Tag Archives: Toronto

In a world of finite resources, what would you choose?

September 12, 2015

Olympic_rings_(7662576984)As Co-founder of the Fix Our Schools campaign, I just hit “send” on this letter to the Editor at the Globe & Mail:

Dear Editor,

Please accept the following submission in response to the Editorial entitled, “The 2024 Toronto Olympics? No thanks.” 

In a world of finite resources, I’d invest in the children of this city

My son wore his winter coat at school this past winter because his classroom was 12-degrees. Last week, countless Toronto children would have worn as little as possible to cope with 38-degree heat and no air conditioning in their 50-100-year old schools.

To repair and rebuild Toronto’s public schools would cost between $4-6-billion. This investment would benefit over 350,000 children across four school boards, who spend 6 hours/day, 5 days/week, 10 months/year in buildings that all too frequently provide sub-standard learning environments.

To host the 2024 Summer Olympics would also cost between $4-6-billion. As much as I love the Olympics, in a world of finite resources, I would choose to invest in the children of this city. Let’s fix our schools.

Kind regards, Krista Wylie

In a world of finite resources, what would you choose?

Will our new mayor give public education the attention it needs?

December 1, 2014

On his first official day as Toronto’s Mayor, John Tory met with Premier Kathleen Wynne to discuss priorities and how the two levels of government can work together towards the best possible decisions for constituents. Wynne said the two have committed to meeting regularly.

The agenda included transit, housing and investment opportunities.  While public education is arguably as important to Toronto’s future success as transit, it is notably absent from this morning’s meeting agenda.

With 246,000 students attending almost 600 schools, the TDSB is a $3 Billion bureaucracy that requires attention not only from the TDSB Trustees who govern the board but also from our new Mayor and City Council.  Last week, the TDSB finally got the attention of the Province with Liz Sandals announcing that outside expert Margaret Wilson will be conducting a review of the TDSB.  What is required next is for the TDSB to get the attention of the City too.

John Tory and the TDSB arguably have similar visions – a vibrant city filled with educated, healthy citizens.  So let’s hope that our new Mayor will also forge new relations with our local school board. With regular meetings between our City Council and the TDSB, we could see a stronger Toronto.