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Doug Ford’s riding: $9.4-million of disrepair at Elmbank JMA and $13.9-million of disrepair at West Humber CI

June 11, 2019

Fix Our Schools was so pleased to be able to volunteer with Progress Toronto on June 8 to knock on doors in Etobicoke North – a riding that is represented by Premier Doug Ford and a riding that has $178.4-million of disrepair in its publicly funded schools.

On our way to canvass, we passed a couple of publicly funded schools, both of which look pretty good from the outside. Therefore, it can be easy for parents and the general public to think that these schools are in good shape. However, they’d be wrong.

At West Humber CI, $13.9-million of repairs are needed as per most recent data released, including 3 URGENT ones and 27 HIGH PRIORITY repairs. The 3 urgent repairs include: Fire Alarm System renewal, Major Repair to Standard Foundations – Parging Repair, and Roofing. So you can see that all three of these repairs, despite their being marked urgent in nature, remain invisible and unnoticeable until there is system failure. Students, teachers and education workers who all spend their days in this building would have no way of knowing the fire alarm system may not work until there was a real fire and it failed. The same can be said for the roof – it may be fine for another year or two or perhaps many leaks will emerge after the next rain storm, leading to damage inside the building and possible unsafe electrical situations. Would you want your child attending a school where the number one repair needed was Fire Alarm System renewal? 

At Elmbank Junior Middle Academy, $9.4-million of repairs are needed, including 21 repairs marked URGENT. 

Unfortunately, since so much of the disrepair in Ontario’s publicly funded schools is on the inside of the schools and since so much of the disrepair in Ontario’s schools is invisible, people often mistakenly assume that local school conditions must be good. After all, children spend their days in these publicly funded buildings so how could we have possibly allowed so much disrepair to accumulate in this important public infrastructure? 

We encourage you to click the link above to better understand how we have, indeed, allowed a gobsmacking $15.9-billlion of disrepair to accumulate in the school buildings where 2-million Ontario children spend their days. And we also encourage you to have a look at some of the photos we’ve collected over the years that illustrate some of the substandard conditions that students face in their schools.

 

Ontario’s Public Education System One of the Best in the World

June 6, 2019

Ontario’s publicly funded education system is often cited as one of the best in the world, despite what we’ve been hearing in the news the past few months. Many politicians and citizens have weighed in on this topic.

Fix Our Schools found data on student achievement from the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that shows Ontario students’ high performance in reading, math, and science was a significant contributing factor to Canada’s overall rankings of 7th in Science, 3rd in reading and 10th in mathematics, for an overall ranking of 7th in the world.

The OECD is an established organization, with 63 member countries, and has a goal of stimulating economic progress. Since education is tightly linked to economic progress, the OECD ranks the quality, equity, and efficiency of school systems worldwide every three years.

PISA is the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment. To compile the PISA data, the OECD tests over half a million students from over 70 countries in science, reading, and math. The most recent PISA rankings were published in 2016 and the next ones are due out in December 2019.

Another interesting gauge of Ontario’s publicly funded education system can be found in the Pan-Canadian Assessment (PCAP) program, conducted by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC).  According to page 23 of the most recent report, Ontario students are second in the country in reading achievement. As per the tweet above, and found on page 36 of the PCAP report, Ontario students are also second in the country in math.

Fix Our Schools continues to advocate for improved school conditions. We strongly urge Doug Ford’s government to institute a standard of good repairs for all publicly funded schools and to provide the adequate, stable funding required to quickly eliminate the $15.9-billion of disrepair that plagues Ontario’s schools. For the past five years, the Fix Our Schools campaign has also consistently messaged how many amazing things happen inside these broken schools every single day. The results we’ve outlined here in terms of Ontario student performance seem to confirm this messaging. Ontario’s students have been achieving despite often learning in poor school conditions. 

Accessibility in Ontario’s schools

June 4, 2019

Over 1.9 million Ontarians live with disabilities. For these people, lack of accessibility is an ongoing barrier, given that Ontario’s accessibility standards are not currently meeting people’s needs. The Province’s standards lag behind where Ontario pledged we would be by now, as laid out in the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

In an Ottawa Citizen opinion piece entitled, “Ontario’s accessibility standards are falling woefully short”, David Onley, former lieutenant governor of Ontario and a disability rights advocate, expresses concern about the how slowly Ontario is moving when it comes to setting or enforcing accessibility standards. “Every day, in every community in Ontario, people with disabilities encounter formidable barriers to participation. For most disabled persons, Ontario is not a place of opportunity but one of countless, dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers.”

