Is Humidity the Key to Keeping Us Safe Indoors?

September 10, 2020

Many Ontario students, teachers, and education workers have trepidatiously headed back into schools this week after these buildings were shuttered back in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our provincial government has provided questionable leadership and funding to ensure a safe return to school.

On June 17, the Sick Kids report clearly outlined good ventilation as a necessary component of a safe plan to return to school. However, the Ford government dragged its heels for almost a full two-months before allocating any additional funding for improving ventilation and HVAC systems, and, even then, they only came up with $50-million – a mere $10,000 per Ontario school, leaving school boards focused on short-term fixes rather than any major projects that could improve air quality and ventilation in schools. 

This type of indecisive, slow, and underwhelming response by our provincial government has not inspired confidence. Fix Our Schools has heard from people across the province with concerns over air quality and ventilation in their local schools,  At the same time, knowing that the funding their government provided to school boards came very late and was not nearly sufficient, the Ministry of Education issued this best practices document to school boards, with advice such as:

“Do not open windows and doors if doing so poses safety or health risk, e.g., risk of falling, triggering asthma symptoms, risk of bees/wasps, to students and staff.” 

Rather than continuing to push responsibility and accountability for a safe return to school down to teachers and school boards with this type of unhelpful guidance, Fix Our Schools would have preferred to see adequate provincial funding for things like windows that open, screens for those windows, and, as you will see as you read our guest blogger’s post below, for solutions to ensure optimum humidity in our classrooms. 

We are once again pleased to have Christa Brown, P.Eng. as our guest blogger for the remainder of this blog. Please see her complete bio at the end of this blog post. 

Have you ever had a moment where you learn something new and think, “Why isn’t this common knowledge? How did I not know this before and why doesn’t everyone know this?!”

I had that moment a few years ago when I heard Dr. Stephanie H Taylor speak at an ASHRAE conference on the topic of relative humidity levels in our built environments. Stick with me and you may have this ah-ha moment too.

Relative humidity (RH) is a measure of the amount of water in air, compared to the total amount of water the air can hold at that temperature. We all instinctively know that we feel most comfortable when the humidity level is at a sweet spot – too low and our mouths feel dry and our skin begins to crack and feel itchy – too high and we have trouble breathing or regulating our temperature through sweating. What’s fascinating is that this sweet spot of humidity is also the safest range to prevent the spread of infectious viruses in our built environments!

Here’s an explanation that is rooted in science but described in a super-duper simplistic conversational way with non-scientific terms.

If I sneeze in a room where the RH is only 30%, the dry air has a lot of space for more water vapor and will suck up all that wet mucus from my sneeze really fast making the diameter of that sneeze droplet super small. That sneeze particle, and all the viruses it contains, can float around and travel long distances, and for a long time, before eventually settling on a surface. During all that floating, it can easily be inhaled by others in the room – even those more than 2-meters away.

On the contrary, if I sneeze in a room where the RH is 45%, there is a lot less space for more water in that air. So my sneeze droplet stays wet and the diameter is fairly sizable (for a sneeze droplet). This causes it to settle on the nearest surface pretty fast. We’re pretty good at cleaning surfaces, and washing our hands, so the odds of this sneeze particle causing any damage is way less than in the other example, where the RH was lower.

(source: https://www.esmagazine.com/articles/100453-accepting-airborne-transmission-of-sars-cov-2-our-greatest-fear-and-greatest-opportunity)

What Dr. Stephanie H Taylor, and now many others, have confirmed through their research is that an RH of 40-60% in buildings will reduce respiratory infections and save lives. However, a lot of our built environments – including our schools – do not have the means to control the relative humidity through their HVAC systems because the regulations on indoor air quality do not include a minimum indoor humidity level. In Canada, and other seasonal climates, this has been proven to contribute to seasonal flu patterns. As the weather cools, the humidity levels drop, we increasingly spend more time indoors where the humidity levels are even lower, and we get sick.

Therefore, the HVAC industry, Doctors, and scientists are all calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) “to review the scientific evidence on humidity and health, and recommend a minimum lower limit of indoor humidity in public buildings to reduce respiratory infections”. Check out their active petition at 40to60rh.com.

ASHRAE’s building readiness and reopening guide for schools and universities includes this 40-60% RH recommendation in the “Checklist No. 2: Startup checklist for HVAC systems prior to occupancy” and “Designer Guidelines – General School” sections.

