Monthly Archives: June 2015

Conversation starters and questions for the federal election

June 28, 2015

Throughout the federal election campaign, you will likely have many opportunities to speak with candidates and MP’s. We encourage you to take the opportunity to let them know you consider public schools an integral part of our public infrastructure.  

Potential conversation starters:

Potential questions:

  • Do you view public schools as an important part of this country’s public infrastructure?
  • Would you consider accessing federal infrastructure dollars to address disrepair in Canada’s public schools?
  • Given the almost $15-billion in outstanding repairs plaguing Ontario public schools, what advice would you give to the provincial government regarding funding for public schools in this province?

We hope this makes it easy for you to engage with politicians during this federal election campaign. Please email us additional questions or conversation starters to share!

“My son’s classroom was twelve degrees this winter”

June 28, 2015

From Krista, parent of two children at Runnymede P.S., TDSB:

One day this winter, my grade three son told me about an interesting science experiment his class had done at school. Students had been given thermometers to measure the temperature of various classrooms in the school.2015_06_24_Bennett winter coat

His response when I asked him what the temperature had been in his classroom?

“Twelve degrees celsius.”

When I commented that twelve degrees was pretty cold, he replied, “It’s OK Mom, we’ve been wearing our winter coats in class this past week.”

It is  certainly NOT OK to have to wear winter coats while trying to learn and teach – but I admire the resilience of my son and his teacher to continue to learn and teach despite the learning and working conditions!

 

 

Can public schools get in on this pre-election spending spree?

June 24, 2015

In May 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the new Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial. This program will “provide financial support for the renovation, expansion and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure that provides community and cultural benefits for the public. Projects under the following categories may be eligible for funding: community centres (including Royal Canadian Legions), cultural centres and museums, parks, recreational trails, libraries, recreational facilities, tourism facilities, docks, cenotaphs and other existing community infrastructure.” Hmmm…no mention of school buildings yet public schools are often the hub of communities.

On June 18, Harper announced details regarding the new Public Transit Fund (PTF), a program to promote public transit infrastructure. Part of this announcement was a $2.6-billion commitment from the federal government to build SmartTrack in Toronto.

Great news that the federal government is supporting the development and maintenance of quality public infrastructure across the country. Fix Our Schools believes that public schools ought to be considered integral to our public infrastructure and would like to see Canadian public schools get in on some of these pre-election spending commitments!

Teachers’ union goal is “building better schools”

June 21, 2015

The Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT) is the Toronto-local of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and represents more than 11,000 elementary teachers (K-8) employed by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).

John Smith, President of the ETT, said in interviews and a press release this week that the goal of current negotiations with elementary teachers is “building better schools.”  He went on to say that, “We’re talking about class sizes. We’re talking about the loss of special education teachers. We’re talking about school buildings that need repair.”

Great to hear that disrepair in school buildings is being talked about in this labour negotiation! Students and teachers deserve to learn and work in safe, well-maintained buildings.

Would you go to the washroom if it looked like this?

June 19, 2015

Fix Our Schools often hears from both parents and students about how disgusting the washrooms can be at TDSB schools. Some parents say their children actually refuse to go to the washroom while at school. Looking at these photos, one can understand why!  Would you go to the washroom if it looked like this?
2015_06_16_WT Washroom mold dirt

Despite excellent efforts by caretakers to keep these washrooms clean and useable, with the current funding allocations by the provincial government, the photos you see here are the end result.

Consider a 100-year old school that is also overcapacity by 200 students (there are 146 TDSB schools that are overcapacity). No extra funds are allocated for caretakers at that school to deal with the extra mess created by those 200 extra students. No additional funds are provided to account for the fact that old buildings are harder to clean than new ones (the 2015_06_16_WT Washroom Sinkcaretakers at Runnymede P.S. painstakingly polish the 99-year old linoleum floors and, although we know they are the cleaner for their efforts, the floors really don’t look much different than they did before!)  So this blog post is certainly not intended to point fingers at caretakers who work hard and take pride in the important role they play in our children’s schools.

This blog post is meant to highlight the fact that these washrooms are, indeed, disgusting and surely to goodness our children deserve to have washrooms in their place of learning that are well-maintained, clean and USEABLE!