 

Accessibility within many of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is a big issue. Let’s consider only one aspect of accessibility for a moment – the ability for a student to get to their classroom and participate fully in a rotary class schedule. Elevators are a rarity in Ontario’s schools, making it challenging or impossible for students on crutches or in wheelchairs to attend school. When an Ontario school does have an elevator, maintenance for the elevator is ongoing and provincial funding for said maintenance is inadequate therefore often, elevators in a school are not working. Similarly, school boards are not provided with any special provincial funding to ensure that school buildings are retrofitted to become accessible for children with mobility issues.

My daughter needed crutches to get around for 8 months in her grade 8 year. I still marvel at the physical and emotional strength needed for her to participate in school that year. Clearly, many aspects of a full school experience were off the table for her that year as she focused on the bare minimum of getting to each class on her rotary schedule in a 3-story building with no elevator. She was physically and emotionally exhausted most days as she routinely met with “dispiriting, soul-crushing barriers”. Ontario can and must do better. We owe it to all Ontarians with disabilities, including students.

School conditions impact resilience

May 29, 2019

In the May 25, 2019 essay in the Globe and Mail newspaper entitled, “Resilience: Our ability to bounce back depends more on what’s around us than what’s within us”, Michael Ungar explores how people’s environments contribute to their resilience – their ability to weather difficult life circumstances.

Ungar is the Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience, a professor of social work at Dalhousie University and a family therapist. He has studied resilience around the world and has found that “all the internal resources we can muster are seldom of much use without a nurturing environment”. He goes on to say that his research clearly demonstrates that “resilience depends more on what we receive than what we have within us”.

Throughout his Globe and Mail essay, which is adapted from his book entitled, Change Your World: The Science of Resilience and the True Path to Success”, Unger cites external resources and environmental factors such as the following as being truly critical to a person’s resilience:

  • family, friends, and colleagues who are supportive
  • a community with police, social workers, fire departments, ambulances and food banks
  • employment insurance and pension plans
  • a working (or learning) environment that is well staffed and provides good conditions in buildings that are well-maintained

He concludes his essay by stating simply that, “When it comes to maintaining well-being and finding success, environments matter. In fact, they may matter just as much, and likely much more, than individual thoughts, feelings or behaviours.”

As we read this essay in Saturday’s Globe, we thought about the 2-million Ontario children who spend their days in publicly funded schools. If we want these children to not only survive but thrive and develop resilience, then to us, it seems obvious that we must provide them with school buildings that are safe, healthy and well-maintained and that we must provide them with well-staffed and properly resourced classrooms.  What do you think?

Federal Government Starts to Invest in Our Public Schools as Critical Infrastructure!

May 28, 2019

On May 22, 2019, CBC published an article entitled, “London high school to become Canada’s first carbon neutral school”, which outlined plans for a $9.7-million retrofit of John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in London, Ontario. The federal government will contribute $4.8-million to the project, with the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) providing the remainder of the funding through installments over a 20-year period.

 

About five years ago, when staff at the LDCSB were contemplating replacing old systems at the school, they figured they would be well-served to replace them with new, green technology, according to Jacquie Davison, superintendent of business for the LDCSB 

This rendering shows charging stations at the school. (Hala Ghonaim/CBC)

 

This project at John Paul II will remove more than 270 tonnes of carbon each year and will include:

  • Geothermal heating and cooling system that will feature 50,000 feet of drilled piping
  • 2,300 solar panels that cover the roof and carports
  • An energy microgrid that will include an electrical energy storage system
  • 2 electric vehicle charging stations

This rendering shows solar panels cover carports in the parking lot of the school. (Hala Ghonaim/CBC)

This project in London, Ontario is, to our knowledge, the first time that our federal government has invested in public schools (outside of First Nations schools, which are a federal responsibility) as critical infrastructure.

 

Fix Our Schools is optimistic that this project will set an important precedent and that federal money will continue to find its way to helping improve the conditions of our nation’s school buildings. After all, while the education that takes place in Canadian schools is certainly a provincial responsibility, the school buildings are critical infrastructure, deserving of not only provincial investment but also federal investment.  

 

 

Education activism is growing – get involved and ensure your voice is heard!

May 23, 2019

Our focus at Fix Our Schools continues to be on eliminating the $15.9-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools and seeing our provincial government enact a Standard of Good Repair for schools. However, there are many other issues facing our publicly funded education system and many parents and students across the province are emerging as voices for those concerns as well. 