If you’re looking to monitor and control the humidity level in your own home this winter, start by purchasing a hygrometer or a humidifier with a built-in hygrometer. This device, which looks like a thermometer, measures the amount of moisture in the air and can be purchased at most hardware and department stores. Remember, dirty water reservoirs and filters in humidifiers can quickly breed bacteria and mold. So, it’s important to follow the recommended tips for keeping your humidifier clean.

Author: Christa Brown, P.Eng.

Bio: Christa is a professional engineer with 15 years of experience in HVAC water treatment and maintenance best practices. Her experience has inspired advocacy for value-based procurement in the public sector. Christa currently works for Fiix Software, a certified B-Corp that believes better maintenance builds better economical, social, and environmental outcomes.

Ontario’s School Boards and Schools are at the Mercy of the Provincial Funding Model

September 7, 2020

In Ontario, the tweet below explains the overarching dynamic of public education. It speaks to where the power lies, and where responsibility and accountability get placed. As John Michael McGrath tweets, “a reasonably engaged citizen of Ontario could be forgiven for thinking that the primary reason this province maintains school boards at all is so the Premier of the day can push responsibility for all the operational consequences of their funding decisions (onto school boards)“.

https://twitter.com/jm_mcgrath/status/1301586064637911040?s=20

This dynamic is important to understand in the current context of a safe return to school amidst a global pandemic. Fix Our Schools addressed this issue very early on in our campaign, when we wrote to Premier Wynne to remind her that “with great power comes great responsibility.” We urged that Wynne’s “government must start taking the responsibility that comes with having sole power over the funding of public education. Trustees are not magicians. The funding being provided by your government to school boards is insufficient.” The fact that Ontario’s provincial government has all the power and no accountability for education has existed for over 20 years. It is a dynamic that is dysfunctional, and it is a dynamic that has never served the needs of 2-million students in Ontario.

As economist Hugh Mackenzie said, “The (Provincial) government is fully responsible for the level of funding provided but local school boards bear the consequences and are accountable for the results. Despite the government’s complete control over funding, there is no provincial accountability mechanism for the performance of and funding for the system as a whole.”

Our current Premier essentially admitted this dynamic last week, when at his daily press conference, he stated, “We’re really relying on school boards. I just told them I have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to be able to get through this and make sure that the students and the staff are in a very safe environment”. And yet, medical professionals, the SickKids report (that seems to be this government’s guiding light on a safe return to school), parents, teachers, education workers, principals, and citizens across the province have been expressing serious concerns about the plan that the Ford government is funding. And rest assured, the provincial funding model for schools and education is at the root of these current concerns.

At a time when small cohorts, physical distancing, and good ventilation are being cited by experts as critical elements of a safe return to schools, our provincial government’s funding model is creating a situation that is seeing classes “collapsed”, increasing the number of students in a given classroom rather than enabling school boards to hire additional teachers to accommodate smaller class sizes. Shockingly, our provincial government’s funding model is leading to situations where there will be empty classrooms in school buildings that also have classrooms with desks less than a metre apart, with no real possibility of physical distancing.

If you’d like to fully understand how the provincial funding model impacts class sizes, we encourage you to take 3 minutes and 29 seconds of your time to watch this excellent video,


which takes a complicated situation and explains it in a crystal-clear manner, clearly demonstrating how school boards (that cannot, by law, run a deficit budget and have zero power to access a tax base so rely exclusively on provincial funding) and schools (which rely on the money provided to school boards by the provincial government) have zero power over reducing class sizes, or, for that matter, ensuring that every school is retrofitted to ensure proper ventilation – because the money simply is not there.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare just how grossly underfunded our public schools and our public education system have been for over two decades. It has laid bare how the provincial funding formula for education and schools in this province is simply not providing the amount of money that is actually needed. It has laid bare the dysfunctional dynamic of successive provincial governments holding all the power over funding, yet blaming school boards for any deficiencies. This craziness has got to stop. Moving forward, our provincial government simply must look at genuine funding solutions that provide what is actually needed for our public schools and our public education system. If we have learned anything from this pandemic, surely it is that?

First Nations Schools Scrambling to Safely Reopen

September 4, 2020

Fix Our Schools is focused on ensuring that all Ontario students attend safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. While the majority of publicly funded schools in this province are funded by our provincial government, the federal government is responsible for funding First Nations schools. 

Mirroring the underfunding of public schools and education by the provincial government, the federal government also leaves these crucial elements of our society chronically underfunded. Ontario’s publicly funded schools currently have $16.3-billion of disrepair after decades of chronic underfunding from the provincial government. Even before we saw the challenges of COVID-19, overcrowding, disrepair, and, unbelievably, something as essential as safe drinking water have all been challenges that schools in Ontario’s Indigenous communities face.