The work that would need to be done to bring these washrooms to a USEABLE state is not 2015_06_16_WT_Washroom mold dirt cornerincluded in the TDSB’s $3.3-billion repair backlog we hear about all the time. The shocking $3.3-billion repair backlog only includes really serious work to be done on our children’s schools – such as fixing leaking roofs, replacing broken boilers and addressing structural concerns. So unless Kathleen Wynne’s provincial government works with school boards to find new funding solutions for public schools, many washrooms will continue to be disgusting.

 

Jackman Community Daycare speaks up about disrepair

June 17, 2015

Fix Our Schools was copied on a letter that Donna Spreitzer, the Director of Jackman Community Daycare, wrote to Premier Wynne, Education Minister Sandals, and Deputy Minister Zegarac. Jackman Community Daycare operates within Jackman Avenue Public School, a TDSB school located near Broadview and Danforth that was built in 1963 – a relatively new building compared to the many TDSB schools.

In her letter to the Province, Ms. Spreitzer states that one section of the roof has been leaking for over five years – with a bucket in the stairwell serving as a constant reminder of the neglect to this school building. She outlines that over the 20 years she’s been affiliated with Jackman Avenue Public School, the school’s infrastructure seems to have been in constant need of repair. Ms. Spreitzer urges our provincial government to “Act now. This cannot wait!” Indeed, this is an urgent issue that Kathleen Wynne’s government must address now since her government is responsible for providing funding to public schools in this province.

As per the TDSB Repair Backlog Clock on Trustee Lister’s home page, the repair backlog at the TDSB is estimated to be growing at an astonishing rate of $1.4-million each day at the current level of funding from the Province. The money being received to take care of school buildings is simply insufficient and, at this rate, the TDSB repair backlog will have grown from $3.3-Billion to $4.36-Billion by 2017. By August 6, 2015, the TDSB’s backlog is estimated to have grown to $3.5-Billion. Fix Our Schools agrees wholeheartedly with Ms. Spreitzer’s sentiments: this cannot wait.

Trustees don’t do it for the money

June 13, 2015

In a letter to Barbara Hall and the TDSB Governance Panel, Michael Barrett – President of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association expresses concern about the consultations conducted by this panel and raises many excellent points:

  • Good governance can only be successful if roles and responsibilities are clearly understood, which extends beyond the board of trustees and their chair and must include the director of education and senior team members.
  • A school board is an organic, interactive entity and each time that dynamic changes through the election of even one new trustee, a new board is formed, bringing with it a new dynamic that influences the trustee team. (note: in Fall 2014, eleven new TDSB Trustees were elected out of 22 so this new board represents a very new dynamic!)
  • Trustees are the crucial link between the school board and their local community. Trustees are of the community; they generally live in their communities, know their community and advocate for their community. There is local control that ensures a centralized bureaucracy does not lose sight of varied and diverse communities.
  • Trustees serve as advocates, as ombudsmen, as originators of ideas, as guideposts and hold both the government and staff accountable. Advocacy for a mental health strategy, a coordinated ministry approach to education and services, for equity within aboriginal education and funding, fairness in special education funding, inclusiveness and technology in the classroom are a few of the ways that trustees make a difference.
  • Trustees do not do this for the money. (NOTE: The role of Trustee is paid as a part-time position and a TDSB Trustee earns about $26,000/year) The honorarium has been frozen since 2006. Elected trustees are devoted to public education and want to make changes to improve the system for all children.
  • Trustees contribute long hours attending committee and board meetings, reading and reviewing board/ministry correspondence and interacting with their constituents in a variety of ways (email, face to face, telephone and public meetings).
  • Trustees are interpreters and messengers for government initiatives. They provide and allow for local perspectives. They help families navigate complex rules to get children the support they need from their schools. They initiate innovative and effective programs that improve student achievement and well-being.
  • A school trustee is a member of a team – the board of trustees. Only the board of trustees has the authority to make decisions or to take action. A chair of the board of trustees is chosen by the board of trustees as someone they are proud to have as a leader who represents them. Although the chair assumes a leadership role, it is important that he or she adheres to the board’s directions and not act unilaterally.
  • The director of education must display excellence as an educational leader, to be politically sophisticated, to be aware of and active in legislative developments, to have an extensive knowledge of relevant provincial laws, to be an exemplary educator, and to personify effective communication.
  • The elected trustee board’s most influential governance relationship is the relationship they have with the director of education. A trusting, respectful and cooperative relationship between the board of trustees and the director of education and a mutual understanding of their distinct roles lead to effective policy implementation.
  • Trustees and school boards are doing amazing and wonderful things all across the province.

