Tag Archives: Fix Our Schools

Why Are We Relying on Corporations to Fund Safe Classrooms?

October 15, 2020

Our provincial government is responsible for funding public education and schools. Full stop. 

To Fix Our Schools, this means that our provincial government is responsible for providing adequate, stable levels of funding that would ensure the safety, health, and well-being of the 2-million students who generally spend their days in Ontario’s schools, along with teachers and education workers. Yet, for over two decades, this has not been the case.

In fact, the gross and chronic provincial underfunding of school infrastructure by successive provincial governments lead to a situation where, even before the pandemic revealed further cracks, there was a school repair backlog of $16.3-billion in Ontario’s schools.

Now, in the midst of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, public schools and the safety of our classrooms seem dependent on the charity of corporations rather than proper provincial funding, as we consider the recent donation of 500 air purifiers by Danby corporation to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).

Almost half of TDSB schools are reliant on windows for air circulation, without any form of mechanical ventilation. Experts believe that standalone filters can be an effective tool to improve safety in those classrooms. Therefore, the TDSB was understandably pleased to receive the 500 air purifiers from Danby, which will be placed in 37 TDSB schools in the highest-risk COVID areas. However, I hope we can all agree that when Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce promised they would do whatever was needed to ensure the safety of students, teachers and education workers, they lied. Full stop.

Our provincial government has clearly not done everything in its power to ensure the safety of students, teachers, and education workers if corporate donations of safety equipment are being welcomed by school boards! Even back in late August as we approached the re-opening of Ontario schools, Premier Ford all but admitted that his government had not done everything possible to ensure a safe re-opening when he stated that, he was “relying on school boards to make sure that students and staff are in a very safe environment“.

So where do we go from here? After six years of working to ensure all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings, Fix Our Schools is convinced that this will not happen until funding for public schools and education is adequate and stable. We are convinced that Ontario’s schools cannot be fixed by simply “finding efficiencies”. $16.3-billion of disrepair did not accumulate in Ontario’s schools because of “inefficiencies” by school boards.

But how, you may ask, can governments afford to provide the billions of dollars required each year to properly maintain and improve our public schools? If there is insufficient public money in the coffers to pay for this public good properly, then Fix Our Schools suggests that we must look to increase the amount of money in those public coffers. And, Fix Our Schools would suggest that most citizens already pay their fair share (or some would argue more than their fair share!) of taxes, so corporations must start to pay their fair share of taxes, as they did decades ago.

 

MPP Kanapathi: $63.5-Million of Disrepair in Markham-Thornhill Schools

October 13, 2020

Dear MPP Kanapathi

Did you know there is $63.5-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Markham-Thornhill? 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 $16.3-billion repair backlog (as of November 2019) that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Markham-Thornhill Riding:

Sir Richard W. Scott CES  $                                                   71,994
St. Benedict CES  $                                              2,378,792
St. Francis Xavier CES  $                                              4,616,267
St. Robert CHS  $                                              8,955,988
St. Vincent de Paul CES  $                                              2,533,654
Aldergrove PS  $                                                 837,200
Armadale PS  $                                                 679,631
Bayview Fairways PS  $                                              1,563,588
Bayview Glen PS  $                                              2,228,704
Bill Crothers SS  $                                                 578,400
Boxwood PS  $                                                 449,526
Cedarwood PS  $                                                 173,000
Coppard Glen PS  $                                              1,879,898
Ellen Fairclough PS  $                                                 199,600
German Mills PS  $                                              2,029,066
Highgate PS  $                                              2,585,540
Johnsview Village PS  $                                                 684,956
Markham Gateway PS  $                                                 128,600
Middlefield CI  $                                              4,993,360
Milliken Mills PS  $                                              3,140,483
Parkland PS  $                                              2,309,100
Randall PS  $                                              1,814,916
Thornlea SS  $                                              4,316,572
Unionville HS  $                                              7,692,672
Wilclay PS  $                                              1,495,320
Willowbrook PS  $                                              1,107,362

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.

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 Elliott: $72.1-Million of Disrepair in Newmarket-Aurora Schools

October 8, 2020

Dear MPP Elliott,

Did you know there is $72.1-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Newmarket-Aurora?

