.”

The TDSB has also faced criticism over other recent decisions. Earlier this spring, the Board announced that it would consider closing more than half of its school pools as one of several cost-saving options to help balance its projected $58-million deficit for the 2025–2026 academic year.