TTC shutdown highlights funding needs

June 11, 2015

An equipment failure shut down Toronto’s entire subway system on Monday, June 8 and impacted over 100,000 riders. This shutdown certainly highlighted how integral the TTC is to our City’s infrastructure. CEO Andy Byford said that $2.7-billion is needed to complete all the work that needs to be done, pointing out that none of this work is of the “nice to have” variety.

Surely, the same could be said of the $14.7-billion of outstanding repairs in Ontario public schools. None of the repairs to roofs, boilers, fire systems and structural elements of children’s schools are simply “nice to have” – they are all things we need to be doing. Disrepair in schools impacts students and teachers every single day. Ceilings leak, causing some children to slip and hurt themselves. 2015_06_08_Buckets from LisaBoilers break down, leading some students and teachers to wear winter coats as they try to learn and teach. Lead is discovered in water, meaning students and teachers cannot drink safely from school water supplies. Stairs crumble in front of fire exit doors, placing children and teachers at risk. Luckily, most of what happens inside these Ontario public schools is pretty great and, as a result, most children head home happy each day. But one does wonder what would have to occur to highlight the funding needs of public schools across this province…and to highlight how integral public schools are to public infrastructure?

“Ontarians are quick to catch on”

June 9, 2015

On May 26, 2015 in the Ontario Legislature, Education Critic MPP Lisa Gretzky noted that while the provincial government sets the priorities for education in Ontario, this same government is quick to limit its accountability whenever issues arise.

The TDSB Governance Panel was cited as a perfect example of how the provincial government refuses to take responsibility for the delivery of quality education in this province. This panel was formed by the Province to examine governance issues at the TDSB, yet failed to include the provincial government’s critical role in the overall governance and funding of the TDSB.

After citing the TDSB Governance Panel example, MPP Gretzky says, “Well, Speaker, Ontarians are quick to catch on. A letter to the minister from an organization called Fix Our Schools,…, reads as follows—it was dated April 13, 2015.”  She then proceeds to read to the Ontario Legislature the letter that close to 100 Fix Our Schools subscribers have sent to Premier Wynne, Minister Sandals and Deputy Minister Zegarac. She tells her colleagues at the Legislature that every week she is copied on similar letters to the Premier demanding that her government take responsibility for the chaos they are creating in Ontario schools. See page 3 of the official report of debates to see where the Fix Our Schools campaign is cited.

Positive Change That’s Working: Submission of TDSB Trustees to the Governance Advisory Panel

June 1, 2015

The TDSB Trustees came together to write their submission to the Governance Advisory Panel, entitled: Positive Change That’s Working, which is signed by all Trustees.

This document outlines improvements to accountability and governance that this new board of Trustees has already undertaken. It highlights the many accomplishments over the years of Canada’s largest school board – something we haven’t heard a lot about in recent months – and a refreshing reminder of how many leading edge programs have roots in the TDSB.

This submission also outlines the thoughtful, rational, evidence-based approach to school accommodation and program reviews being taken by the TDSB to ascertain how to use the capital assets of public schools in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Additionally, it proposes potential strategic partnerships with post-secondary institutions and consideration of public schools as community hubs.

Trustees cite the Fix Our Schools campaign in their submission, as evidence that parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with the state of disrepair in public schools, and urge the Governance Panel to consider the need for additional funding sources to address this issue. Specifically, Trustees ask the Governance Panel to encourage the provincial government to revisit the regulations guiding Education Development Charges, a source of funding that the TDSB is prevented from accessing at the moment.

Finally, the Trustee’s submission provides input on the various models of governance that seem to be given consideration by the Governance Panel. In particular, they cite breaking up the TDSB as a step backwards – one that would cost taxpayers an estimated $100-million with questionable benefits to TDSB students at this time.

Our Trustees seem to be coming together as a team that is truly looking out for the best interests of TDSB students and families. Barbara Hall and team – will you give this TDSB Board of Trustees the opportunity to govern? And help them to receive the funding needed to deliver quality programming in safe, well-maintained buildings?