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 $16.3-billion repair backlog (as of November 2019) that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Newmarket-Aurora Riding:

Canadian Martyrs CES  $          1,995,699
Notre Dame CES  $             263,123
Sacred Heart CHS  $          3,697,853
St. Elizabeth Seton CES  $             687,832
St. Jerome CES  $             130,000
St. John Chrysostom CES  $               70,290
St. Maximilian Kolbe CHS  $             140,000
St. Nicholas CES  $          1,229,590
St. Paul CES  $          1,890,041
Alexander Muir PS  $             115,847
Armitage Village PS  $             602,408
Aurora Heights PS  $          1,040,393
Bogart PS  $          1,280,885
Clearmeadow PS  $          1,704,095
Crossland PS  $          1,229,562
Denne PS  $          2,874,868
Devins Drive PS  $          1,453,209
Dr John M Denison SS  $          5,479,453
Glen Cedar PS  $          1,412,822
Hartman PS  $               22,726
Huron Heights SS  $       18,337,683
J L R Bell PS  $          2,261,626
Lester B Pearson PS  $          1,009,062
Maple Leaf PS  $          4,711,432
Mazo De La Roche PS  $          2,413,219
Meadowbrook PS  $          3,523,312
Newmarket HS  $          3,575,364
Northern Lights PS  $             170,601
Poplar Bank PS  $             427,097
Prince Charles PS  $          2,250,573
Rogers PS  $               76,755
Sir William Mulock SS  $             881,510
Stonehaven ES  $          1,504,776
Stuart Scott PS  $          2,395,981
Terry Fox PS  $               71,960
ÉÉC SaintJean  $          1,042,239
ÉSC Renaissance  $               89,539

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.

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. 

Let’s Look to Science and Industry Best Practices to Ensure Schools are Safe

October 6, 2020

Today, we are grateful to have Douglas Green, Founder/President of GROK Energy Services, as our guest blogger. Please see his complete bio at the end of this blog post.

Managing Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is an Art and a Science

Building Science is complex. Dedicated professionals spend many years developing their skills and expertise in this field, and they should be consulted when it comes to maintaining and upgrading school buildings. The important things being managed are very difficult to ‘measure’ with normal human senses. These include:

  • Energy Use
  • Air Quality
  • Temperature
  • Humidity
  • Noise Levels
  • Lighting
  • Air movement

These are all the elements of indoor environmental quality (IEQ). When it comes to large, complex commercial buildings like schools, it takes a professional with considerable technical training and experience to properly measure and evaluate IEQ characteristics, then effectively correct deficiencies in order to maintain safe, comfortable, and healthy conditions.

The consequences of this critical task being underperformed or ignored are many, and can include:

  • Short and long-term negative impacts on occupant health
  • Increased risk of disease transmission
  • Reduced productivity
  • Occupant discomfort
  • Higher rates of staff turnover
  • Absenteeism;
  • Reduced asset lifespans;
  • Increased operating costs
  • Structural damage or deterioration

Unfortunately, this is the point we, as a society, have reached with our public schools when it comes to operating and maintaining school facilities. To varying degrees, many of the above consequences are the day-to-day reality in most of our public schools, because the buildings simply have not been properly looked after, over a very long period of time.

A Critical Knowledge Gap Has Allowed IEQ in Schools to Deteriorate

For over two decades in Ontario, School Boards have been responsible for maintaining school buildings and safe, healthy IEQ (and all the ‘invisible’ elements that are part of that), while our provincial government has been responsible for providing the funding required to carry out this responsibility. In Ontario, provincial funding has been far less than required over this time and has resulted in a $16.3-billion repair backlog across Ontario schools. This model has also meant that frequently, local School Boards may not have the expertise required for every aspect of the details of maintaining school buildings, and safe, healthy IEQ. I am not suggesting that school boards do not have maintenance and engineering departments (they certainly do). However, there is sometimes a critical knowledge gap.

HVAC systems in buildings tend to be ‘out-of-sight and out-of-mind’, and thus easily ignored by those who do not fully understand the importance of good IEQ to occupant health, productivity, and safety. The negative impacts of this neglect can also be hard to quantify, sometimes taking years to become apparent. This contributes to the ease of dismissing industry-standard Operations & Maintenance recommendations. Chronic provincial underfunding, lengthy ‘lowest bidder’ tendering processes, and constantly ‘deferred’ tasks have allowed substantial deterioration to progress.

Focusing on the Long-term Goal of Healthier Buildings

As with many things in life, HVAC systems will appear to be ‘working fine’, until they aren’t. When an HVAC system fails, a building tends to get pretty uncomfortable, pretty quickly. Understandably, rapid response and repair is suddenly an urgent priority. Other, less sudden deficiencies like high energy consumption, ‘stuffiness’ in parts of the buildings, growing absenteeism, or declining asset lifespan, tend not to get as much urgent attention. And yet, these factors can cost a lot more money and cause a lot more harm in the long run.