Now, the federal government is very late in providing what appears to be grossly inadequate funding to First Nations schools to ensure a safe and effective reopening of schools amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a Globe & Mail article by Willow Fiddler entitle, “Funding delay leaves First Nations schools scrambling to safely reopen”, the federal government just announced $112-million in funding for schools on reserves to help pay for things such as ventilation, personal protective equipment, and cleaning supplies. Fix Our Schools has been quoted as saying, “too little funding, too late” in response to provincial funding for a safe return to school, and this comment certainly applies to this instance as well.

Dobi-Dawn Frenette, executive director of Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, the tribal group that oversees Dennis Franklin Cromarty and Pelican Falls high schools, said that “many of our students may not have access to a learning device, access to [internet] connectivity, they may not have access to a study space, many of our communities don’t have clean drinking water.”

While the rest of Ontario is concerned with what online learning will look like this fall, many Indigenous students aren’t even getting access to that level of education. In fact, according to a CBC report from August 27, some schools serving First Nations students will be resorting to landlines and fax machines to resume some kind of remote learning in September.

Many Indigenous students already make great sacrifices to get the education that every Ontario student deserves. To attend high school, 78% of Indigenous students from reserves in Ontario must leave their communities. Children must live in a residence or board with another family, impacting their mental health, access to community support systems, and inevitably their level of success. Now, because of COVID, the impacts are even greater.

Students who attend Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay and Pelican Falls High School in Sioux Lookout leave their communities to live near these off-reserve First Nations schools. These schools are designated as provincial private schools but receive education funding from Indigenous Services Canada to operate. According to Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, funding for these off-reserve schools is a “jurisdictional triangle”; and they sometimes get caught in the middle of provincial and federal funding delays and confusion.

All of Ontario’s students deserve an education in a safe, well-maintained, healthy building and if that isn’t possible in the short-term, they deserve access to robust online learning, which requires access to wifi and devices. Fix Our Schools worries that our First Nations students may not have access to either of these education options. Unacceptable.

Teachers, Education Workers, Principals & School Boards – Thank You!

September 1, 2020

Students across Ontario will be heading back to school very soon in some way, shape, or form. There continues to be a lot of anxiety and uncertainty; and there is still an unfathomable amount of work to do by teachers, education workers, principals, and school boards. In fact, Premier Ford is relying on school boards (and by extension, teachers, education workers, and principals) to make sure that the students and staff are in a very safe environment. The Fix Our Schools Campaign sincerely thanks all of these folks for joining the ranks of essential front-line workers in this province as students head back to school.

However, Fix Our Schools also questions how genuine our provincial government is being when Premier Ford has repeatedly stated that his government will spare (has spared?) no expense to ensure the safety of students, teachers, and education workers. Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur explores this same concern is his September 1, 2020 column entitled, “Doug Ford has done everything to make schools safe, according to Doug Ford”.

If Premier Ford’s primary concern was safety and he truly was going to spare no expense, he would have announced a lot more funding a lot earlier. Instead, Premier Ford’s government allocated $50-M for school boards to address HVAC and ventilation issues, an amount that nets out to a mere $10,000 per school in the province – and he announced this funding extremely late in the game for school boards to reasonably be able to conduct the work. Fix Our Schools questions the intent of our Ministry of Education outlining “best practices” in this memo, issued to all school boards last week – when surely they know that the funding and time allotted to school boards does not allow them to achieve these best practices?

Similarly, Fix Our Schools questions how Premier Ford’s government approaches mathematical calculations. Last week, the federal government allocated an additional $2-B to provinces to assist with a safe return to school, amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While certainly late in the game, this additional funding meant an additional $763-million for Ontario, bringing the total investment in Ontario to approximately $1.3-B. While Premier Ford would have us believe that his government had already allocated $900-M to a safe return to school, Fix Our Schools believes that a more accurate picture of provincial funding is closer to $540-M, as outlined in this excellent breakdown provided by Ricardo Tranjan of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

This is a lot of money, to be sure – but will it be sufficient? Only time will tell as we see how the Ontario return to school plan actually unfolds in the coming weeks. In the Saturday, August 29 edition of the Globe & Mail, the front-page article entitled, “How safe is school? It depends on your neighbourhood” states that, “while those in-class precautions, such as mandating masks and physical distancing, certainly matter, there is broad agreement among experts that what happens outside school walls is just as important – if not more so – as the safety measures implemented inside.” In fact, Ashish Jha, the director of Harvard University’s Global Health Institute is quoted as saying, “Driving down transmission is the single biggest thing we can do.” and goes on to say that “In most, if not all, places across Canada, you really should be able to open up school safely. It’s not that there is zero risk. There’s never zero risk in the middle of a pandemic.”

