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MPP Mitas: $212.2-M of Disrepair in Scarborough-Centre Schools

November 27, 2018

In 2018 MPP Mitas signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools

Dear MPP Mitas,

Did you know there is $212.2-million of disrepair
in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Scarborough-Centre? We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9 billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Scarborough-Centre:

Jean Vanier Catholic CSS (Lease from TDSB Bill30)	$3,886,957
Our Lady of Wisdom C S	$2,803,716
Precious Blood CS	$3,773,672
St Albert CS	$1,809,480
St Kevin CS	$2,280,265
St Lawrence CS	$3,219,079
St Victor CS	$2,536,467
Bendale BTI	$21,792,342
Buchanan PS	$4,373,625
Charles Gordon Sr PS	$4,494,300
D & M Thomson CI	$27,738,981
Donwood Park PS	$5,000,893
Donwood Park PS Annex	$3,344,418
Dorset Park PS	$3,755,394
Edgewood PS	$3,861,787
EllesmereStatton PS	$12,551,929
General Crerar PS	$3,138,004
George Peck PS	$4,619,754
Glamorgan Jr PS	$4,997,379
Glen Ravine Jr PS	$6,052,223
Hunter’s Glen Jr PS	$4,503,272
Ionview PS	$3,325,967
John McCrae PS	$7,734,456
Knob Hill PS	$6,458,784
Lord Roberts Jr PS	$5,703,838
Manhattan Park Jr PS	$2,817,828
Maryvale PS	$4,967,680
Parkview Alternative School / Terraview Heights LC	$4,455,115
St Andrews PS	$6,104,575
TerraviewWillowfield PS	$4,126,690
Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts	$16,689,544
Wexford PS	$3,796,604
Winston Churchill CI	$15,467,739

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.

We commend you for personally signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the June election and ask that you ensure your government prioritizes schools as critical infrastructure. Please take the steps necessary to ensure that the disrepair in all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is eliminated and that schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

PLEASE NOTE: Fix Our Schools is relying on the most recent disrepair data provided by the Ministry of Education in Fall 2017 and has mapped postal codes provided by the Ministry for each school to riding postal code information from a third party. Therefore, it is possible that there may be small errors in the data provided here and we would be grateful if community members would contact us with any errors.

MPP Berns-McGown: $205.6-M of Disrepair in Beaches-East York Schools

November 18, 2018

Dear MPP Berns-McGown,

Did you know there is $205.6-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Beaches-East York? We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Beaches-East York:

Canadian Martyrs C S	$3,478,932
Notre Dame CHS	$9,370,904
St Brigid CS	$7,230,082
St Denis CS	$2,469,126
St John CS	$7,717,192
Adam Beck Jr PS	$4,977,407
Balmy Beach CS	$2,469,894
Bowmore Road Jr & Sr PS	$17,501,229
Crescent Town ES	$2,321,555
D A Morrison MS	$10,870,628
Earl Beatty Jr & Sr PS	$10,579,863
Earl Haig PS	$8,400,976
East York Alt SS	$574,757
East York CI	$20,018,730
George Webster ES (JK5)	$4,178,903
Gledhill Jr PS	$5,873,960
Glen Ames Sr PS	$5,546,692
Gordon A Brown MS	$6,108,706
Kew Beach Jr PS	$9,181,416
Kimberley Jr PS	$4,227,501
Malvern CI	$20,420,852
Norway Jr PS	$4,740,082
Parkside ES	$4,672,655
Presteign Heights ES	$4,388,597
Secord ES	$9,464,728
Selwyn ES	$3,618,516
Victoria Park ES	$2,392,544
William J McCordic School	$3,089,391
Williamson Road Jr PS	$7,044,210
ÉÉC GeorgesÉtienneCartier	$2,659,210

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.

We commend you for personally signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the June election and ask that you help ensure the provincial government prioritizes schools as critical infrastructure. Please take the steps necessary to ensure that the disrepair in all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is eliminated and that schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

“It could have been catastrophic”

November 18, 2018

Thankfully, nobody was injured after part of a pedestrian bridge collapsed in Toronto’s east end early Saturday morning, leaving a gaping hole and sending concrete to the ground. The bridge is 5 metres above the ground and is used by many children and parents to get to Crescent Town Elementary School.

