If you’ve already contacted your local MPP candidates, hurrah! Thank you! You can continue to make an impact by spreading the word. Here is some verbiage you could use in reaching out to your networks, either by email or social media! Thank you!

Fix Our Schools is a parent-led, non-partisan, Ontario-wide campaign that began 4 years ago and is working to ensure that all Ontario’s schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working.

I’m writing to ask you to please take a few minutes and read the information on their web page: http://fixourschools.ca/advocacy-101/. Then please take at least some of the actions outlined in the weeks leading up to the June 7th provincial election to ensure that all of your local MPP candidates sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge. 

Fix Our Schools is a highly organized and effective campaign, and have launched the Fix Our Schools Pledge Initiative as an easy way for people to help ensure that publicly funded schools and education are a priority issue in the June 7th provincial election. The goal of the Fix Our Schools Pledge Initiative is to have all MPP candidates in Ontario sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge.

If every party’s candidate in every riding in Ontario signs this pledge, then no matter what the outcome of the June 7th provincial election, our next provincial government will have committed to Fix Ontario’s Schools. We can then hold our provincial government accountable to that commitment for the next four years. In Ontario, our provincial government holds the power over all education and school funding so it is critical they know Ontario’s citizens want them to prioritize publicly funded schools and education.

We have power when we all do a little something to send a collective message. So I’m going to ask you again to please visit the Fix Our Schools website: http://fixourschools.ca/advocacy-101/ and take action! Fix Our Schools has done a lot of legwork to make this as easy as possible for busy people to take action – so just do it! Please! 

As some additional background, Fix Our Schools has been instrumental in the following successes over the past 4 years and is counting on you to continue this success to Fix Our Schools!: 

• Increasing provincial funding for school repairs from $150-million/year in 2014 to $1.4-billion/year today. Industry standards and Ontario’s Auditor-General suggest that $1.4-billion/year for school repairs is the amount that always ought to have been allocated to keep Ontario’s schools in a state of good repair. However, for most years over the past two decades, provincial funding for school repairs has only been one-tenth (or less!) of the $1.4-billion minimum yearly amount needed to simply KEEP schools in a state of good repair.
• Increasing transparency about disrepair in Ontario’s schools. The Ministry of Education now publishes disrepair data on a school by school basis each year so parents can readily access and track this information.

Let me know if you have any questions. And thanks for your anticipated support on taking action in the coming week to ensure all your local MPP candidates sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge! 

Teachers and school boards across Ontario do great things – in spite of poor school building conditions across the province. For instance, last week at Amherstburg Public School, students had to be evacuated to a nearby high school because of a natural gas leak – from a roof-top gas line that, at one time, supplied gas to a classroom’s Bunsen burner.

This situation could have resulted in a very serious accident – even deaths. However, local principals and school board officials worked with emergency crews to graciously and effectively manage the situation. In fact, they even managed to turn the forced evacuation into a leadership opportunity for the high school students and a fun, active, memorable day for the elementary students who were evacuated.

In examining the most current available Ministry data for disrepair in Ontario’s schools, Amherstburg Public School has $6,928,597 of disrepair. In rolling up all the individual school data, total disrepair in the roughly 70 school buildings in Greater Essex County District School Board is a whopping $390,046,914. Disrepair impacts schools all across the province and it must be addressed now! 

Media coverage about lunchroom conditions in recent weeks continues to generate discussion – and some ideas for solutions!

Fix Our Schools was thrilled to hear from Kensington Community School, a TDSB elementary school in downtown Toronto, about their “locally grown” solution to lunchroom conditions that used to include stress, chaos and a lot of noise. Suggested by a teacher, school administration took a bit of a risk and agreed to try the proposed solution, which costs virtually nothing – in good weather, let the children eat outside!  At Kensington school, children eat outside if it is above zero and good conditions. What was the result?

Many positive benefits for students: 

• They are more relaxed. 
• They are allowed to eat with friends from other classes or their siblings
• They feel a greater sense of independence
• They no longer waste their outdoor time waiting in a line for everyone to be quiet in order to go outside.
• Students who need a longer time to eat are neither rushed nor feel left out as they don’t remain behind in the “lunch room”
• Students who eat quickly are no longer misbehaving in their boredom from waiting to go outside.
• Students aren’t squished eating elbow to elbow on a bench seat.
• Student outdoor time is increased for all

When Kensington Community School contacted us, they acknowledged that “every playground differs and may not have steps, benches, or large rocks to sit on, so each school may need some minor investment to help create picnic spaces or add tables where kids can enjoy their lunches in an appropriate fashion, but it is a small investment compared to most other possibilities. If it’s nice, staff may want to eat outside as well, adding adults on the playground without being “on duty.”

