After hearing from readers across the province about lunchroom chaos in their local schools, the Toronto Star continued to cover this issue in an article published on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 entitled, “Tales of school lunch chaos hard for parents to swallow”. CBC picked up this issue also and covered it on Ontario Today with Rita Celli on Friday, March 23. Lunchrooms, it seems, struck a chord with Ontario parents, grandparents and citizens, in general.
Like the Star, Fix Our Schools, also heard from parents across the province.
We extracted this disturbing quote from an email we received from one parent, who moved to Toronto from the U.S. 1.5 years ago:
“The lunch problem is the tip of the iceberg… I honestly don’t know how parents aren’t rioting in the streets. We have been in a lot of schools – mostly US, this is our first Canadian experience and we are stunned at how bad it is. Never experienced anything like it. So thank you for all you are doing. As a Canadian I am deeply saddened and shamed at the state of our public school system. It is NOT ok for our children.”
We were copied on this letter by a grandparent who lives in Burlington, who sent this letter to Premier Wynne and Minister Naidoo-Harris after reading about lunchroom chaos in the Toronto Star:
“Ms Wynne, you have been a School Trustee, a Minister of Education and now you have been Premier and throughout your time in public office our school buildings have continued to deteriorate due to your lack of awareness, concern and leadership.
Read this and weep: School Lunch Served with a Side Order of Chaos
Some Toronto parents say too often lunch hours are like “Lord of the Flies” where staffing is a challenge, supervision ratios are left to principals and many kids stressed out by the mayhem barely touch their food.
During your long career as a politician, the school buildings of Ontario have deteriorated unbelievably. The contrast between the schools my Grandchildren in Toronto attend and those my Grandchildren in Abbotsford and Mission BC attend is remarkable: with few portables, clean walls and floors, freshly painted inside and out, windows that work, clean bathrooms that don’t smell, manicured playgrounds, this is just part of the list.
Have you been to any schools and seen the crumbling infrastructure since your have been Minister of Education or Premier?
Premier, forget worrying about pharmacare and electricity costs. Think about our schools first. Our children are our future.
I will vote for the leader who says they will begin to rebuild our schools. Shame on you.”
Despite having no children or grandchildren, one woman who lives near Kingston was compelled to contact us after hearing us on CBC’s Ontario Today Call-in with Rita Celli on Friday, March 23, 2018, saying she cannot imagine being a kid in school now and feeling anxious for the kids and the teachers, just listening to the stories. We extracted her recollection of what lunchtimes were like for her growing up:
“What I remember with grade school in Quebec was that before lining up by classroom to get in the school in the mornings, after recess and returning from lunch, there were at least 4 monitors for grades 1 to 4 and grade 4 to 6. They had 5 shifts during the day before and after school to help kids off and on the school buses, two 15 minute recesses outside and lunchtime. We had an additional 3 monitors, who were a rotation of teachers and administrators.
Before each recess, we had a nutrition break. The school gave us juice or milk and we consumed the healthy snacks our parents sent along with us as we discussed age appropriate health and hygiene (chocolate chip cookies vs oatmeal raisin, importance of cleaning hands, brushing teeth and so on). Then we all lined up and headed for the bathrooms and water fountains four classrooms at a time, before returning to our lockers to get ready to go outside. This way, there would be one teacher in each bathroom making sure we washed our hands before getting back in line for the water fountain and two in the hallway making sure we got back to the right classroom lineup. Each classroom line up was according to height.
So something like this takes more effort, more scheduling, more money, more time. …
My thinking on this is that if things are done to maintain calm and order, kids remain relatively calm.”