This Globe and Mail article is worth perusing as it provides detailed analysis on cities across Canada, as well as neighbourhoods within those cities, ranking them according to a safe school reopening guide created by the Global Health Institute, Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and other groups at the university. Areas are rated as green, or safest to reopen schools, if they are reporting one or fewer new daily infections per 100,000 people on a seven-day average. An area is designated as red, or unsafe to reopen schools, if new daily case counts top 25 per 100,000. In between are yellow (1-10 daily new cases per 100,000) and orange (10-25 new cases) levels that call for varying degrees of caution.

Fix Our Schools shares in the collective anxiety of students, families, teachers, education workers, principals, school boards, and communities as we move towards schools re-opening in Ontario, questioning whether our provincial government has, indeed, done everything possible to ensure a safe return. Ontarians have worked together for six months to keep transmission rates low. Doug Ford may be relying on the school boards, teachers, education workers, and principals to keep everyone safe in schools but the people of Ontario are relying on him to not waste the work every one of us has put into keeping COVID-19 at bay.

 

Our Provincial Government Cannot Continue to Rely on Miracles

August 28, 2020

In yesterday’s briefing, Premier Ford said, “We’re really relying on school boards. I just told them I have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to be able to get through this and make sure that the students and the staff are in a very safe environment”. As a co-founder of Fix Our Schools, a parent-led, non-partisan campaign started over 6 years ago to advocate for safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings in Ontario, I literally felt tears spring to my eyes as I read this – tears of anger, frustration, and disbelief. 

2 DECADES NO CHANGE For Ontario School kidsFor over 20 years, successive provincial governments have relied on school boards to work miracles while being chronically and grossly underfunded by the Province. When Fix Our Schools began in 2014, provincial funding was a mere $150-M per year for school repair and renewal – ONE-TENTH of what industry standards suggested was the bare minimum! Yet the narrative of the provincial government was that somehow, the disrepair that accumulated in our provincial school buildings was the fault of SCHOOL BOARDS?? I guess the provincial government “relying on school boards and having confidence in them” to keep Ontario’s schools safe, healthy and well-maintained didn’t actually work out so well, given that the school boards only had ONE-TENTH of what was actually NEEDED to accomplish this goal. Sound familiar at all?

While we’ve been advocating for adequate, stable provincial funding for years now to ensure all Ontario public schools are safe, healthy, and well-maintained – we now find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic. COVID-19 has laid bare just how critical public education is to students, families, communities, and our society – and just how critical the school BUILDINGS are to student, teacher, and education worker’s safety and well-being. BUT – it isn’t realistic to starve a system for over two decades and then expect that it is in tip-top shape for you in a pandemic.

What's a parent to do? FIX THIS!Premier Ford: Over the course of the 14 years that I’ve been a parent of students attending publicly funded schools in this province, I have seen teachers, education workers, principals, trustees and school board staff work miracles every single day DESPITE lack of adequate resources from the provincial government. So, I actually DO have confidence that these same individuals WILL somehow over the coming two weeks work MIRACLES to ensure our children are safe and that the adults in school buildings are safe as well. BUT – this isn’t how things ought to be. Public education and schools ought to be a top priority for every provincial government and providing adequate, stable funding is absolutely imperative. However, your government has treated public education and schools as an afterthought to things like bars and nail salons; been slow to provide guidance; continuously flip-flopped on said guidance; and, most disappointing is that your government has continued the long-standing provincial tradition of chronic and gross underfunding of public education and schools – while pushing accountability and responsibility for working miracles down to school boards, teachers, principals, and education workers.

Who is ASHRAE and why should we care?

August 27, 2020

Today, we are lucky to have Christa Brown, P.Eng. as our guest blogger. Please see her complete bio at the end of this blog post. 

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is “a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment. The Society and its members focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and sustainability within the industry. Through research, standards writing, publishing, and continuing education, ASHRAE shapes tomorrow’s built environment today” (source: ashrae.org)

In more practical terms, or why you should care – ASHRAE (pronounced ash●ray) is the ultimate source of truth when it comes to best practices for all indoor built environments in North America. The standards and guidelines created by this organization span the construction, operation, and maintenance of buildings, adhere to local building code regulations, as well as outline proven, industry-recognized best practices from an economic, safety, and environmental perspective. These standards and guidelines are created by committees of subject matter experts through a rigorous peer-review process.