Fix Our Schools encourages you to get involved with the following province-wide education advocacy efforts if you have concerns outside of school infrastructure. And please let us know of others out there too! We know there are many groups forming more locally across the province as well, which is such an important form of activism such as the West End Parents for Public Education in Toronto. 

We believe wholeheartedly in a strong publicly funded education system and we are so happy to see so much grassroots advocacy emerging and flourishing in the education sector. 

  1. Ontario Families for Public Education

This Facebook group was created by Ontario parents as a space for all Ontario parents to get plain language updates on how provincial funding and policies may affect our childrens’ educations.

2. Students Say No

This movement is being led by Ontario students focused on ensuring a strong, publicly funded education system in this province. They are active on Instagram and Facebook.

3. Parents4Education

This website was created by a group of parents who are concerned that Ministry of Education’s proposed changes to education will have a significant negative impact on student achievement and well-being. It provides a collection of content, thoughts, concerns, articles and resources to help you form your own opinion and provide feedback to the provincial government. One of the concerns highlighted by this group if mandatory e-learning in high schools.

 

What are the consequences of poor school conditions?

May 20, 2019

If your local school is in poor condition, there can be a variety of consequences:

1. School conditions impact your child’s learning. Many Ontario classrooms are as cold as 12 degrees in the winter, while during the fall and spring, classroom temperatures can soar above 35 degrees. Studies show there is a narrow band of optimal air temperature associated with learning – around 22 degrees. Studies also show that poor air quality (peeling paint, mould, poor ventilation, etc.) increases incidents of asthma, the leading cause of student absence. 

2. Principals have less time to support teaching when the roof leaks. Naturally, safety is the priority during repairs. How can a principal effectively lead a school while they are also the construction manager and PR/communications professional meant to effectively communicate logistics and manage expectations? Being a principal is a full-time job without adding the layer of complexity of being a construction manager or boiler specialist.

3. A whole neighbourhood can suffer. Schools are community hubs that house the majority of childcare facilities in Ontario. Soccer clubs use the fields, Girl Guides use the gyms, and seniors use the auditoriums.

4. Reactive repairs are costing taxpayers. When a roof leaks, damage is done to the building’s interior. We know that reactive repairs can cost up to three times more than routine, proactive maintenance. School boards can only maximize efficiency in repairing and maintaining schools when funding from the province is adequate and stable from year to year.

 

It’s Fiscally and Morally Responsible to Fix Ontario’s School Sooner than Later

May 16, 2019

School disrepair in Toronto and the province, at large, was the focus of a CityNews report by Cristina Howorun on May 9, 2019.

Howorun begins her report by stating that “leaky roofs, cracked foundations, broken windows and heaters that don’t always work – that’s the learning environment for much of Ontario’s student population. It’s part of a staggering repair backlog that, according to data from the Ministry of Education, will cost $16-billion to repair if done today.”

However, as Howorun points out, the $16-billion school repair backlog is likely to grow instead of diminishing, unless provincial funding increases to enable school boards to get ahead of the disrepair. Krista Wylie, co-founder of Fix Our Schools, was interviewed for this report and explained that, unfortunately, the majority of repair work at schools is conducted reactively rather than proactively. Industry data would suggest that reactive maintenance can cost up to three times more than proactive maintenance, a real waste of public dollars.

Due to gross underfunding by the Province for more than two decades, school boards frequently end up fixing a school roof only once it has already started leaking. Clearly, the approach of waiting until water is dripping on students’ heads, possibly damaging school property like library books or technology, and possibly creating havoc with electrical and fire alarm systems is not ideal, nor is it a fiscally responsible approach to asset management.

As we learned earlier this spring at Balaclava Elementary School in the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, reactive repairs for roofing can be not only fiscally irresponsible but can also be downright dangerous to the students and staff who spend their days in these buildings.

So with this in mind, the Fix Our Schools campaign calls upon our provincial government to allocate the adequate and stable funding required to truly fix Ontario’s schools. Economist Hugh Mackenzie estimates this would require an additional investment of $1.6-billion/year – on top of the $1.4-billion/year currently allocated by the Province for School Condition Improvement (SCI) and School Renewal Allocation (SRA) funding.

Sadly, in the May 9, 2019 CityNews report, Education Minister Lisa Thompson was quoted as saying, “we invested this past school year $1.4-billion in school repairs and we’re committed to another $1.4-billion in repairs. The fact of the matter is, over the next 10 years, we’re investing 13 billion dollars in repairs as well as capital.” Fix Our Schools has requested clarification about this funding commitment, given that simple math would demonstrate this funding level to be a substantial cut to funding for school repairs and capital, when, as stated earlier, what is really needed is additional funding.

