Let Premier Ford Know that a Safe Reopening of Schools is a Priority!

June 26, 2020

If you want to see publicly funded education and schools in Ontario be prioritized to ensure a safe, effective return to school in September, we encourage you to click here and then click one more time to send a pre-written letter to Premier Ford and Education Minister Lecce requesting they:

  • Commit to providing the required funding for school boards to safely re-open in September
  • Work with local school boards and local public health officials to provide weekly updates to the public on the school re-opening/planning process
  • Commit to working with all key stakeholders, including local school boards, public health officials, teachers, education workers, principals, parents, and students to develop a commonly understood definition of “safe, effective return to school” and to leverage all stakeholders’ insights, experience, skills, and knowledge – which will be needed to get Ontario’s students back to school in September!  

Please include your MPP’s email address, your name, and your address before hitting send.

Premier Ford’s Back to School “Plan”: Let’s Break it Down – Ventilation

June 24, 2020

On June 19, we finally heard from Premier Ford and Education Minister Lecce with their proposed “plan” for a safe return to schools in September. Well, as per the Ministry website, the government actually refers to it as an “approach” that must be interpreted and then executed by school boards. In this “approach” document, it is noted that, “Adequately ventilated classroom environments are expected to be associated with less likelihood of transmission compared with poorly ventilated settings.”

 

Specifically, school boards are given the following guidance:

    • “Avoid recirculation of air, as far as practically possible and ensure clean filters.
    • In general, ventilating indoor environments with fresh air, whether by increasing the outdoor air ratio of the HVAC system settings as much as possible or by opening windows, and avoiding or reducing recirculation, will dilute the air exhaled by the occupants including any infectious particles. Even if this is not feasible for the whole facility, consider for higher risk areas, e.g., where crowding may be an issue.
    • Recommended maintenance measures for air handling systems (including inspection and replacement of filters, if applicable) are essential to follow.
  • There may be instances of bladed and bladeless fan and portable air conditioner use in schools which also generate air currents that could affect respiratory droplets
    • Minimizing their use as much as possible (e.g., lowest setting), and making adjustments to direct the airflow upwards, away from surfaces and occupants may help gradually mix exhaled respiratory droplets while minimizing turbulence.
    • These devices also require regular maintenance, e.g., surface cleaning including the blades; following manufacturer’s directions for maintenance and removing any moisture or water collected from the portable air conditioners.
  • Do not open windows and doors if doing so poses a safety or health risk, e.g., risk of falling, triggering asthma symptoms, risk of bees/wasps, to students and staff and ensure that COVID-19 measures do not introduce new occupational hazards to the setting, e.g., do not prop open fire doors to increase ventilation/reduce exposure to frequently touched door handles.”

Unfortunately, the sad fact is that there are many classrooms in Ontario’s publicly funded schools with no windows, or windows that do not open, or with windows that only open a tiny bit – not nearly enough to create airflow and good ventilation. For example, both Roden Public School and Equinox Alternative School in the TDSB have no windows that open anywhere in the building.

If your local school has classrooms with this issue – we want to hear from you with the name of your local school, the issue you are concerned about and if you know your local MPP and/or the name of your provincial riding, that would be great too! Please contact us today to share any concerns you have about your local school being able to ensure the ventilation in classrooms that will be required to help avoid the spread of COVID in classrooms.

Provincial funding should be flowing immediately to school boards to fix this issue. If the Province believes that its ongoing $1.4-billion/year capital investment will be sufficient for school boards to find money in their capital budgets to conduct these types of projects in the coming two months, then the Province is being disingenuous. The repair backlog in Ontario’s publicly funded schools has continued to increase to a whopping $16.3-billion even with yearly investments of $1.4-billion/year since June 2016. School boards often end up only having sufficient funding to deal with reactive repairs and not the proactive repairs required – especially in a global pandemic.

 

What will Back to School Look Like in Ontario?

June 17, 2020

Since the COVID pandemic hit in mid-March, and Ontario schools shut down, we’ve all surely come to value publicly funded education and schools more than ever before. Not only the learning for students, but also the sense of community, purpose, and routine that it provides our young people. After hearing the Ford government’s approach to reopening child care centres in this province, we anxiously await news from Ontario’s Education Minister Lecce about what “back to school” will look like in September.

In the interim, we consider how other jurisdictions have been approaching school reopening – both near and far:

In the Netherlands, elementary opened on May 11 with almost full attendance and taking the approach of “half-groups”, where half of each class attends school on alternating days, and the youngest learners not social distancing. Of note is how the Netherlands prioritized young children getting back to school ahead of bars, cafes, and restaurants.