At the onset of COVID-19, ASHRAE formed an Epidemic Task Force and quickly began adding new resources to its website. Visit ashrae.org/covid19 if you want to dig in and learn more. I highly recommend their PDF infographic guide as a start. You can click on any of the icons in this infographic to access the publicly available resource page. One resource that is of particular relevance for concerned parents, teachers, caretakers, and voters as we inch closer to September, is their building readiness and reopening guide for schools and universities. This guide provides “practical information and checklists to school district and university campus environmental health managers, facility managers, administrators, technicians, and service providers to prepare educational buildings to resume occupancy. This information describes how the HVAC systems should be operating to help minimize the chance of spreading SARS-Cov-2 and how to practically check/verify that operation.”

The main takeaway – the science is clear, and industry standards and guidelines already exist to make our schools safer. To make this happen, adequate provincial funding is obviously needed in order to follow the recommendations of HVAC experts.

Furthermore, there is also a gap when it comes to existing low-price purchasing practices preventing schools from partnering with reputable service providers and evaluating the cost of solutions with a longer-term, value-based mindset. We’re all spending our own money when investing in public infrastructure. So let’s do that wisely. Similar to how we make investment decisions for our own homes, investments in school infrastructure should be evaluated on 20-30 year payback cycles, not four-year election cycles. In the maintenance world, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Author: Christa Brown, P.Eng.

Bio: Christa is a professional engineer with 15 years experience in HVAC water treatment and maintenance best practices. Her experience has inspired an advocacy for value-based procurement in the public sector. Christa currently works for Fiix Software, a certified B-Corp that believes better maintenance builds better economical, social and environmental outcomes.

 

Ensuring Air and Water Quality in Schools After Being Closed for 6 Months

August 25, 2020

As principals, teachers, and education workers move forward in getting their classrooms and schools ready for a safe return to school, the fact that these buildings have been unused for six months is an important consideration. Testing the water quality, running any forced air systems, and testing air quality prior to school starting is an important element of schools reopening.

The provincial government has only allocated $50-M for all Ontario’s school boards to dedicate to HVAC, and did not leave school boards with much time.

That said, school boards can: 

  • conduct regular maintenance (testing, flushing, changing filters, cleaning ductwork, etc) of their existing systems
  • conduct any needed/previously identified upgrades or easy to install enhancements that could be done to those existing systems to improve air quality and ventilation.  
  • work to ensure that as many windows as possible open wide enough to bring in outdoor air and improve ventilation – many Ontario windows may have some type of guard/lock that could be adjusted/removed
  • flush all standing water in toilets 
  • flush out all faucets and drinking fountains by running the water 

You can contact your local Trustee to ask how your local school board is using the limited provincial funding provided for a safe return to school in the limited time they were allocated.

Ventilation Continues to be a Big Concern in Ontario Schools

August 20, 2020

The SickKids’ report entitled, “COVID-19: Guidance for School Reopening”  was first released on June 17, 2020. Fix Our Schools noted with interest that ventilation was cited as an important element of a safe return to school, and so began to ask citizens to submit concerns about ventilation in their local schools.

We have heard from dozens of parents, educators and education workers across the province with a myriad of issues pertaining to ventilation, including classrooms without windows, windows that do not open at all or that only open a tiny bit, and some older schools and portables without HVAC systems to bring in fresh air from outside, and have presented details in the table below.

We urge you to contact your local MPP (we’ve provided emails below) and also Premier Ford (premier@ontario.ca) and Minister Lecce (stephen.lecce@pc.ola.org) to voice your concerns about ventilation in your local schools, and to urge this provincial government to provide the funding actually needed for publicly funded schools to open their doors safely in a few short weeks.

