The York Region District School Board (YRDSB), until 1999, English-language Public District School Board No. 16 is the English-language public school board for the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canada. The York Region District School Board is the province's third-largest school board after Toronto's TDSB and Peel's PDSB, with an enrolment of over 122,000 students. It is in the fastest-growing census division in Ontario and the third-fastest growing in Canada. The public francophone (Conseil scolaire Viamonde), English Catholic (York Catholic District School Board), and French Catholic (Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir) communities of York Region also have their own publicly funded school boards and schools that operate in the same area.

History

The school board was officially known as the York Region Board of Education until it changed its name in 1998 to York Region District School Board. Prior to 1971 it was called York County School Board (evolved from 1871 School Act which replacing earlier school acts in merging elementary schools (known as public schools) with higher education (collegiate Institutes and high schools that formed from Grammar School Act of 1807 and Common School Act of 1850). It was later renamed to York Region Board of Education and renamed to English-language Public District School Board No. 16 in 1998 before adopting the current York Region District School Board name in 1999.

Governance

The YRDSB is governed by an elected board of trustees, whose election coincides with the municipal elections in Ontario held throughout the province every four years. The Board consists of 12 trustees, divided amongst the constituent municipalities based on population. Two student trustees are elected by students of the board. The student trustees facilitate communication between students and the school board. The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board are chosen by secret ballot of the trustees at the inaugural meeting in November. For day-to-day operations the most senior staff member of the board is the Director of Education, to whom the Associate Director and all of the Superintendents report. The Interim Director of Education is Scott Yake (since November 1, 2022).

Programs

Besides the curriculum established by the Government of Ontario, the York Region District School Board places heavy emphasis on its Character Matters program. As well, due to the multicultural nature, and large immigrant population of students under the YRDSB, the Board established the Race Relations Advisory Committee, a standing committee of the board to advise the trustees on issues related to ethnocultural relations. The committee is made up of trustees, staff, community members and students.

Divisions

The school board is divided into four Community Education Centres (North, Central, East and West). The centres represent communities as follows: The school board teaches approximately 70,000 elementary and 40,000 secondary school students.

Lists of schools

Secondary schools

The school board currently manages 34 facilities that provide secondary education.

Elementary and intermediate schools

The school board currently manages 175 facilities which provides elementary education. Aurora East Gwillimbury Georgina King Markham Newmarket Richmond Hill Vaughan Whitchurch-Stouffville

Georgina Island

YRDSB provides assistance to Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation and serves the schooling needs for students in grades 7 to 11.