Closer to home, according to a Globe & Mail article on June 13, an expert group from Canada’s largest pediatric hospital, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, is advising Ontario’s Ministry of Education to let children play together again when school resumes in the fall.

“Strict physical distancing should not be emphasized to children in the school setting as it is not practical and could cause significant psychological harm. Close interaction, such as playing and socializing, is central to child development and should not be discouraged.” 

However, this same expert group is also recommending that some physical distancing principles remain:

  • Desks should be separated
  • Line-ups ought to be spaced out appropriately
  • Schools should not hold assemblies.

Furthermore, hand-washing, screening for symptoms of COVID-19, as well as contact tracing to be able to isolate infected children and staff will be critical to success. 

More than 6,500 Canadians under the age of 19 have tested positive for the virus, 95 have been admitted to hospital, 18 of those people requiring treatment in an intensive-care unit. Notably, nobody under the age of 19 is known to have died of COVID-19 in Canada. Therefore, while we must not underestimate COVID-19, doctors are making the case that it is time to figure out how to live alongside the virus and to balance risk with the impact on children.

A June 16, 2020 Globe & Mail article took a closer look at Quebec, the first province in Canada to reopen schools, when primary students outside of Greater Montreal returned to classes on May 11. These schools enforced two-metre physical distancing, limited class sizes to 15 students, and created classroom bubbles that kept students from mixing. Out of more than 100,000 students and staff who returned to school, a total of 53 students and teachers were diagnosed with COVID-19 after the reopening. No serious illness was reported.

For the fall, Quebec plans to make school attendance compulsory except in cases of special health circumstances and to fully open primary and secondary schools. The Education Minister also announced that they will prepare a Plan B for online learning for children who end up in isolation due to outbreaks.

In the same Globe & Mail article, Alberta was another province cited. Alberta’s Ministry of Education announced a reopening plan the week of June 8 that provided three scenarios. While the provincial government said that a final decision would be made August 1st, parents and students were told to plan for an almost normal return to school in September.

Fix Our Schools is anxiously awaiting for Ontario’s Ministry of Education to announce its plans for schools in September. In the interim, we have provided input to our provincial government, urging the Province to prioritize a safe, effective return to school in September by:

  • Providing the required funding for school boards to safely re-open in September
  • Working with local school boards and local public health officials to provide weekly updates to the public on the school re-opening/planning process
  • Working with all key stakeholders, including local school boards, public health officials, teachers, education workers, principals, parents, and students to leverage all insights, experience, skills, and knowledge

The 2-million children in Ontario who attend publicly funded schools, and their families, deserve to have education and schools be prioritized by the Ford government. And, quite frankly, our economy demands it! Minister Lecce… over to you!

Fix Our Schools Submission to the Ministry of Education

June 14, 2020

On June 11, 2020, Fix Our Schools sent the following to the Ministry of Education, in response to their request for public input to Ontario’s plan to reopen schools.

Fix Our Schools is pleased to provide the following input to the Ministry of Education, and respectfully asks that the provincial government:

1.Prioritize publicly funded education and a safe, effective re-opening of schools in September as an integral component of re-opening our economy

Despite the fact that restarting schools is an essential driver for Ontario’s economy, the general public is hearing very little about what the provincial government and school boards are doing towards planning for September. At the same time, we are hearing quite a lot about golf courses, restaurants, hair salons, and other businesses. Students, families, communities, and our economy would all greatly benefit from a clear prioritization of publicly funded education and schools by your government.

In fact, in the June 5 edition of a Public Health Ontario document providing a collation of COVID-19 resources (https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/ncov-daily-lit.pdf?la=en), we were disappointed to see that schools were not even allocated their own line item. Furthermore, almost all the resources cited under the heading “Schools, Childcare & Businesses” were pertaining to businesses – not schools or childcares. 

2. Commit to providing the necessary funding for school boards to be able to reasonably plan and implement a safe, effective re-opening of schools in September.

Local school boards, with guidance from local public health officials, will ultimately be charged with re-opening Ontario’s schools for September. They need to start planning as soon as possible, and they need the certainty of adequate provincial funding – something that has been lacking for decades.

However, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that, with political will, previously unimaginable public resources can be found and allocated. Now is the time for this same level of political will to be applied to our publicly funded schools and education system. Ontario’s 2-million students need to know that the adults in charge are committed to their education, their mental health, and their development. Our economy also demands a prioritization of public education and schools.

In this time of uncertainty, flexibility of provincial funding is also key. As new information is integrated into plans for school re-openings, the province must be committed to providing the necessary resources, and respond quickly to funding needs in the education system as this situation unfolds.