They also recognized that “this is not a total solution to the problem of overcrowded or chaotic lunchrooms but it is a piece of the puzzle which could easily be moved forward on and put into place this spring in most of our schools instantly with virtually no cost. Some obstacles may be serving hot lunches, or overlapping lunch shifts but thoughtful staff members can certainly work together to overcome why, “We can’t do that.”

Fix Our Schools loved hearing this local solution to improve lunchroom conditions for Ontario’s students almost immediately. However, we believe that we also need to look at longer-term, more systemic solutions so that this issue doesn’t get resolved at some schools and not others. All Ontario children deserve positive lunchtime conditions!

So, with this in mind, we’d suggest not only looking at local, short-term solutions to improve lunchtime for your children but also looking at engaging with the Fix Our Schools Pledge Initiative. This initiative is a great way to obtain the standards we need in schools – for both lunchroom conditions and for school conditions, in general. Our goal is to have all MPP candidates pledge their commitment to a standard for schools and to funding those standards. To participate and find out how to get your local MPP candidates to sign the Pledge, click here. 

Andrea Horwath and the NDP Party of Ontario released their party platform on April 16th, which included this platform announcement by Horwath. In her announcement, Horwath mentions the following:

• Ontario’s schools are crumbling and there is $16-billion of disrepair publicly funded schools across this province
• How school disrepair impacts students and adults alike, who spend their days in these school buildings
• That we must Fix Our Schools
• That Ontario’s schools must be safe, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working

Fix Our Schools is pleased to see the NDP Party of Ontario acknowledge the importance of school conditions in Ontario and prioritize publicly funded education and schools in this province.

With leaks and flooding in schools across the province today due to heavy rains, a natural gas leak in an elementary school in Amherstberg last Thursday that could have led to a serious incident, two students burned by roofing tar last Monday during gym class, the issue of safe, well-maintained, healthy schools certainly seems like a priority election issue to us – and a non-partisan one that every provincial party in Ontario ought to be prioritizing. 

In an Ottawa Citizen editorial last week on April 11, 2018, columnist Randall Denley wondered why Ontario’s crumbling schools are not an election issue.

In politics, a lot can change in a week. As of right now, school conditions are an election issue.

After hearing about the multitude of student injuries in schools recently, a parent, who is also a certified architect and construction consultant, contacted us with this: “It is appalling that the provincial government allowed the state of our schools to denigrate to the point where so much construction has to be done while students are in the buildings. And, while accidents can certainly happen, they happen more frequently in scenarios when construction work is reactive instead of proactive and in contexts where non-sufficient funding/resources are available.”

Ontario school boards are frequently conducting reactive repair work rather than proactive maintenance and we know that up until recently, our provincial government was only providing one-tenth of what industry standards say is needed to keep our schools in good repair. So we have the perfect storm brewing in Ontario where we can expect accidents and student injuries to be an ongoing issue in schools unless our provincial government begins providing the education funding actually needed to Fix Our Schools.

Two children burned, after hot asphalt dripped through their school’s gymnasium roof, which was being repaired…

One child undergoes surgery to save the tip of her finger after it got mangled during lunchtime horseplay in her grade 1 classroom, where lunchtime supervision is limited to one adult supervisor in the hallway, monitoring several classrooms…

One child suffers a cut on her head, after a piece of construction scaffolding at her school fell and hit her…

One child endures a broken wrist and concussion, after a railing on her school’s playground gave way… this last scenario never made the news because the mother didn’t want to traumatize her daughter further. This begs the question: “How many other Ontario students are injured each day while at school?”

And also begs the question:  “Why is there no provincial standard in place to ensure that the schools in which 2-million Ontario children spend their days are safe, well-maintained, healthy buildings – to protect our children in their place of “work”?”

This is exactly what the Fix Our Schools Pledge calls for – a standard of good repair for Ontario’s schools and adequate, stable provincial funding to support this new standard. If you believe that students should be safe in their place of “work” – then please contact all your local MPPs to urge them to sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge. 