Sometimes an unexpected change can finally shine a spotlight on something that has been neglected for a long time. When it comes to our school buildings, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is just such a change. It is now recognized by the health and scientific communities that a significant vector for infection by this potentially deadly pathogen is via airborne transmission in crowded indoor spaces. This fact has suddenly escalated the importance of having excellent IEQ in all buildings. Unfortunately, this is not quickly or easily achieved in many school buildings, after decades of neglected maintenance, upgrades, and replacements.

Meeting the Challenges of HVAC Upgrade and Repair 

HVAC ducts and plumbing often run behind walls, and above ceilings, with major mechanical components often located in basements or on rooftops. Accessing many of the components of a large HVAC system in a commercial or industrial building for maintenance, upgrades, or replacement, is often a very invasive task. It is likely to involve opening up walls or ceilings, which in many older schools also means disturbing asbestos in the structures.

This is not something that can be done while the building is occupied and operational, on an ‘expedited’ basis. This is something that needs to be scheduled and completed while following industry-standard recommendations, at a cost that is easily determined and budgeted for well in advance.

Yet, it is precisely these types of tasks that have seen their budgets reduced or eliminated over the last several decades in our school buildings. These decisions have been made by people within the provincial government who simply do not understand these dynamics, because they lack the knowledge, or were not willing to follow guidance provided by subject matter experts.

In terms of dedicating budget to maintaining HVAC infrastructure, commercial buildings tend to fare better than schools, because the dynamics are very different. Unlike public school buildings, the management of commercial buildings tends to be handled by professionals with appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience who operate in a non-politicized, non-partisan manner. Commercial building owners are motivated by tenant retention and steady increases in net operating income – both of which increase asset value – so proper maintenance over time produces a positive financial return. While proper maintenance of school buildings produces the same results, Ontario’s provincial government has tended to avoid these costs, since there is no perceived ‘reasonable return on investment’.

Adapting our school buildings to help achieve resilience and recovery from COVID-19 is not going to be easy, but it is not impossible. Some changes may need to wait until buildings are unoccupied, but many other less disruptive things can be done immediately to improve IEQ in schools, such as:

  • Evaluate ventilation systems to ensure correct operation and maximum outside air-flow
  • Ensure adequate air movement in all indoor spaces
  • Upgrade filtration where possible to MERV 13 or higher
  • Install air sterilization technology;
  • Review any existing air quality issues, and ensure resolution;
  • Review control sequences to verify systems are operating to maximize indoor air quality, set to flush indoor air before and after occupation;
  • Refer to “ASHRAE Reopening Schools and Universities C19 Guidance” for more detail

These steps can help improve IEQ and mitigate against potential localized accumulations of infected bioaerosols. [Note: Bioaerosols are small droplets suspended in the air, which is the specific condition that could result in COVID-19 transmission. Surface transmission is generally being well addressed already through enhanced cleaning regimes].

One of the biggest challenges is simply the number of schools needing immediate attention, compared to the number of Building Science professionals. Another reason why completing this work over time, on a scheduled maintenance basis, is the preferred approach.

Steps Forward to Making Classrooms Safer

Moving forward, it would be ideal to separate budgets for school building operations and maintenance, from the actual delivery of education within the school buildings. School buildings are public infrastructure assets, no different from highways and bridges. As such, they should be maintained so they function properly, last the expected lifetime, and provide a safe, healthy, and comfortable place for students and teachers.

Perhaps one way to accomplish this would be to place the Operations & Maintenance activities of school building infrastructure under federal jurisdiction to ensure a standard of good repair for all publicly funded schools in Canada, and to ensure stable, adequate funding required to ensure these standards are met. These separate activities with separate budgets, could each be managed by professionals with the right credentials. I am sure that educators and school boards be happy to be absolved of the responsibilities of school infrastructure so they can focus on what they do best – educating people. Operating and maintaining school buildings should not be a political activity, left to the whims of political election cycles. Instead, it should be funded properly and be left to HVAC and Building Science professionals so we can do what we do best – delivering the lowest operating costs and best IEQ dynamics, resulting in the most comfortable, productive, healthy, and safe spaces.

Author: Douglas Green, CEM, CMVP

Bio: Doug is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) accredited by the Association of Energy Engineers with more than a decade of direct experience working in energy management.