School Board Ventilation Issue MPP Riding Party
Tom Thomson School HDSB Classrooms with windows only at ceiling
Windows do not open
Some shared spaces with no windows		 Hon. Jane McKenna
email: jane.mckenna@pc.ola.org		 Burlington PC
Mohawk Gardens Public School HDSB Most classrooms without windows
Some classrooms with tiny windows up high		 Hon. Jane McKenna
email: jane.mckenna@pc.ola.org		 Burlington PC
Central Public School HDSB Poor ventilation Hon. Jane McKenna
email: jane.mckenna@pc.ola.org		 Burlington PC
John T. Tuck Public School HDSB Windows on top floor barely open
Office spaces with no windows		 Hon. Jane McKenna
email: jane.mckenna@pc.ola.org		 Burlington PC
Tait St. Public School WRDSB Windows don’t fully open Hon. Belinda C. Karahalios
email: belinda.karahalios@pc.ola.org		 Cambridge PC
Kars on the Rideau Public School OCDSB Poor ventilation
Poor air circulation
Air has a musty smell		 Hon. Goldie Ghamari
email: goldie.ghamari@pc.ola.org		 Carleton PC
Mount Hope School HWDSB Upper level windows do not open
Lower level windows barely open		 Hon. Donna Skelly
email: donna.skelly@pc.ola.org		 Flamborough-Glanbrook PC
Earl of March Secondary School OCDSB Interior classrooms without windows
Poor ventilation system		 Hon. Merrilee Fullerton
email: merrilee.fullerton@pc.ola.org		 Kanata—Carleton PC
Kemptville Public School UCDSB Brand new building has windows that don’t open and class with no window at all Hon. Steve Clark
email: steve.clark@pc.ola.org		 Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes PC
Harry Bowes PS YRDSB Windows barely open
Poor air circulation		 Hon. Paul Calandra
email: paul.calandra@pc.ola.org		 Markham—Stouffville PC
Randall Public School YRDSB Kindergarten class windows won’t open Hon. Logan Kanapathi
email: logan.kanapathi@pc.ola.org		 Markham—Thornhill PC
Forest Glen Public School PDSB Windows barely open Hon. Kaleed Rasheed
email: kaleed.rasheed@pc.ola.org		 Mississauga East—Cooksville PC
Gladys Speers Public School HDSB Windows that don’t open
Windows that barely open		 Hon. Stephen Crawford
email: stephen.crawford@pc.ola.org		 Oakville PC
Center Wellington District High School UGDSB Windows don’t open
A/C functions poorly, or is not turned on
Classrooms on 3rd floor reach 40°C		 Hon. Ted Arnott
email: ted.arnott@pc.ola.org		 Wellington-Halton Hills PC
Crescent Town School TDSB Five classrooms with no windows Hon. Rima Berns-McGown
email: RBerns-McGown-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Beaches—East York NDP
Gledhill Junior Public School TDSB No ventilation
Classroom sink doesn’t work		 Hon. Rima Berns-McGown
email: RBerns-McGown-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Beaches—East York NDP
D A Morrison Middle School TDSB Air system does not move air well around building: poor heathing & cooling
NONE of the classrooms have windows that open.
Changes to building (from open concept) lead to poor air circulation		 Hon. Rima Berns-McGown
email: RBerns-McGown-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Beaches—East York NDP
St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School DPCDSB Windows only open 3-4 inches
There are only 2 windows per classroom
Many rooms do not have screens
HVAC malfunctions		 Hon. Gurratan Singh
email: GSingh-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Brampton East NDP
École secondaire Toronto Ouest (shares building with Saint-Frère-André) CSViamonde Classrooms without windows
A/C is ancient, not working
Sewage system malfunctions		 Hon. Marit Stiles
email: MStiles-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Davenport NDP
École secondaire catholique Saint-Frère-André CSC MonAvenir No classrooms with windows
A/C is ancient, not working
Sewage system malfunctions		 Hon. Marit Stiles
email: MStiles-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Davenport NDP
Regal Road Public School TDSB No screens
Windows on south side need replacing
Windows that don’t open		 Hon. Marit Stiles
email: MStiles-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Davenport NDP
Westdale Secondary School HWDSB Windows barely open, or not at all
Year round, building has extreme temperatures		 Hon. Sandy Shaw
email: SShaw-CO@ndp.on.ca		 Hamilton NDP
Yorkview Elementary School HWDSB Extreme heat, poor air flow in classrooms and no air conditioning Hon. Sandy Shaw
SShaw-CO@ndp.on.ca		 Hamilton NDP
Dundana Elementary School HWDSB Extreme heat, poor air flow in classrooms and no air conditioning Hon. Sandy Shaw
SShaw-CO@ndp.on.ca		 Hamilton NDP
Memorial City Elementary School HWDSB Dust coming out of the ventilation system
Windows difficult to open