We often hear from people who are nervous about approaching their MPP about their concerns because they are not an “expert” in the subject. We want to assure you that you do not have to be an expert in a topic to bring it up as a concern or priority of yours!

Your local MPP candidates are looking for your vote so you have a lot of power in the coming weeks leading up to the provincial election. And your elected MPP works for you so they should actually be the ones that are nervous about providing you with all the answers you are seeking!

Plus, we’ve worked hard to ensure you have all the key facts you need in the Fix Our Schools_Flyer  so even if you simply send or show your local MPP candidates this flyer and say, “I’m concerned about the issues presented here – please read this.” – that is perfect! 

You really do have power to make change!  So in the weeks leading up to the June 7th election, don’t be shy!

Our goal is have every MPP candidate sign the Fix Our Schools pledge, and we need your help to apply pressure to every candidate in every Ontario riding to ensure this happens. A perfect opportunity to do this is to take the opportunity to talk in person with your local candidates when they (or a member of their team) comes campaigning to your door. Here are the steps to make it easy for you!

STEP 1: Print a copy of the Fix Our Schools Flyer and the Fix Our Schools_Pledge to keep by your front door.

STEP 2: When your local candidates knock on your door, show them the Fix Our Schools Flyer and say something like, “There is almost $16-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools – what is your plan to Fix Our Schools, given that the Province provides all funding for education and schools?” and show them the Fix Our Schools Flyer.

Remember: You do not have to be an expert in the topic – your candidates are looking for your vote and want to hear about your concerns. Plus, the Fix Our Schools Flyer has all the key information you need to share with your candidate so you could just ask them to read it! 

STEP 3: Show your local MPP candidates the Fix Our Schools Pledge and ask them to sign the Fix Our Schools pledge!

STEP 4: A local candidate signs the Fix Our Schools Pledge. Hurrah! Thank them and, to give them public credit for taking this important step, ask them to:

• take a selfie with the signed pledge
• tweet the photo, tagging @Fix_Our_Schools

If a candidate does not sign the Pledge, don’t worry! You’ve still created political pressure on that candidate and made them realize that voters in their riding care about public education and schools! Hurrah! To wrap up your conversation, you could say something like, “I will be voting for a candidate that prioritizes education and the conditions of our local schools. You could easily demonstrate your commitment to these issues by signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge. I’d encourage you to please reconsider and contact me when you are ready to sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge.” 

And there you have it – “Roleplay 101” for when an MPP candidate knocks on your door!

Our goal is have every MPP candidate sign the Fix Our Schools pledge, and we need your help to apply pressure to every candidate in every Ontario riding to ensure this happens.

STEP 1: Print a copy of the Fix Our Schools Flyer and the Fix Our Schools_Pledge to keep beside you when you phone your local MPP Candidates.

STEP 2: When speaking with your local candidates, start the conversation with something like, “There is almost $16-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools – what is your plan to Fix Our Schools, given that the Province provides all funding for education and schools?”. After listening to their answer, offer to email them the Fix Our Schools Flyer and Pledge.

Remember: You do not have to be an expert in the topic – your candidates are looking for your vote and want to hear about your concerns. Plus, the Fix Our Schools Flyer has all the key information you need to share with your candidate so you could just ask them to read it! Or on the phone – you could read key facts to them! 

STEP 3: Read the local MPP Candidate the contents of Fix Our Schools Pledge and ask them to sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge! Offer to email a copy to them or direct them to www.fixourschools.ca, where they can easily find the Pledge.

STEP 4: A local candidate signs the Fix Our Schools Pledge. Hurrah! Thank them and, to give them public credit for taking this important step, ask them to:

• take a selfie with the signed pledge
• tweet the photo, tagging @Fix_Our_Schools

If a candidate does not sign the Pledge, don’t worry! You’ve still created political pressure on that candidate and made them realize that voters in their riding care about public education and schools! Hurrah! To wrap up your conversation, you could say something like, “I will be voting for a candidate that prioritizes education and the conditions of our local schools. You could easily demonstrate your commitment to these issues by signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge. I’d encourage you to please reconsider and contact me when you are ready to sign the Fix Our Schools Pledge.” 

And there you have it – “Roleplay 101” for when an MPP candidate knocks on your door!