“Mercifully it happened on a weekend morning and there were no kids or parents on or under it & no injuries,” Beaches-East York MPP Rima Berns-McGown tweeted. “It could have been catastrophic.”

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) shares maintenance of the bridge with Pinedale Properties. According to CityTV, the part of the bridge that collapsed is owned by Pinedale. The TDSB has advised parents that the bridge is not accessible until further notice as it works with Pinedale properties to determine next steps.

For almost five years now, Fix Our Schools has been asking if Ontario’s infrastructure is safe for school children and if Ontario’s publicly-funded schools are safe for school children.

Malvern Collegiate Institute in Beaches-East York, needs $20.4-million in repairs. The urgent repairs this school building needs include new roofs, foundation, staircase repairs and replacement of fire protection systems, including sprinklers. With almost $16-billion of outstanding repairs in Ontario schools, of which $205.6-million exists in Beaches-East York schools, it is hard to imagine that some schools aren’t “accidents waiting to happen”.

All parties involved in building and maintaining any infrastructure – especially infrastructure used by children – must work together to ensure a high standard of safety and maintenance.

MPP Ke: $191.5-M of Disrepair in Don Valley North Schools

November 13, 2018

Dear MPP Ke,

In 2018 MPP Ke signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools

Did you know there is $191.5-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Don Valley North? We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Don Valley North:

Blessed Trinity CS	$4,410,307
Holy Redeemer CS	$2,994,382
Our Lady of Guadalupe CS	$2,602,682
St Gerald CS	$4,119,978
St Kateri Tekakwitha C S	$2,297,562
St Matthias CS	$3,182,840
St Timothy CS	$275,400
AY Jackson SS	$22,510,771
Arbor Glen PS	$2,229,763
Bayview MS	$8,136,135
Brian PS	$5,095,914
Cherokee PS	$3,202,919
Cliffwood PS	$2,124,515
Cresthaven PS	$4,274,025
Crestview PS	$5,183,480
Dallington PS	$5,754,793
Don Valley MS	$8,100,636
Elkhorn PS	$4,459,080
Ernest PS	$3,631,669
Forest Manor PS	$2,587,266
Georges Vanier SS	$16,376,294
Highland MS	$3,962,044
Hillmount PS	$4,806,871
Kingslake PS	$6,596,319
Lescon PS	$4,654,063
Lester B Pearson ES	$5,985,946
Muirhead PS	$6,855,664
Pineway PS	$3,281,687
Pleasant View JHS (Elem)	$9,515,258
Seneca Hill PS	$3,803,770
Shaughnessy PS	$3,480,891
Steelesview PS	$5,555,266
Woodbine MS	$9,396,036
Zion Heights MS	$10,092,553

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.

We commend you for personally signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the June election and ask that you and your government please prioritize schools as critical infrastructure. Please take the steps necessary to ensure that the disrepair in all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is eliminated and that schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

MPP Cho: $111.8-M of Disrepair in Scarborough North Schools

November 13, 2018

Dear MPP Cho,

Did you know there is $111.8-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Scarborough North?

We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Scarborough North:

Mary Ward Catholic SS	$7,236,628
Our Lady of Grace CS	$914,924
Prince of Peace CS	$2,303,962
St Bartholomew CS	$2,787,072
St Elizabeth Seton CS	$1,320,982
St Gabriel Lalemant CS	$1,093,234
St Ignatius of Loyola CS	$2,632,056
St Marguerite Bourgeoys CS	$774,886
St Rene Goupil CS	$1,153,222
St Sylvester CS	$758,109
The Divine Infant	$1,530,589
Agnes Macphail PS	$2,517,389
Albert Campbell CI	$14,403,553
Alexmuir Jr PS	$4,091,362
Anson S Taylor Jr PS	$2,597,698
Banting & Best PS	$2,172,417
Berner Trail Jr PS	$2,243,922
Brimwood Boulevard Jr PS	$3,694,710
Burrows Hall Jr PS	$4,391,182
C D Farquharson Jr PS	$4,831,580
Chartland Jr PS	$3,268,739
Henry Kelsey Sr PS	$6,914,282
Iroquois Jr PS	$3,805,376
Macklin PS	$3,203,106
Malvern Jr PS	$5,085,866
Milliken PS	$2,152,486
North Agincourt Jr PS	$3,126,769
Percy Williams Jr PS	$3,482,668
Port Royal PS	$1,351,908
Silver Springs PS	$4,008,177
Sir Alexander MacKenzie Sr PS	$5,490,987
Tom Longboat Jr PS	$1,432,333
White Haven PS	$3,210,420
ÉÉC SaintJeandeLalande	$1,770,972

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.

