Tag Archives: Fix Our Schools

MPP Babikian: $173.2-M of Disrepair in Scarborough-Agincourt Schools

November 30, 2018

Dear MPP Babikian,

Did you know there is $173.2-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Scarborough-Agincourt? We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

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

Epiphany of Our Lord Academy $1,567,597
Francis Libermann Catholic HS $2,203,223
Holy Spirit CS $3,761,185
Msgr. Fraser Scarborough Campus (Formerly Our Lady of Good Counsel CS) $1,617,928
St Aidan CS $2,830,204
St Henry CS $692,554
Agincourt CI $19,825,180
Agincourt Jr PS $2,428,470
Beverly Glen Jr PS $3,195,048
Bridlewood Jr PS $3,207,907
Brookmill Boulevard Jr PS $3,036,509
Brookside PS $301,165
Chester Le Jr PS $5,148,939
David Lewis PS $2,863,352
Dr Norman Bethune CI $14,618,523
Fairglen Jr PS $2,034,716
Highland Heights Jr PS $8,062,447
Inglewood Heights Jr PS $3,216,109
J B Tyrrell Sr PS $4,511,939
John Buchan Sr PS $2,275,061
Kennedy PS $424,014
L’Amoreaux CI $10,574,696
Lynngate Jr PS $3,564,449
Lynnwood Heights Jr PS $2,785,073
North Bridlewood Jr PS $4,522,674
Pauline Johnson Jr PS $5,096,614
Sir Ernest MacMillan Sr PS $2,663,730
Sir John A Macdonald CI $15,645,773
Sir Samuel B Steele Jr PS $2,244,507
Sir William Osler HS $10,381,912
Stephen Leacock CI $6,999,051
Tam O’Shanter Jr PS $3,531,975
Terry Fox PS $4,767,399
Timberbank Jr PS $7,999,983
Vradenburg Jr PS $4,627,375

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.

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

November 27, 2018

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

Dear MPP Mitas,

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

November 13, 2018

Dear MPP Ke,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 13, 2018

Dear MPP Cho,

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

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

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Scarborough North:

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

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

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

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. 

 

Opportunity to provide feedback on publicly funded education

October 28, 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wow! Fix Our Schools Supporters are AMAZING!

September 22, 2018

What amazing supporters we have! You have made real change possible. As a large, connected network, we’ve been able to:

  • Increase annual provincial funding for school repairs from $150-million/year to $1.4-billion/year.
  • Convince the Ministry of Education to release school disrepair data and update this powerful information annually.
  • Obtain the personal commitment of 58 newly elected MPPs to develop a standard of good repair for Ontario schools and to commit the adequate, stable funding needed to achieve those standards.

You photograph disgusting conditions at your local schools, send us riveting stories, petition your local politicians and engage with us on social media, which amplifies our message. Together we achieve more. THANK YOU! 

When Fix Our Schools began in 2014 in the west end of Toronto, we naively thought disrepair in schools and substandard learning conditions were only a local issue. 

By 2015, we realized that every single one of Ontario’s school boards was negatively impacted by school disrepair. In fact, we uncovered that there was a total repair backlog of $15-billion in Ontario’s schools. That amount has grown over time, and continues to grow.

Thankfully, we have discovered that people across the province care deeply about this issue and our base of support also continues to grow each day.  Together, we will continue to make real change on the issue of disrepair in Ontario’s schools. Together, we will truly Fix Our Schools. 

School Councils making a difference and helping to Fix Our Schools!

May 14, 2018

Parents from one school council banded together to all submit questions about school disrepair to a local all-candidates debate. The result? School disrepair was the first topic to be discussed by all candidates at this debate and all candidates have signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge. Hurrah!

Parents from another school council have engaged other parents in their school community and all contacted their local candidates. The result? All candidates in their riding have signed Fix Our Schools Pledge. Amazing grassroots community involvement! Just what Fix Our Schools loves to see 🙂 When we asked one member of this School Council how they did it, this is what she wrote:

“We didn’t start out talking about school disrepair. Our conversation at School Council about supporting Fix Our Schools began with an acknowledgement that so much of what we do as a council is work to fill holes, to provide stop-gaps. Not the literal holes and gaps—though there are plenty of these as the school repair backlog attests—but instead, gaps created by the inadequate funding of Ontario schools. As a result, parents end up spending the school year fundraising for new playground equipment, arts programming, classroom literacy materials, computers for the library, new gym mats—but the gaps are only getting bigger. This system is not sustainable.

It all comes down to the fact the educational funding formula in this province is seriously flawed, but as a School Council, how do we confront this? The task seems overwhelming. Which is where Fix Our Schools comes in, with their specific focus on the urgent and massive problem of school disrepair. And shining a light on this is the beginning of shining a light on everything.

Once you start shining a light on school disrepair, you can’t turn it off again. It’s easy for those of us who don’t work and learn in these buildings to underestimate the extent of the problem. Most of us on School Council had not visited the TDSB’s Renewal Needs Backlog for our school to see the long list of items in need of replacement or repair, all of them except one marked as URGENT or HIGH in terms of priority. It’s been easy not to notice because many of our teachers have invested time and money in masking problems in their classrooms so that our children can learn in aesthetically pleasing environments—but the problems are there and they’re only getting worse.