3. Work with local school boards and public health officials to provide weekly updates to the public on the school re-opening planning/implementation process.

“Bonnie Henry believes that if you tell people what you are doing and why – if you provide transparent decision-making with real reasons behind it – people will follow. Of course, you have to make the right decisions, too.” (https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2020/06/05/i-felt-the-weight-of-the-world-says-bc-health-officer-bonnie-henry-but-she-got-everything-right.html)

Effective, timely communication is paramount. Transparent and regular communication to the public about plans and possible models for publicly funded education and schools in September must start as soon as possible, and ought to be weekly at a set time and day. This approach will convey that publicly funded education and schools are, in fact, the priority that they must be in order for our economy to re-open.

4.Develop a commonly understood definition of “safe, effective return to school”.

School boards, public health officials, parents, students, teachers, principals, and education workers are all key stakeholders in the re-opening of schools. These key stakeholders must engage in regular dialogue to develop a common, shared understanding of what constitutes a “safe, effective return to school”. This common understanding will help build public confidence in school safety.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide input to such a critical step in moving forward in Ontario.

The Role of School Public Health Nurses

June 10, 2020

When I was in elementary school, I remember the Public Health Nurse (PHN) bandaging my scraped knee. At the time, I had no idea what role the nurse played in my little Toronto school. As early as the ‘40’s, Public Health Nursing was established within the Provincial Board of Health, making these nurses responsible for all public health in Ontario. As a result, elementary school nurses have been key to supporting the health of students, and by extension their families and communities for most of the 20th century. 

Children lined up to receive their needles at an immunization clinic in the District of Algoma, 1932

Public Health nurses have made essential contributions to schools by preventing illnesses, monitoring and treating student health, reducing costs to our health care system, and improving community health:

Prevention of Illnesses: Bullying, Self Harm, Obesity; Ensuring equitable access to health and social services; Collecting Statistics of Health-Related Issues (eg. outbreaks of illness)

Monitoring & Referrals: Dental Health; Vision Tests; Learning Disabilities

Treatments: Vaccinations; Asthma, Severe Allergies, Smoking Cessation; Control of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (eg. Lice); Monitoring Acute Health Concerns or Illness (Flu, Measles, COVID-19); Monitoring Chronic and Complex Health Problems

Having a PHN in my school meant that not only could I have my knee bandaged, but a child with diabetes could receive support dealing with this difficult condition, leveling the playing field for them in their academic day. Children falling behind in school could be immediately evaluated for vision or hearing issues. A child going into anaphylaxis after eating an allergen could be treated professionally while waiting for an ambulance, improving their outcome. A child showing symptoms of a contagious disease could be diagnosed & isolated, preventing outbreaks.

By 1999, the number of PHNs in schools was reduced greatly, so nurses became responsible for many schools at once. Ontario lost these knowledge experts, who intimately knew the communities where they worked. Some neighbourhoods lost their high school health nurse visits completely. 

In Ontario today, a PHN may be responsible for anywhere from 1-35 schools (approximately 400-14,000 students), depending on the health unit. There are so few PHNs in schools in Ontario now that few people still understand their role. Today, that child with diabetes risks losing school time because they do not have the same experienced support to help them manage their disease or the same opportunities as others. The chance of an acute illness spreading through the community undetected is higher without trained personnel on the ground who is focused on this aspect of the school. Fix Our Schools has often noted how Principals, over the years, have become responsible for too much – including being resident boiler experts! As Ontario determines how students will return to school, we cannot expect Principals to fill the critical role of a PHN.

 

In a time when public health needs to be closely scrutinized, perhaps we need to examine the barriers that are preventing PHN’s from fulfilling their essential role in Ontario schools.

Fix Our Schools Calls Upon Province to Expedite Framework and Commit Funding

June 1, 2020

On Monday, June 1, Fix Our Schools issued the following media release on June 1, 2020:

Province must expedite framework and commit adequate funding for school re-opening in September

Today, Fix Our Schools is asking the province to expedite delivery of the framework for re-opening Ontario’s schools, and commit to adequate funding, so that school boards can properly plan for students to safely, effectively return to schools in September.

Local school boards, with guidance from local public health officials, will ultimately be charged with re-opening Ontario’s schools for September. They need to start planning as soon as possible, and they need the certainty of adequate provincial funding – something that has been lacking for decades. However, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that, with political will, previously unimaginable public resources can be found and allocated.

