Toronto principals say the number of calls mere hours after parents learned schools would not issue report cards is already “unbearable,” and there’s no way they can respond to everyone seeking their children’s final marks.

In a harsh letter to the Toronto District School Board sent Friday morning, the organization representing the city’s principals and vice-principals says “it is an unmanageable and unrealistic task for around 600 administrators to reply to 170,000 families … they will have no choice but to turn away parents seeking marks, which will inevitably result in conflict and upset.”

The situation is “unreasonable, unrealistic — and it’s not that they don’t understand the needs of the parents, but we are talking about one person and 450 families” in a school, Donnie Straker, who heads the Toronto School Administrators’ Association, told the Star in an interview.

Because principals can’t share marks until the week of June 22 — some have not yet been submitted — “we’re really talking about a period of three days” to speak with a principal before summer vacation begins.

That means some parents will have to wait until the fall to get the information, she added.

While large boards like Toronto, York and Peel says there’s no way principals can handle the work, in Halton there’s a compromise. Principals are preparing some report cards themselves (with marks only) for students heading to middle school or high school next year — but no others.

The president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario said there’s no reason for boards to “deprive” families “of information they deserve” and questioned why some boards are able to get marks out, but not others.

The union has directed members not to write report card comments and to provide principals with students’ marks but not input them into the system. Teachers have also been told to direct parents to principals for final marks.

Some smaller boards — including Simcoe County, Trillium-Lakelands and Hamilton-Wentworth — say reports will go home.

“There is no clear explanation as to why school boards like Toronto, Peel and York Region can’t issue report cards as other boards are doing,” union president Sam Hammond said in a written release.

“These boards may be larger but they have proportionately as many administrators within their system to handle the task of issuing report cards.”

But the Peel board estimated that there would be three million data points for its 112,000 students, and that it would cost $1 million to hire neough help. The Ministry of Education has said it will not give boards any funding to bring in extra help.

So instead, Toronto, Peel and York will send home “promotion” or “placement” letters.

The Halton District School Board has devised a compromise where students heading to middle school or high school will receive their marks, but no one else.

The Durham District School Board has not yet decided how to handle end-of-year marks.

Straker said Toronto principals are overwhelmed, and “are caught in the middle of a fight that has nothing to do with them.”

Ryan Bird, spokesperson for the Toronto board, acknowledged principals have already “identified some concerns just with the sheer volume of calls they’ve already started to receive.

“They will do the very best they can … (but) it’s going to take a significant amount of time. In some cases, especially in larger schools, it could even take months.”

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Straker said that while marks are a good motivator for some kids, she does not believe that “in the long run, a Grade 1 mark never entered into the system is going to impact a child long-term, in terms of their success in school.”

She said students heading to high school would have already taken part in transition planning.

Because teachers are in a legal strike position, they can withdraw or limit any part of their job duties.