Davisville Public School

March 11, 2015

Davisville P.S. has the second highest (meaning second worst) “Facility Condition Index” score in the TDSB. Davisville’s score is 169 with an estimated $12-million+ of outstanding repairs, including the boiler and foundation. According to the Provincial government, a score of 65 or higher means that it makes mores sense to replace the school building than to repair it.

The photo here depicts the visible disrepair in a classroom ceiling at the school. However, there are outstanding repairs that cannot be seen or photographed – such as the boiler and foundation. Although deemed safe and usable, the outstanding repairs cause regular inconvenience to students, teachers and staff (the caretakers at Davisville work tirelessly doing the best job they can given the state of the building!).

This year, Davisville operates at 104% utilization with 459 students. By 2019, the school is expected to operate at 142% utilization with 630 students because of new development being planned and built in the immediate neighbourhood. Davisville is located in Ward 11 just north of the Davisville subway stop on the Yonge line. The vast majority of schools in Ward 11, including all 3 secondary schools, are operating above 100% utilization.

The TDSB has been collaborating with parents, community members and other stakeholders since 2010 to explore options for redeveloping the Davisville P.S. school site as a Community Hub to address the state of disrepair and overcrowding. The TDSB submitted their cost-effective redevelopment proposal for Davisville P.S. as one of eight TDSB priority capital projects to the Ministry of Education in December 2012. It is notable that every school board in Ontario, regardless of size, was allowed to submit 8 projects.

In March 2014, the Ministry announced that TDSB schools only received funding for one project, receiving $11.9-million out of the $700 million (1.7%) allocated by the Ministry at that time. The Province did not approve the Davisville P.S. redevelopment proposal, despite an economically sound proposal that involved selling off land to create a community hub.

Determined to see the redevelopment of this site as community hub, the Davisville parent community continues to work with the TDSB, the community and other stakeholders.

TDSB pursuing Community Hubs – why isn’t the Province?

March 4, 2015

The TDSB has been collaborating with parents, community members and other stakeholders since 2010 to explore options for redeveloping the Davisville P.S. school site as a Community Hub. By mid-2012, they had arrived at a redevelopment strategy that offers a realistic, cost-effective approach to building a new school and community hub. This plan involved selling about one quarter of the school’s land, moving parking to underneath a new school and keeping the same amount of playground and field space.

Why would the TDSB spend money on building a new school/community hub?

1. Replacing Davisville P.S. makes more economic sense than repairing it. As of a few years back, Davisville P.S. had over $8-million of outstanding repairs, including the boiler and foundation. This figure may now be in excess of $12 million and will continue to grow as deferred repairs become more complex and costly to fix.

Davisville P.S. has the second highest (meaning second worst) Facility Condition Index score in the TDSB. The Ontario government’s “Prohibitive to Repair” score is 65, which means that any school with a score above 65 would be better to replace than to repair. Davisville P.S. has a score of 169.

2. A larger school is needed to accommodate current and projected enrolment. School capacity at Davisville P.S. was, until recently, 384 students by provincial standards. After the reconfiguration of some spaces to provide more kindergarten classrooms and other measurement changes, the school’s capacity was increased to be 512 students. In reality, no more square footage was added to the building or the outdoor play space so the decrease in utilization rate that was seen this past year doesn’t mean the school is actually less crowded.

With 538 students currently enrolled and a projected enrolment of over 700 students by 2019, this school is bursting at the seams.

3. The area around Davisville P.S. has few public amenities. With a new school building, community space could be integrated into the plans to benefit the entire community and could partially fund the redevelopment.

So, we have the TDSB working with the community to develop a community hub strategy that could be cost-effectively implemented…

How has the Ministry of Education responded?

The TDSB submitted Davisville as one of eight priority capital projects to the Ministry of Education in December 2012. It is notable that every school board in Ontario, regardless of size, was allowed to submit 8 projects.

In March 2014, the Ministry announced the approval and funding of capital projects across the province. TDSB schools only received funding for one project, receiving $11.9-million out of the $700 million (1.7%) allocated by the Ministry at that time. Given that the TDSB educates approximately 12% of Ontario students, this means that the TDSB received six times less than would have been the case if the funds had been allocated on a per-student basis across the province.