Fix Our Schools is specifically calling on the Province to:

  • Move the deadline to deliver the framework for re-opening schools from the end of June to June 12.
  • Commit to providing the necessary funding for school boards to be able to reasonably plan and implement a safe, effective re-opening of schools in September.
  • Work with local school boards and public health officials to provide weekly updates to the public on the school re-opening planning/implementation process.

Now is the time for political will to be applied to our publicly funded schools and education system. Ontario’s 2-million students need to know that the adults in charge are committed to their education, their mental health, and their development. Our economy also demands a prioritization of public education and schools. The accountability and transparency of a designated weekly progress communication on the safe re-opening of schools in September would demonstrate this commitment – and help students, families, and our economy.

“Parents with students in Ontario’s public education system have come to realize and value all that school provides for our children – not only learning but also childcare, routine, social interaction, a sense of community and purpose, opportunities for growth, maturity and development. For parents and students, a plan to safely return to school in September is of paramount importance and must be a priority. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that with political will – almost anything is possible. We want to see the political will exerted to make a safe return to school possible for Ontario’s students this coming September.

– Krista Wylie, Fix Our Schools Co-founder

The fact is that we have been living with a chronically underfunded public education system. Some schools do without a full-time custodian, and our system’s capital repair backlog – from leaky roofs to no hot water or soap in bathrooms to lead pipes – has ballooned to $16.3-billion over the past two decades. Will the provincial government provide school boards with the resources to meet the challenges created by this pandemic? Frankly, failing to come through with the funding to make this all happen would be to compound the impact COVID-19’s shutdown has had on children throughout this province.

– Marit Stiles, NDP Education Critic

“We applaud the province on having met with many smaller working tables that are looking at individual issues. But coherence is key here. Ontario’s students and educators need to know that there is an overall, comprehensive plan, based on evidence, expertise and experience. One-off meetings and small working tables will not accomplish that.” 

– Annie Kidder, People for Education’s Executive Director.

“Our schools are a learning environment for 2-million students, and a workplace for almost 200,000 teachers and education workers. The re-opening of schools in a safe and effective way is essential for the development and mental health of our children, our economy, and our well-being as a province”

– Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education

Caretakers and Maintenance Staff During Ontario School Closures

May 27, 2020

On May 9, 2020, the provincial government approved an emergency order that allowed available school board employees to be voluntarily redeployed to congregate care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic, including hospitals, long-term care homes, retirement homes, and women’s shelters. Many of these congregate care settings are in need of staff such as custodial and maintenance workers.

“CUPE education workers have a strong sense of community and they know there’s a critical need for staffing in health, long-term care, and social services. Many of us have been looking for ways to lend our support and so we’re pleased to endorse this voluntary plan,” said Laura Walton, President of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU).

Many education workers – including custodians, early childhood educators, and education assistants – are still on the job during Ontario’s school closures, working to maintain schools and support students who are learning at home:

However, some custodians, youth workers, psychologists, maintenance staff, education assistants, social workers, paraprofessionals, special-needs teachers, and food service workers are coming forward for secondment to other sectors. A huge and heartfelt thank you to all education workers, whether you are continuing to work in schools or helping out in congregate care settings. Your work is incredibly valuable and, indeed, essential!

 

Caretakers More Important Than Ever to Public Education

May 20, 2020

Students and families in Ontario now know that our publicly funded schools will remain closed until at least September. We can appreciate where there are many details to consider before any return to classrooms can be done safely. One detail that we can all agree upon is that health and safety, cleanliness, and hand-washing standards must be developed in any return to school plans. In former Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Opinion piece in the May 10, 2020 Toronto Star entitled, “We need a back-so-school plan“, she proposes any prudent plan would include increased cleaning regimes in schools, which would require increased custodial staff and may require training on deep cleaning techniques.

With this in mind, Fix Our Schools sees caretakers as more important than ever before in our publicly funded school system. We also see the implementation of cleaning, health, and safety standards in our schools as being more important than ever before. We must come together to determine the new standards and protocols that will enable a safe return to school for both students and adults alike. And we must also ensure that we fund an adequate number of fully-trained caretakers to be able to reasonably uphold these standards and conduct these new protocols. For instance, our campaign has frequently heard from parents with concerns over lack of hand soap and paper towels in school washrooms because their local school’s caretaking staff was stretched too thin.

The Fix Our Schools campaign has always appreciated the education workers who often go unrecognized in delivering quality education to our children such as caretakers, office staff, education assistants, and lunchroom supervisors. In fact, we’ve often scratched our heads as our provincial government consistently seemed to undermine their efforts to keep our children’s school safe and clean, as they cut provincial funding. We trust this time has passed and that our provincial government will move forward in a manner that acknowledges and respects the many ways education workers ensure our children’s schools safe, healthy, and well-maintained.