Windows barely open (3 inches)		 Hon. Andrea Horwath
email: horwatha-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Hamilton Centre NDP
Parkdale School HWDSB Some windows don’t open Hon. Paul Miller
email: pmiller-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Hamilton East – Stoney Creek NDP
Kingston Collegiate & Vocational Institute LDSB Windowless classrooms
Windows that don’t have the mechanisms to remain propped open
Students moving this winter to a new school that doesn’t have windows that open		 Hon. Ian Arthur
email: IArthur-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Kingston and the Islands NDP
St. John Catholic Elementary WCDSB Basement classrooms with windows that don’t open
Poor ventilation system		 Hon. Laura Mae Lindo
email: LLindo-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Kitchener Centre NDP
Clarke Road Secondary School TVDSB Classrooms with no windows
Hall windows are screwed shut		 Hon. Teresa J. Armstrong
email: tarmstrong-qp@ndp.on.ca		 London—Fanshawe NDP
Humberside Public School TDSB Windows barely open
Windows require textbooks to prop open
Unbearably hot year round
School has no fans		 Hon. Bhutila Karpoche
email: BKarpoche-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Parkdale-High Park NDP
Western Technical Commercial School TDSB Windows have broken frames & cranks Hon. Bhutila Karpoche
email: BKarpoche-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Parkdale-High Park NDP
Island Public school TDSB Classrooms with no windows Hon. Chris Glover
email: CGlover-CO@ndp.on.ca		 Spadina—Fort York NDP
École Élémentaire Immaculée Conception CSC MonAvenir Old building, poor ventilation
Shared with another school		 Hon. Jennifer Stevens
email: JStevens-QP@ndp.on.ca		 St. Catharines NDP
Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary School SCDSB Kindergarten class with no windows Hon. Jamie West
email: JWest-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Sudbury NDP
Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School RDSB Classrooms with one small window that barely open
Science classroom with tiny window, no venting		 Hon. Jamie West
email: JWest-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Sudbury NDP
Winchester Public School TDSB Half of school building has ancient windows Hon. Suze Morrison
email: SMorrison-QP@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto Centre NDP
Roden P.S. TDSB Windows that do not open Hon. Peter Tabuns
email: tabunsp-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto—Danforth NDP
Equinox Alternative School TDSB Windows that do not open Hon. Peter Tabuns
email: tabunsp-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto—Danforth NDP
Holy Name Catholic School TCDSB Old windows with faulty mechanisms
Radiators, not enough ventilation
Stops on windows mean they only open 2-3″		 Hon. Peter Tabuns
email: tabunsp-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto—Danforth NDP
RH McGregor Elementary School TDSB No windows that open in entire school
School is open concept with no walls
School is attached to a medical building
Roof leaks		 Hon. Peter Tabuns
email: tabunsp-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto—Danforth NDP
Duke of a Connaught Public School TDSB The windows barely open (open diagonally to about 30 degrees)
Unbearable heat year round		 Hon. Peter Tabuns
email: tabunsp-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto—Danforth NDP
Bruce Public School TDSB Windows barely open Hon. Peter Tabuns
email: tabunsp-qp@ndp.on.ca		 Toronto—Danforth NDP
York Humber High School TDSB Windows are locked closed
HVAC constantly breaking down		 Hon. Faisal Hassan
email: FHassan-QP@ndp.on.ca		 York South—Weston NDP
St. Anselm Catholic School TCDSB Old windows with faulty mechanisms
Radiators, not enough ventilation		 Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne
email: kwynne.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org		 Don Valley West LIBERAL
Carson Grove Elementary School OCDSB Windows don’t open
Some classrooms have no windows		 Hon. Lucille Collard
email: LCollard.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org		 Ottawa-Vanier LIBERAL
Ecole Gron Morgan Public School LDSB Poor ventilation
Extreme temperatures during winter		 Hon. Michael Gravelle
email: mgravelle.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org		 Thunder Bay—Superior North LIBERAL
Duncan J Schoular Public School UCDSB Design for school was to have a/c installed, so few windows, no real ventilation Hon. Randy Hillier
email: RHillier-CO@ola.org		 Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston INDEPENDENT