With all this in mind, our School Council moved at our most recent meeting to support Fix Our Schools and their FOS Pledge campaign. We appreciated the grassroots, non-partisan nature of the Fix Our Schools movement and their approach. We’re also grateful for the tools they’ve created to make it easier for us to advocate for our children and our community. And most profoundly, we understand how Fix Our Schools was able to start shifting the conversation during the 2014 election, creating momentum they’d build upon during the next few years. As a council we now have an opportunity to use our platform to keep the momentum going. There is potential for hundreds more people in our community to be engaging MPP candidates about school disrepair and flaws in the funding formula as a result of our outreach, and together we can put these topics on candidates’ radar, making this the election issue it needs to be.

Since our meeting, council members have posted on social media about our council’s support for Fix Our Schools, calling on candidates to take the FOS Pledge. We have sent an email letter to all families via our classroom parent representatives with information about disrepair at our school, about Fix Our Schools and the FOS pledge, plus links to tools Fix Our Schools has created to help us engage with candidates on the campaign trail and online. Our Ward Rep also reported on our support for Fix Our Schools at the most recent ward meeting, hopefully inspiring other councils to do the same.

Our staff are happy we’re taking this initiative, our principal is supportive, and as a council we’re feeling enthusiastic and empowered about the possibility of doing something important for our kids. We’re looking forward to making a difference and we hope you’ll join us.” 

Fix Our Schools presentation

March 2, 2016

Northern 3Consider showing this presentation at your next school council meeting!

It shows in vivid detail how a school LOOKS when a significant repair backlog exists. These photos of Ontario schools in disrepair illustrate in a vivid way how a child’s learning experience is negatively impacted by the $15-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s publicly funded schools.

Ontario’s Auditor-General confirmed that our provincial government has underfunded school repairs in this province by $5.8-billion over the past five years. The recently announced provincial budget for the upcoming year continues this tradition of underfunding.

These pictures say it all. Premier Wynne and her government must start funding our children’s schools as important infrastructure to Fix Our Schools!

 

Fix Our Schools – 13 months in and going strong!

December 1, 2015

The Fix Our Schools campaign is a grassroots, non-partisan, parent-led campaign asking for safe, well-maintained Ontario public schools that are funded as an integral part of our public infrastructure – on par with transit.

We believe the 2-million children who attend Ontario public schools deserve safe, well-maintained schools, as do the adults who work every day in these buildings. We believe both students and teachers deserve environments that are conducive to learning and teaching.

We also believe that our provincial government must take responsibility for the unacceptable level of disrepair that has accumulated in Ontario’s schools and take the lead in finding funding solutions to address the $15-billion capital repair backlog in Ontario’s schools. For 2015/16, the provincial government has allocated an amount that is less than 5% of what is needed to address this $15-billion of disrepair. While this is significantly more than in previous years, it is still insufficient and disrepair will continue to worsen in Ontario’s schools.

The Fix Our Schools campaign is building a large, connected network of people in Ontario who share these beliefs and want to work together to effect change. The campaign launched in October 2014 and, in the 13 months since then, we’ve built a network of close to 1,500 people that is growing daily. This network gives us far more collective power than we’d have as individuals so we are working hard to continue to grow our base of support to include people from all areas of the province.

If you value public schools as important infrastructure and believe that these buildings must be repaired and rebuilt – then please ensure you:

Promoting Fix Our Schools made easy

April 27, 2015

If you believe that a large group of connected people all asking for safe, well-maintained schools can be a powerful mechanism for change, then please help Fix Our Schools grow to 1,000 subscribers by June 25!

Here is a note that you could simply copy and paste into an email to send off to your networks and your school council:

SAMPLE EMAIL YOU COULD USE TO PROMOTE FIX OUR SCHOOLS:

If you are frustrated by the disrepair in our children’s schools, you may be interested in the parent-led grassroots campaign called Fix Our Schools (www.fixourschools.ca) that is focused on addressing the $3.3-Billion repair backlog in TDSB schools. I hope you will check out their website and consider joining the Fix Our Schools mailing list to stay informed and find out how you can help. Visit: www.fixourschools.ca/joinus/ to subscribe and you can also find Fix Our Schools on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fixtdsbschools?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Since launching on Oct. 29, 2014, Fix Our Schools has built a subscriber list of over 500 people across Toronto and aims to grow this to 1000 by June in an effort to create a large, connected group of people all asking for the same thing:

  • safe, well-maintained schools (who can argue with that?)
  • public schools funded as an integral part of our public infrastructure – on par with roads, transit and healthcare

Here is a one-page document that outlines more about the Fix Our Schools campaign and here is a sample e-newsletter from Fix Our Schools: http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=33ed0a98313433d8705b1afd3&id=1ccc43618a&e=22a5b0472a so you have a sense of what you’ll be receiving when you sign up at:  www.fixourschools.ca/joinus/ . Please share this email with other people in your networks!

Thanks for you help,