School Infrastructure Projects Are A Priority

May 13, 2020

Back in mid-April 2020 in an article entitled, “Ottawa seeks ‘shovel-ready’ projects for post shutdown stimulus plan”, the Globe and Mail reported that federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna was already seeking “shovel ready” infrastructure projects that might be included in a stimulus plan for the Canadian economy as pandemic restrictions are loosened. The term “shovel ready” refers to infrastructure projects that can be approved quickly and create immediate jobs. McKenna said she was focused on expediting the spending of more than $180-billion in infrastructure spending that has been approved through to 2028 and on getting money out the door this construction season.

As always, Fix Our Schools would like to see federal infrastructure money allocated to school infrastructure projects, even though we know provincial governments are responsible for education funding. We believe the bricks and mortar of school buildings are easily delineated from education itself and, as such, should benefit from federal funding. Federal funding of school projects may be particularly important going forward, as many economists speculate that provincial and municipal governments will be cash-strapped from navigating the COVID pandemic.

Fix Our Schools would also like to ensure that school infrastructure projects are prioritized and that school construction projects get started as soon as possible to leverage this coming construction season.

Alberta’s Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda seemed to agree based on his mid-April remarks noted in a CBC Report entitled, “Timelines accelerated for five new school construction projects”. Panda said that the provincial government would borrow money rather than continue to pursue public-private partnerships in order to get construction moving more quickly on five schools throughout Alberta, creating around 560 construction jobs. Panda was quoted as saying, “To the extent possible, even under the COVID situation, I am trying not to miss this construction season. That’s the whole purpose.”

Saskatchewan also seems to agree that school construction projects are an important part of the economic plan going forward. In a May 6, 2020 article entitled, “Major infrastructure stimulus plan announced by Saskatchewan government”, $130.4 million in education capital funding is included in the overall capital plan, allowing for seven new school projects and three major renovation projects.

In Ontario, we have not heard any news of accelerating school repair and building projects. Fix Our Schools is wondering when Ontario’s Ministry of Education and/or Ministry of Infrastructure might begin to discuss timelines for school repair and building projects in this province. Construction season is imminent and, given the $16.3-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s publicly funded schools, there is no time like the present to start repairing, renewing, and rebuilding our children’s schools.

While it is clearly a challenging time in our education system, as students and teachers alike grapple with at-home learning, there would be a benefit to conducting construction projects in schools at this time. In recent years, the volume of reactive repairs needed at schools has necessitated that construction projects, such as roofing, often get done while students are trying to learn in these buildings. So a “silver lining” of this current pandemic situation, when children are absent from schools, is that many construction projects could get completed while these buildings are virtually empty.

 

How the Covid-19 Pandemic May Inform Architecture – Including Schools

May 6, 2020

In a Globe & Mail article from May 1, 2020 by Dave Leblanc entitled, “What MIght be the Hallmarks of Post-COVID Architecture?“, many questions are raised about how this global pandemic may inform future building design. The article starts by considering how tuberculosis impacted school design back in the early 1900’s, when people believed that sunlight and fresh air, even in winter, would combat the illness. In some instances such as at the Orde Street School in Toronto, an “Open Air School” was created on the top floor, and pupils learned in classrooms with open windows, often bundled in blankets. While this type of change was not permanent, the transition from lead piping to copper piping – which held far fewer germs – was precipitated by health concerns and has been a permanent shift in how buildings are designed and constructed.

Several architects were interviewed for this article and the following ideas were presented:

  • Courtyards for people to gather outdoors
  • Glassed in corridors with good  ventilation
  • Buildings that are airtight with managed ventilation

 

At Fix Our Schools, we wonder how existing schools will operate post-COVID. It seems as though school buildings themselves will be an important element of how easily any new health and safety protocols can be integrated. In school buildings with narrower hallways, or in schools that are overcapacity, it will clearly be quite difficult for students to maintain distance between one another. Will handwashing sinks and soap become mandatory in every classroom to accommodate regular handwashing or will hand sanitizer become the norm in every classroom?

Fix Our Schools also wonders how the post-COVID reality will inform the design and funding of new school buildings. Sufficient outdoor greenspace, common spaces such as gymnasiums and cafeterias, and multi-purpose rooms give a school inherently more flexibility to cope with any number of challenges. Good ventilation systems and airtight buildings also seem to be important aspects to consider. So, while these features are more expensive to include in new schools, perhaps certain design aspects of schools will be considered a necessity instead of a luxury going forward.