The Province did not approve the Davisville P.S. redevelopment proposal, despite an economically sound proposal that involved selling off land to create a community hub. Hmmm… so when the Province speaks about “Schools as Community Hubs” – how do they envision these happening?

Excerpted from the Davisville Parents website

Humber Journalism covers Fix Our Schools

March 4, 2015

Humber journalism student Alex Karageorgos contacted Fix Our Schools to discuss the Province’s proposal to sell TDSB schools to fund over $3-billion of repairs. Here is an excerpt of what appeared in Skedline.com, a breaking news website that features the works of Humber journalism students. Click here for the whole, entitled: “Board Review Looming Over Public Secondary Schools”:

The parent perspective

Between schoolyard provincial regulations and municipal amendments, parents are usually stuck in the middle, playing possum.

The Board has been facing an estimated $3.5-billion repair backlog and this property sale is an attempt to raise funds for the shortfall. Due to the capital project the Ontario government placed upon the TDSB, local trustees have already agreed to sell 20 closed locations. This included former high school Sir Sanford Fleming, which could later be occupied by childcare facilities and private schools.

This TDSB deficit, which goes beyond secondary schools, jumpstarted a grassroots parent advocacy group that was created solely on the premise of bringing awareness to poor public school building conditions.

“We were heartened by the province getting more involved,” says Krista Wylie, Fix Our Schools. “We feel like the province and the TDSB have been at loggerheads for over a decade, where one just blames the other.”

Wylie, a parent of two students enrolled at TDSB schools, is aware of the trials and tribulations that come with lobbying various levels of government for educational reform. The constant back-and-forth amongst the two parties has come with a price: seldom does any task get completed.

“The government can find money if there is a political will to do so and for too long its been under-funding public education,” says Wylie. “We think our kids are going to school in buildings that are falling apart and are, in many cases, in such a state of disrepair that they are becoming unsafe.”

Community Hubs are tricky business – Province needs a proper plan

March 3, 2015

At Queen’s Park on Feb. 19, Garfield Dunlop, Progressive Conservative MPP for Simcoe North asserted that the “Liberal Provincial government has watched enrolment decline for the last decade, and instead of having a proper plan to make sure schools flourish as community hubs, they will now force boards to close schools and try to balance the Liberal budget on the backs of students.”

Community Hubs are tricky business as is evidenced by this thoughtful series of essays about The School as Community Hub, edited by David Clandfield and George Martell. Creating Community Hubs requires both an overarching plan and an ability for many Ministries to work effectively together and with school boards and municipal governments. A tall order… but one worthy of pursuit by our Provincial government.

CTV News covers #fixourschools twitter campaign!

February 28, 2015

CTV helped launch the #fixourschools twitter campaign on Feb. 27. Click here to have a look!

Fix Our Schools wants to raise awareness of the unacceptable state of TDSB schools and encourage Kathleen Wynne’s government to work with the TDSB and the City to come up with funding and governance solutions to address the over $3-billion of outstanding repairs in our children’s schools.

#fixourschools twitter campaign

February 28, 2015

Use #fixourschools to tweet about how the TDSB’s $3-billion backlog of repairs impacts students and teachers every day or, if Twitter isn’t your thing, contact us to share photos and stories. Students and teachers deserve to learn and work in safe, well-maintained buildings. The fact that students continue to achieve despite the deplorable conditions of many TDSB buildings is testament to the amazing things that go on inside TDSB schools every day.

However, to ensure the safety and well-being of students and teachers, Kathleen Wynne’s government must take the accountability that comes with being in charge of funding and work with the TDSB and the City of Toronto to address the unacceptable state of disrepair in TDSB schools.

So, with the intent of raising awareness to encourage solution-oriented dialogue, we hope you’ll share!

Kathleen Wynne is uniquely qualified

February 26, 2015

In a passionate response to concerns expressed by Conservative MPP Monte McNaughton about a different topic altogether, Kathleen Wynne outlined exactly why she is uniquely qualified to be the Premier who works together with the TDSB and the City of Toronto to “fix our schools”.