MPP Rasheed: $143-million of Disrepair in Mississauga East-Cooksville Schools

October 1, 2020

Dear MPP Rasheed

Did you know there is $143-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Mississauga East-Cooksville?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 $16.3-billion repair backlog (as of November 2019) that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Mississauga East-Cooksville Riding:

Father Daniel Zanon  $                938,564
John Cabot Catholic  replacement school  $                800,000
Mary Fix Catholic S  $             1,423,474
Metropolitan Andrei Sep S  $             7,323,367
Philip Pocock Catholic SS  $             5,476,966
St. Alfred Sep S  $             2,700,556
St. Basil  $             1,545,084
St. Philip Sep S  $             1,495,784
St. Sofia Sep S  $             1,248,897
St. Teresa of Calcutta  $             1,404,390
St. Thomas More Sep S  $             2,600,840
St. Vincent de Paul Sep S  $                588,810
Sts. Martha and Mary Sep S  $             1,218,180
Applewood Heights SS  $           17,778,170
Brian W. Fleming PS  $             5,292,899
Briarwood PS  $             4,282,249
Burnhamthorpe PS  $             4,891,399
Cashmere Avenue PS  $             4,495,409
Clifton PS  $             3,499,651
Dixie PS  $             4,068,937
Floradale PS  $             6,360,523
Forest Glen PS  $             3,762,801
Glenforest SS  $           15,105,185
Glenhaven Sr PS  $             3,410,377
Silver Creek PS  $             3,886,796
Silverthorn PS  $             4,033,556
T.L. Kennedy SS  $           18,393,562
Thornwood PS  $             3,977,024
Tomken Road Middle School  $             5,542,592
Tomken Road Middle School South  $             2,905,395
ÉÉC RenéLamoureux  $             2,554,879

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.

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. 

Ventilation in Classrooms – Talk to Us!

September 29, 2020

Unsurprisingly, with the majority of Ontario’s 2-million students returning to school in-person, there are COVID-19 cases attributed to schools. In fact, as of September 28, there are 272 COVID cases in Ontario’s public schools. Some professional engineers are already asking questions about the link between schools with a high level of disrepair and susceptibility to COVID-19 outbreaks.

What continues to be a surprise is how Ontario’s Premier and Minister of Education claim that the back-to-school “plan” their government has funded offers every precaution and safeguard possible for a safe return to school. In mid-June, when this government received the SickKids report, they saw that a key recommendation for a safe return to school was good ventilation. And yet, our provincial government waited a full two months before allocating only a fraction of the funding required for school boards to ensure proper ventilation in all Ontario classrooms. This timing clearly left school boards with very little time to conduct the work required. 

By the time the Province had come around to allocating $50-million for ventilation improvements, Fix Our Schools had already heard from dozens of parents, teachers, and education workers from across the province about specific ventilation concerns that we outlined here.

In a nutshell, when a school is old,  the only “ventilation system” available is to open windows. Lamentably, in many old schools across this province, there are classrooms with no windows, there are classrooms with windows that do not open, and in old schools that have had window replacements, there are classrooms with windows that only open a tiny bit – not nearly enough to create any real ventilation. For old Ontario schools with newer windows that, for safety reasons, are only able to be opened a tiny bit, Fix Our Schools was excited to see that some school boards were adopting the inexpensive and relatively quick solution (compared to other ventilation solutions) of re-setting these windows to be able to open more to allow for better ventilation.

For example, we’ve read in the Toronto Catholic School Board TCDSB Reopening Action Plan that, given school ventilation and windows ventilation is the most essential element of any HVAC system, “the Maintenance Department will proceed with modifications of vertical sliding windows as needed to increase the opening from 4 inches to 12 inches. If possible, this modification will be to the window directly opposite the classroom door to further facilitate air circulation.”

We’re interested in hearing from folks from other school boards to hear what your local school board is doing in relation to any new windows in old schools, that may currently be set to only open a few inches? This “fix” is something that could be done in fairly short order and, compared to other solutions, is relatively inexpensive. Fix Our Schools looks forward to hearing from you about what your local schools are doing about this issue! And, if you do not know, we encourage you to ask your local Principal and your local Trustee about this issue. In the opinion of Fix Our Schools, our provincial government has continued to place a low priority on the health, safety, and well-being of Ontario’s students and the adults who work in schools. However, we also encourage local school boards to be doing all they can with the money they have to make publicly funded schools as safe as possible amidst the COVID-pandemic.