We ask that you and your government please prioritize schools as critical infrastructure and take the steps necessary to ensure that the disrepair in all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is eliminated and that schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

Hot and Cold – Ontario Classroom Temperatures

October 31, 2018

Some days the week of October 8th hit close to 30 degrees and a week later, temperatures had plummeted to single digits. Old schools across the province have struggled to keep up with the erratic outside temperatures.

On October 18, 2018 Caryn Lieberman of Global News reported on a mother who brought in a space heater to her son’s Toronto Catholic District School Board classroom. After learning the temperature was only 16 degrees inside and that children were all bundled up in their outdoor clothing while trying to learn, the mother felt compelled to help.

Fix Our Schools commends parents wanting to ensure schools provide environments conducive to learning. Fix Our Schools also advocates for safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings across the province. While a space heater provided a short-term solution for one classroom in this example, the electrical systems in many Ontario schools are not equipped to handle space heaters so our provincial government really must step up to provide long-term viable solutions for all Ontario schools.

Children deserve more than to be sweltering in their learning environment in September, early October, May and June … and freezing in their learning environments in October through to April!

The TCDSB gets approximately $50 million every year from our provincial government for repairs and improvements. The current repair backlog is around $1.4 billion. A Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) spokesperson commented, “The simple math would tell you that it’s about 30 years of backlog in order to repair our buildings to an acceptable level … We just triage as best we can.”

Children deserve more than “triaging as best that school boards can”. However, until our provincial government implements funding solutions that enable school boards to address the repair backlogs that accumulated over the last 20 years, when provincial funding was often one-tenth of what industry standards suggest as the bare minimum required, school boards will continue to “triage” and our children will continue to learn in sub-optimum learning conditions.

Telephone Town Halls are underway! See dates and times for your region!

October 30, 2018

If you’re interested in participating in a Telephone Town Hall to provide input to the Education Consultations, these are already underway and require you to please register beforehand. If the dates for your region have already past, please register for a nearby session.

Public Consultation – Dates and times for Teletown Hall sessions:

Region	Dates
Northwestern Ontario (including surrounding area of Thunder Bay, Kenora) 1-800-871-5734	October 19 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.	November 14: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Southwestern Ontario (including surrounding Windsor, Sarnia, London, Kitchener) 1-800-603-8630	October 23: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m	November 1: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (French)	November 10: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Greater Toronto Area (West) 1-800-303-1528	October 25: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Hamilton)	October 26: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. (Peel, Halton)	October 29: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (Niagara)
Greater Toronto Area (North – York) 1-800-303-1528	October 24: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	November 13: 8:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m
Greater Toronto Area (East – Durham) 1-800-303-1528	October 29: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	November 8: 8:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m
Toronto 1-800-785-1873	October 25: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	October 27: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	November 1: 8:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m
Central Ontario (including Barrie, Peterborough) 1-888-359-8067	November 15: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	November 21: 8:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m
Northeastern Ontario (North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie) 1-888-601-4395	October 23: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	November 20: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m	November 26: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (French)	November 29: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m
Eastern Ontario (Kingston, Brockville, Cornwall) 1-800-457-4507	October 30: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	November 16: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m	November 22: 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Ottawa 1-800-871-5734	October 24: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m	October 30: 8:30 – 10:00 p.m. (French)	November 2: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Opportunity to provide feedback on publicly funded education

October 28, 2018

Premier Ford and Education Minister Thompson announced in August that the provincial government would embark upon an unprecedented parental consultation. This consultation is underway and we encourage every single Ontarian involved with Fix Our Schools to participate in at least one of the following ways:

Providing an “open submission” to the Ministry of Education via this link up until December 15, 2018
Participating in this online survey until December 15, 2018
Participating in a “telephone town hall” with the Ministry of Education. These are already underway so we encourage you to visit this link today to sign up for one in your region.