Comments and issues presented in the table above have been submitted to Fix Our Schools from citizens, and have not been verified by Fix Our Schools.

In an August 15, 2020, Toronto Star article by May Warren entitled, “What you need to know about ventilation as Ontario prepares for back to school in the age of COVID-19“, Jeffrey Siegel, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto states that “ventilation is all about bringing outdoor air in” but that people frequently confuse ventilation with filtration, which removes particles from the air that may contain COVID-19. Siegel notes that ventilation is much more important than filtration in reducing the spread of COVID-19, and that outdoor spaces seem to be the safest place to be, relative to COVID-19. One temporary solution for Ontario’s return to school plan would be to hold outdoor classes where possible. 

Seigel also raises the important point that HVAC systems in Ontario’s schools have been neglected for decades and require ongoing investments in order to be there when we need them the most – as in the case of a global pandemic! Premier Ford and all future provincial governments – please take note! Ongoing regular maintenance to ensure our infrastructure is in good working order is not a “nice to have” – it is a fiscal and health imperative.

In the same Toronto Star article, Fix Our Schools responded to Education Minister Lecce’s new allocation of $50-M for HVAC improvements in Ontario’s schools by saying this investment was “too little too late”. Krista Wylie, co-founder of Fix Our Schools noted that this investment only amounts to roughly $10,000 per school and that there were only a few weeks until schools are to reopen, leaving many classrooms in the position of likely being poorly ventilated this September.

Finally, the August 15 Toronto Star Article provides some vivid visuals about what bad, good and best classroom ventilation/airflow scenarios would look like, so be sure to check in with your children, teachers and education workers to find out what the scenario is like in their environment, once classes resume. Depending on what you discover, contact your local MPP and also Premier Ford (premier@ontario.ca) and Minister Lecce (stephen.lecce@pc.ola.org) to voice your concerns and urge this provincial government to provide the funding actually needed for schools to be the safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that they ought to be.

Classroom airflow scenarios

Bad

Either windows don’t open or there are no windows so no fresh air is coming in. The heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is not working, or hasn’t been adjusted to bring in more outside air. There may be no HVAC system.

Better

Opening windows is ideal to get air flowing. If there are no windows, you can bring in portable air filters. HVAC systems, if they exist, should be adjusted to increase fresh airflow and reduce re-circulation. Filters should be changed frequently. Desks should be spaced 2 metres apart.

Best

If possible, classes could be held outside in the fresh air.

MCKENNA DEIGHTON

STAR GRAPHIC

“Unlocking” $500-M Sounds Great But Don’t Be Fooled

August 17, 2020

On Thursday, August 12, 2020, Education Minister Lecce announced that he was “unlocking” $500-M to help ensure a safe return to school in September. Sounds great at first blush – right? New provincial funding of a half-billion dollars to help ensure a safe return to school would, indeed, be great news. However, that is not what happened. In fact, zero new provincial dollars were allocated to funding public education and schools in Ontario when Minister Lecce performed his latest sleight of hand and “unlocked” $500-million dollars. 

What actually happened is that our provincial government gave school boards permission to access their reserve funds – or their “rainy day funds” as Premier Ford likes to call them.

What actually happened is that school boards are now being publicly pressured to use their reserve funds, which are all earmarked for future financial commitments or projects, to fund what ought to be funded by our provincial government in the form of new money to address serious concerns with the province’s back to school plan.   

What actually happened is that our provincial government shirked its responsibility to properly fund a safe return to school in September and downloaded that responsibility to local school boards, which have no way to generate revenue except to rely upon provincial funding.

Since 2014, Fix Our Schools has been calling on successive provincial governments to provide adequate, stable funding required to ensure safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. Amidst a global pandemic, this call to action seems even more necessary. Premier Ford and Minister Lecce, will you prioritize the safety and well-being of 2-million students, teachers, and education workers in this province and commit the funding that is actually needed at this time by using your “rainy day” funds?

A Safe Back-to-School Plan Acknowledges Ontario Schools had $16.3-B of Disrepair Pre-Pandemic

August 13, 2020

As Fix Our Schools has maintained since 2014, our publicly funded schools are critical infrastructure. However, successive provincial governments have allowed $16.3-billion of disrepair to accumulate in these buildings over the last several decades. Therefore, even before the COVID pandemic, these critical public buildings were not providing an optimal environment for learning and working, nor were they always safe, healthy, or well-maintained. But the pandemic has certainly emphasized how critical our public school buildings are to the delivery of quality education, and to the safety and health of students, teachers, and education workers. All of a sudden, issues like good classroom ventilation are at the forefront of plans for a safe return to school.

In a conversation with Dahlia Kurtz on CFRA 580 on her radio program called “The Goods” on Sunday, August 2, Krista Wylie, co-founder of the Fix Our Schools campaign, shared the roots of disrepair in Ontario’s schools. She also provided some insights on what is needed to ensure a not only a safe return to school in September amidst a global pandemic but also safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings as part of standard protocol in public education in Ontario.