The Durham District School Board (DDSB), known as English/French language Public District School Board No. 13 prior to 1999, is an English-language public-secular school board in the province of Ontario. The Board serves most of Durham Region, except for Clarington, which is a part of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. The Board has more than 7,600 staff who serve approximately 58,200 elementary and 25,100 secondary school students. Its headquarters is located in Whitby. The DDSB has three independent, coterminous boards, serving English-Catholic (Durham Catholic District School Board), French-secular (Conseil scolaire Viamonde), and French-Catholic (Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir) students. The DDSB is located on the traditional and treaty territory of the Mississauga of Scugog Island First Nation, the Mississauga Peoples and the treaty territory of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation.

History

The DDSB was created on January 1, 1974, as the Durham Region Board of Education (DRBE), succeeding the Ontario County Board of Education. In 1998, the DRBE was renamed the Durham District School Board, as it is known today. The francophone schools that were managed by the Board are now part of Conseil scolaire Viamonde. At the same time as the creation of the DRBE, West Rouge became part of Scarborough, resulting in the transfer of a few schools to the then Scarborough Board of Education:

Organization

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees governs the DDSB. They are responsible for setting the strategic direction and policies that guide action, providing public oversight to the functions of the Board, and approving the annual budget. The chair and vice-chair of the board and committees are elected annually by the board of trustees at its organizational meeting. The current chair of the board is Christine Thatcher, and its vice-chair is Deb Oldfield.

Trustees

Trustees are elected to a four-year term to represent the best interests of the community. The DDSB has eleven elected trustees and one appointed First Nations trustee.

Student Trustees

Three student trustees are elected to the Board of Trustees from Pickering-Ajax, Whitby-Oshawa, and Uxbridge-Scugog-Brock to represent students. They can participate in discussion, suggest motions, and have a non-binding vote. They also lead the Student Senate, which is made up of students from across the Board.

Committees

The Board of Trustees has three standing committees: the Education Finance Committee, Governance and Policy Committee, and Director's Performance Review Committee.

Administrative Council

The Administrative Council is responsible for administering policies passed by the board of trustees and the day-to-day operations of the board. The Administrative Council is led by the Director of Education, currently Camille Williams-Taylor. It is also composed of superintendents, who lead departments and support local schools.

Gifted Program

The DDSB operates a gifted program for students in grades 4–12. Students can enter a self-contained class with other gifted students at select schools or remain at their home school with teacher accommodations. Learning in the program is curated to be more relevant to each student, and material is taught at an accelerated rate. Acceptance into the gifted program is based on being identified in the top 2% of students.

Schools

The DDSB has 136 schools and learning centres. They are composed of 113 elementary schools, 18 secondary schools, and the 4 learning centres. The learning centres are: Grove School, Durham Alternative Secondary School, Durham Continuing Education and Elementary@home