Doug Ford’s government wants to develop a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” for Education. Under this topic, please consider submitting the following:

The basis of any Parents’ Bill of Rights must be every Ontario parent’s right to have a local, publicly funded school for their children that receives the adequate, stable provincial funding required to ensure that:

Every student attending that local, publicly funded school receives what they need to succeed.
Every local, publicly funded school in Ontario is a safe, healthy, well-maintained building that provides an environment conducive to learning. The $15.9-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s publicly funded schools must be eliminated quickly and a commonly understood standard of good repair for Ontario’s publicly funded schools must be implemented.

Many specific topics being surveyed by this government are outside of the focus of the Fix Our Schools campaign. However, the Parent’s Bill of Rights topic allows us to provide important feedback to this provincial government about our desires to Fix Ontario’s Schools. PLEASE take this opportunity to send a strong message to Doug Ford that we want his government to Fix Our Schools.

School Buildings: Will it be Doug Ford’s Government That Finally Fixes Them?

October 18, 2018

“You own something – a house, a car, a stove, pair of shoes – anything worth keeping up. Sooner or later it comes time to maintain it because things don’t get better from neglect – they fall apart. A real conservative wants to maintain things so she doesn’t have to put out a lot more money to repair them down the road, when they either cost a lot more to fix or have to be replaced.”

The recent article entitled, “School buildings: Will the Tories let them fall apart?” in School Magazine explores how $15.9-billion of disrepair has been allowed to accumulate in Ontario’s schools under both Liberal and PC provincial governments of the last twenty years. The article starts with the quote above and theorizes that “real conservatism is all about careful, cautious planning”.

With this tenet in mind, we’d like to ask, “School buildings: Will Doug Ford’s government finally fix them?”. We’re cautiously optimistic that the answer is YES.

Premier Ford has promised to…

Govern for the people. What act could be more “for the people” than to ensure that the 2-million children in this province who spend their days in publicly funded schools learn in safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings?

Reduce government waste. What is more wasteful than waiting for critical public infrastructure to fall apart before fixing it? Every homeowner knows that if you wait to replace your roof until the roof is actually leaking, it is a much more expensive undertaking than to have simply replaced your roof proactively. Complications like water damage, mould and rodents can significantly add to the overall expense. Some estimates put reactive maintenance at costing THREE TIMES more than proactive maintenance. We know that the vast majority of school repairs in Ontario are currently done reactively so we know that Premier Ford would agree this is an atrocious waste. We urge him to commit the funding required to truly Fix Ontario’s Schools so that school boards can start to actually proactively maintain Ontario’s schools.

Restore accountability and trust to government. For twenty years, four successive provincial governments grossly and chronically underfunded school repairs, often providing only ONE-TENTH of what industry standards suggest was the absolute minimum required to keep the schools safe and well-maintained. And yet, those same provincial governments failed to take accountability for the resulting disrepair, instead blaming school boards. Accountability and trust in government could be restored in Ontario through bold leadership that takes responsibility for these important public assets and ensures every Ontario school is a safe, healthy, well-maintained building that provides an environment conducive to learning.

MPP Walker: $84.4-M of Disrepair in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Schools

October 16, 2018

Dear MPP Walker,

Did you know that once John Deifenbaker Senior SS, which was logged at having $20-M of disrepair, is replaced, there will be $84.4-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound? We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound:

Amabel-Sauble Community School	$188,750
Arran Tara E S	$1,647,259
Bayview PS	$2,507,231
Beavercrest Community S	$2,503,161
Bruce Peninsula District S	$6,340,265
Dawnview PS	$1,959,362
Dufferin E S	$1,375,486
Georgian Bay Community (Sec)	$15,770,678
Grey Highlands SS	$10,383,860
Hepworth Central School	$1,440,260
Hillcrest E S	$3,516,139
HollandChatsworth Central S	$2,425,097
KeppelSarawak E S	$1,466,624
Macphail Memorial Elementary School	$127,369
Normanby Community S	$1,262,395
Osprey Central S	$1,682,466
Owen Sound District Secondary S	$14,470,878
Spruce Ridge Elementary	$1,868,693
St Edmunds PS	$608,825
St VincentEuphrasia E S	$4,874,994
Sullivan Community S	$2,783,851
Sydenham Community S	$1,127,454
EEC SaintDominiqueSavio	$237,552
Holy Family Sep S	$450,357
Notre Dame Catholic S	$1,291,496
St Basil’s ES	$680,528
St Mary’s HS	$1,378,921
St Peter’s & St Paul’s Sep S	$67,130

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.