Elementary school teachers gathered outside the Toronto District School Board head office Tuesday to support their colleagues who have been fired or suspended from Bowmore Road Junior and Senior School.

In total, eight teachers have been suspended, two have been fired and the principal and vice-principal have been removed from the Upper Beaches elementary school.

Elementary Teachers of Toronto President Helen Victoros called their dismissals “absolutely unprecedented.”

“It’s totally gutted the school community. The students are reeling. Parents are reeling. The teachers that have been impacted [are] so distressed. They want nothing more than to get back into Bowmore and be able to teach the students that they love.”

She said she was not able to talk about why the teachers were fired.

It’s the latest move by the TDSB in what has been a whirlwind of chaos involving a number of serious issues.

“We are not getting a lot of information so it’s hard because we all have hearsay and thoughts. We really want transparency,” said Rebecca McBride, a parent at Bowmore.

Major bullying and safety concerns originally were raised last spring and have since evolved into the removal and suspension of the several teachers in a matter of days.

“My kiddos have asked to come home for lunch because they’re tired of others stealing their food … there’s a lot that goes on in the bathrooms at school,” shared McBride.

The rollercoaster ride has involved teachers and students in Grades 7 and 8 being moved from a rotary-style learning model to a core model where one teacher takes care of most subjects in a homeroom.

That spawned protests involving parents last fall before the workload increase for teachers led to extracurriculars being lost for all students soon after.

“The bullying happens to everyone. The problem is that we don’t have the support system,” added McBride.

A two-page letter from the TDSB to the school community on Monday said “We have asked the Regional Internal Audit Team, a Ministry-funded arms-length organization to the TDSB, to add Bowmore to its list of schools to audit with respect to safety, rules and procedures and adherence to those.”

Interim Director of Education Stacey Zucker went on to say, “I recognize that periods of transition can bring uncertainty, and I want to assure families that our focus remains on providing stable leadership, consistent support, and a positive learning environment for all students.”

The letter also noted a new principal and vice-principal have been assigned.

“This is a second home for my child. They should feel safe. They should feel happy. And they should have some of their basic needs met,” shared McBride.

Victoros added she believes this was not a board decision. “We believe that this is taking place right now under provincial supervision. We can’t imagine a decision of this magnitude would not have come across the premier or the minister’s desk.”

TDSB is one of several school boards that has been placed under the province’s control over that they say is mismanagement by the boards. A supervisor was hired for each board to replace school trustees.

CityNews reached out to Education Minister Paul Calandra’s office for a statement, but they referred to the letter from the board itself and that they “have nothing further to add.”

“Right now, we want a reversal of these decisions and to get these teachers back in the classrooms that they love,” said Victoros. “I don’t know who the winners are with this decision. It’s certainly not the students or the teachers or the school community and we absolutely believe that the supervisor must have known about this.”