“Is it that I’m a mother? Is it that I have a master’s of education? Is it that I was a school council chair? Is it that I was the minister of education? What is it, exactly, that disqualifies me from doing the job that I am doing?”
– Kathleen Wynne, February 24, 2015 at Queen’s Park

Wynne was also a former Toronto School Board Trustee (funny that she doesn’t mention this qualification!) and a mediator – also both beneficial qualifications to “fix our schools”.

“Land-value-capture” – a new funding approach

February 26, 2015

Hitting the front page on Feb. 25, 2015, Metrolinx is looking to sell real estate to pay for expansion, using a funding approach called “land-value-capture”, which has not been used widely in North America to date. “Land-value-capture” is explored in detail in this discussion paper, prepared for Metrolinx by George Hazel Consultancy in August 2013.

Are there “land-value-capture” methods that could create new revenue streams for public schools in Toronto?

Having just heard the term “land-value-capture” for the first time, I am certainly no expert! However, the premise of “land-value-capture” methods seems to be that improved transportation facilities increase the value of surrounding land, therefore a proportion of this additional wealth should go to funding the transportation facility.

Arguably, improved transportation facilities lead to new development, which leads to more children who will attend local public schools, therefore perhaps some of this additional wealth should go to funding repairs and improvements at local public schools, another integral part of our public infrastructure. Another argument is that good local public schools contribute to increased land value, therefore some of this additional wealth should go to funding repairs and improvements at local public schools.

More than $3-billion of outstanding repairs and maintenance across TDSB schools is a big problem. Maybe “land-value-capture” methods could be part of a big solution?

Cold winter for Ward 7 schools

February 25, 2015

Several schools in Ward 7 have struggled with heating issues this winter…

Western Tech, UFA, The Student School, and Humberside have all been closed at least one day due to heating issues. The TDSB has been quick to complete the required repairs. However, the cost of these emergency repairs will impact the ability to complete planned repairs as the TDSB struggles to address over $3-billion of outstanding repairs with the $75-million of funding provided by the Province this year for repairs.

Yes – this thermometer reads about 10 degrees and is inside a classroom!

While Runnymede P.S. hasn’t been closed at all this winter, some classroom temperatures have been operating at unacceptable temperatures. Yes – the photo to the left, showing a temperature of around 10 degrees, was taken inside a classroom. Oddly, other classrooms have been so hot that students wear t-shirts.

While repair people have been at the school regularly, heating at this 99-year old building remains an ongoing challenge. With a new boiler installed last year, the root cause of these unacceptable temperatures is a mystery. What is no mystery is that a complete resolution of this issue would likely be expensive.

Upcoming winters aren’t looking so great for Ward 7 schools either, given the following facts:

As of April 2014, almost 80% of the $73-million in outstanding repairs across Ward 7 schools were assessed as urgent or high priority by consultants working on behalf of the Ministry of Education. The 43 urgent repairs all fall into one of the following four categories: fire suppression and alarm systems; electrical systems; heating/cooling systems; and structural (foundations and stairs mainly). These urgent items are not as apparent as leaky roofs but if they fail before repairs can be done, the safety risk is far greater. All this to say that our request stands for emergency funding from the Province to address urgent repairs across all TDSB schools, as well as all leaking roofs.

TDSB proposal for sharing ownership of school sites with the City

February 20, 2015

In a recent presentation by TDSB finance staff, a proposal was made to “shift the paradigm and share the load” in the following concept:

“Under a formal partnership agreement, responsibility for TDSB school sites would be shared with the City of Toronto. Both parties would benefit as a valuable community asset is shared.

In exchange for shared ownership of school sites, the TDSB would receive infrastructure funding from the City.”

The City has access to the tax base that the TDSB does not, as well as an ability to forge creative partnerships that the TDSB may not be able to do on its own. Out-of-the-box solutions are required to fix a $3-billion problem and it is great to see the TDSB thinking creatively to find solutions.

Next Step: Create a forum for discussion with the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario … indeed!