Developers Ought to Contribute to the Neighbourhoods from which they Profit

May 13, 2019

Ever since founding the Fix Our Schools campaign in 2014, we’ve believed strongly that developers ought to contribute financially to the public infrastructure in the neighbourhoods where they choose to build. We believe developers choose to build in neighbourhoods that maximize profitability – which generally means where there are good local schools and other public goods like public transit and community spaces. Therefore, it only makes sense that developers contribute financially to the public infrastructure that allows them to profit.

Since 2014, we’ve urged the provincial government to change its outdated regulation guiding the eligibility for and use of Education Development Charges (EDCs), which prevented many Ontario school boards from collecting development fees and limited usage of said fees to only the purchase of new land.

On May 2, 2019 Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced the “More homes, more choice: Ontario’s Housing Supply Action Plan”, which includes the following proposed changes to the EDC regulation:

  • Allow only modest increases in EDCs to help make housing more affordable
  • Allow for innovative and lower-cost alternatives to site acquisition.

Neither of these proposed changes does anything to address the fact that millions of dollars are being left in developers pockets every year rather than being used to contribute to school infrastructure in the communities where they are profiting. Similarly, these proposed changes do nothing to address the limitation of the current regulation that only allows school boards to use EDCs for purchasing new land, which simply doesn’t make sense in densely populated urban areas. We’ve requested a meeting with Education Minister Thompson to better understand these proposed changes but at first blush, we are sad to see a lost opportunity to improve the school conditions where 2-million Ontario children spend their days.

Ontario Student Trustees – Proof that our Publicly Funded Education System is NOT BROKEN

May 8, 2019

On Monday, May 6, 2019, Fix Our Schools witnessed absolute proof that Ontario’s publicly funded education system is not broken. We were thrilled to be at Queen’s Park supporting the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association (OSTA-AECO) as they released an incredibly thoughtful, well-researched vision document entitled, “The Students’ Vision for Education”. The Student Trustees who researched, wrote and presented this vision document are intelligent, thoughtful, articulate, confident young people who are already making huge contributions to society. These same Student Trustees are a result of Ontario’s publicly funded education system.

OSTA-AECO is a non-partisan organization comprised of student trustees from public and Catholic school boards across the province. Representing approximately 2-million Ontario students, OSTA-AECO members work with provincial partners in government to improve our publicly funded education system for students.

The vision articulated by OSTA Executive on Monday at Queen’s Park was impressive and student-focused. The vision document represents much research and reflects data collected from over 20,000 surveys. Truly, the intelligence, poise, maturity, and confidence embodied in the Student Trustees at Queen’s Park was a huge testament to Ontario’s education system, one of the best in the entire world according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

As outlined in the Forward of the OSTA-AECO vision document, Ontario’s strong education system is no accident. It has relied on excellent, dedicated work by educators, administrators, and students.

“A publicly-funded education system is an integral part of any mature society. It lifts communities up, promotes widespread equity, and provides countless opportunities for citizens to succeed throughout their lives. The immense benefit of publicly-funded education is unquestionable; it is a promise of prosperity, success, and development. Nevertheless, to protect it, Ontario must constantly improve it.” – pg. 6 of OSTA-AECO vision document

OSTA’s vision document provides our provincial government with 35 long-term recommendations that “strive to transform every facet of our education system”.

For the Fix Our Schools campaign, perhaps the most pertinent recommendations from OSTA-AECO were under the pillar entitled, “Funding Formula Reform”, which calls on our provincial government to rectify the significant issues of funding inadequacy. Since 2014, Fix Our Schools has asked the Province to ensure adequate, stable funding for school building infrastructure and we were heartened to hear such strong support from OSTA-AECO for ensuring safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings in this province.

In fact, OSTA-AECO identifies the growing state of disrepair in publicly funded schools as “one of the largest challenges facing Ontario’s education system”, noting that the capital repair backlog has grown from $5.6-billion in 2002 to a whopping $15.9-billion as of the most recent release of disrepair data by the province in Fall 2017.

The following student quote from the OSTA-AECO vision document provides a vivid illustration of how disrepair in Ontario’s schools negatively impacts student learning:

OSTA-AECO also calls on our provincial government to implement a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools as part of the solution to poor learning conditions in Ontario’s schools. Recognizing that “it is extremely difficult for students to succeed if they are shivering in class, the provincial government must create a standard for good repair which is localized for unique costs, individualized through school-based funding, and be completely detached from utilization rates. It should be provincial through consistent standards across the board for the temperature that is conducive for learning, cleanliness, and facilities’ upkeep requirements.”