A Standard of Good Repair for Public Schools Has Never Been More Important

September 24, 2020

Since 2014, the mandate of Fix Our Schools has been to advocate for safe, healthy, well-maintained public schools that provide an environment conducive to learning, and working. Amidst the backdrop of a global pandemic, this goal seems more important than ever. However, our provincial government cannot grossly and chronically underfund public schools for over two decades, and then expect these buildings to provide the optimum environments for learning during a pandemic. Over the past several months, we’ve heard from people across the province about classrooms with no windows, or windows that do not open:

We’ve heard about many schools that were actually designed to prevent natural light and good ventilation:

Given that proper ventilation is not possible in many classrooms across the province, other recommendations from the Sick Kids report, such as physical distancing, have taken on even more importance. Yet Doug Ford’s government has not provided sufficient funding to allow for the smaller class sizes that would, in turn, allow for physical distancing in elementary classrooms. Parents, teachers, and education workers across the province have expressed outrage at the Ford government’s refusal to provide a back to school plan that includes physical distancing and yet, Premier Ford and Minister Lecce have continued to refuse to change course.

In fact, on September 17, the official opposition party put forward a motion to cap all class sizes at 15 students.

However, the following PC MPPs all voted against the motion, guaranteeing that class sizes in this province will continue to exceed 15 students, making physical distancing all but impossible in most elementary schools.

If you live in a riding with an MPP who voted against smaller class sizes, we encourage you to contact them to express concern that two out of three of the key SickKids recommendations (physical distancing and good ventilation) are not possible in many elementary classrooms. And perhaps ask them to clarify what the Premier meant when he has repeatedly claimed that his government would spare no expense to ensure our children’s safety?

Toronto Developers Short-changing Local Public Schools

September 22, 2020

Ever since Fix Our Schools began in 2014, we’ve been absolutely stymied by how our provincial government could allow an outdated regulation to continue, which allows Toronto developers to get away without contributing one penny to the local TDSB public school infrastructure, from which they profit. Under two successive provincial governments, Fix Our Schools has been unsuccessful in achieving a change to the provincial regulation O.Reg 20/98 that guides the eligibility for and application of Education Development Charges (EDCs).

In the years since 2014, the Toronto District School Board has also requested the Province look into a change of this outdated regulation and, in fact, went so far as to file with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that this provincial regulation is “constitutionally inoperative and unfair”. Other stakeholders, such as the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA) and Toronto City Council, have also requested the Ontario government to revisit O.Reg 20/98.

But to no avail – as of September 21, 2020, Toronto Developers continue to get away without contributing one penny to local TDSB school infrastructure. However, there is a renewed interest in changing this outdated provincial regulation with the release of a joint paper entitled, “The Missing Money Our Schools Need Now: Education Development Charges in Toronto”.

This newly-released report by Fix Our Schools, the Broadbent Institute, and Progress Toronto is featured in a September 22 Toronto Star article by Jennifer Pagliaro entitled, “Other Ontario school boards can collect millions from developers – but not the TDSB”. Pagliaro highlights from the report that “amid a pandemic, the time is now for the province to allow the TDSB to collect fees from developers to help build and repair packed and aging schools — money that’s now needed to make necessary adjustments for social distancing, fresh air and more.”

On Sunday, September 27, the Toronto Star Editorial Board published the opinion that “Ontario is needlessly handcuffing TDSB’s ability to repair and build schools”. The editorial piece agrees with Fix Our Schools, the Broadbent Institute, and Progress Toronto that there is an inherent problem with the outdated provincial regulation guiding the eligibility for and application of EDCs, and emphasizes that “the COVID-19 pandemic has also shown how inadequate infrastructure can make it hard to keep kids safe: cramped classrooms, lack of proper ventilation (such as windows that open), and the absence of handwashing sinks in classrooms all make preventing the spread of infections extremely difficult.”

If you would like to see Toronto developers pay into the local public schools from which they profit, please take a minute to sign this petition and tell Premier Ford to make developers pay their fair share. A simple change of this outdated provincial regulation could allow the Toronto District School Board to collect millions of dollars that could be invested in school retrofits (such as ventilation), repairs, expansions, and new schools.

In response to the release of this new report, Saman Tabasinejad from Progress Toronto is quoted as saying, “The overcrowded and crumbling schools in growing neighbourhoods is an equity issue. Toronto had 150 over-capacity schools before the COVID-19 shutdown and the pandemic has only exposed the public health risk of packed schools and infrastructure that is in disrepair. The missing money is creating another systemic barrier standing in the way of building healthy, inclusive communities, at the expense of equity-seeking communities.”

Katrina Miller from the Broadbent Institute said, “We can fix our schools by fixing this outdated regulation. Our schools are old and cramped because developers exploited a loophole, pocketing hundreds of millions that should have gone to make our kids’ schools safe.”

And Krista Wylie from Fix Our Schools stated, “Our call for action has support from left-wing City Councillors to Conservative MPPs. Developers profit from building near good public schools and transit. These same developers ought to contribute monetarily to this public infrastructure. The fact that developers in Toronto have gotten away for so long without contributing one penny to public schools is maddening when so many Toronto schools are overcrowded and in disrepair.”

In this pandemic environment, school infrastructure that is safe, healthy, well-maintained, and not crowded is even more important. Now is the time for our provincial government to make the simple regulatory change required to see Toronto developers start paying their fair share to TDSB schools.

Relying on School Boards, Teachers and Education Workers is Disingenuous At Best

September 15, 2020

The fact is that, for over two decades in Ontario, our provincial government has held control over all the money that is allocated to schools via local school boards. Another notable fact is that, for most of this time, the provincial funding for school renewal and repairs (the money that enables a school board to conduct yearly maintenance and repairs on all of its school buildings) has been a fraction of what industry standards suggest is required.

In fact, early in our campaign, back in January 2016, we wrote a blog asking the questions, “What if you sent your child the store with $10.00 to buy a week’s worth of groceries for your family of four, and they came back, having failed to source sufficient groceries for the family for the coming week? Would you publicly shame them for this failure? “

Our suspicion is that the answer was, and would continue to be, NO! Instead, as the parent in charge of the household budget, you would take responsibility for the fact that, with the money you gave them, they couldn’t possibly have succeeded in buying a week’s worth of groceries for a family of four. Are we right?

And yet, for decades, Ontario’s Ministry of Education and our Premier have frequently blamed school boards for the accumulation of billions of dollars of disrepair in their school buildings while, at the same time, providing grossly inadequate funding (in many years, one-tenth of what industry standards suggest is needed!) to those same school boards.

The dysfunctional dynamic of our provincial government pushing responsibility for successful outcomes on to school boards, while it retains all the power over the money, continues today, amidst a global pandemic. Fix Our Schools expressed outrage and anger several weeks ago when Premier Ford said, 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”.

This type of rhetoric is disingenuous, at best. It is also dangerous, unfair, and prevents solution-oriented dialogue from occurring. Our current Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce has been vague about his government’s response, should a COVID-outbreak occur in Ontario’s schools.

This type of response seems typical of the Ford government, which has flip-flopped on many issues since taking office over two years ago. However, amidst a global pandemic, citizens need a government that will take responsibility, and leads us forward in a positive manner. We do not need a government that behaves immaturely, and blames other entities, such as school boards, for its own mistakes.

Clearly, many issues are on our minds as Ontario’s students head back to school. For Fix Our Schools, ventilation and HVAC in our schools continues to be top of mind. We continue to wonder why the Ford government took two months to allocate funding for school boards to pursue work to ensure optimum ventilation for when school buildings re-opened after having been shuttered back in March. We continue to wonder why the Ford government only allocated such a small amount of money to school improvements amidst a pandemic, knowing that there are $16.3-B of disrepair in Ontario’s school buildings.

A Global News article published on September 13, 2020, entitled, “Canada’s schools need better air ventilation. Amid coronavirus, it could save lives“ Fix Our Schools is quoted several times:

  • “While the Ontario government has allocated $50 million in funding to improve HVAC systems in schools, it came only two months before classes were due to begin. It also came long after SickKids’ report cited ventilation as an important element in a safe reopening.”
  • “You’ve got medical professionals telling you ventilation is key. You know that the 5,000 school buildings in your province have a gross amount of disrepair, and yet the province waited two months to announce a pittance in funding. On a per-school basis in Ontario, it’s $10,000 a school. It’s nothing. Truly, it’s nothing.”
  • “School boards have been put in an untenable position. They’re beholden to the tender process, which takes time. And, because they’re chronically underfunded, they tend to feel pressured to choose the lowest-cost option, which should not be the criteria for all projects.”

In the same article, Jeffrey Siegel, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, agrees with the sentiments expressed by Fix Our Schools, and says that “the funding allocated so far for HVAC improvements “doesn’t even pass the laugh test”. The fundamental issue is that this is expensive to do under any circumstances, schools can be particularly so.”

So Premier Ford and Minister Lecce, the people of Ontario are actually relying on you and your government to make Ontario’s schools safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working – not only amidst this pandemic but for always.

 

 

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.