Tag Archives: Lecce

Halton Region Calls Upon Ontario’s Ministry of Education to Remove Lead Pipes from Schools

December 10, 2019

In a December 6, 2019 article in the Toronto Star entitled, “Tainted water revelations spark calls for action across Canada“, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton was cited as one of 24 Halton Region Councillors who voted unanimously in favour of a resolution calling on Ontario’s Ministry of Education to remove lead pipes from the region’s schools.

 

After concerning findings of a national tainted water investigation, many jurisdictions across the country are calling for action, including demands for replacement of lead pipes running to homes and schools, replacement of lead fixtures in public buildings, better testing and increased transparency on results of lead testing. Experts agree there is no safe level of lead in water.

Oakville Mayor Burton’s concerns about lead in water in schools stem from findings that more than 2,400 schools and daycares in Ontario exceeded the federal guidelines for lead in water over the past two years, with some tests showing lead levels more than 200 times more than the federal safety standard. Burton said, “Since education has been starved for a long-time, I appreciate they weren’t rolling in money to go after the problem. It’s a provincial responsibility so we thought we would call on the Ministry of Education to get the lead out.”

Halton Region politicians also wrote a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, asking for swift action to resolve lead in water in Ontario’s publicly funded schools. Mayor Burton said that if the provincial government fails to take action, that would be “an abdication of the province’s responsibility for schools“. Burton went on to say, “we just want the government to do its job, and I think anybody thinks the job of the ministry is to teach kids and keep them safe while they do it.”

 

 

Minister Lecce: $30.9-million of Disrepair in King-Vaughan Schools

July 2, 2019

Dear Education Minister Lecce,

Did you know there is $30.9-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of King-Vaughan?

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 King-Vaughan Riding:

Blessed Trinity CES  $                              452,608
Divine Mercy CES  $                                83,756
Father John Kelly CES  $                          1,010,389
Holy Jubilee CES  $                                34,983
Our Lady of Peace CES  $                          1,769,886
St. Cecilia CES  $                                37,000
St. David CES  $                          2,854,179
St. James CES  $                                58,305
St. Joan of Arc CHS  $                          6,593,572
St. Mary CES  $                              771,710
St. Mary of the Angels CES  $                                45,000
St. Raphael the Archangel CES  $                                65,000
Discovery PS  $                              862,400
Dr. Roberta Bondar PS  $                                20,280
Glenn Gould PS  $                                30,500
Herbert H. Carnegie PS  $                              135,876
Joseph A Gibson PS  $                          2,245,020
Julliard PS  $                              721,300
Kettleby PS  $                          1,136,682
King City PS  $                                50,700
King City SS  $                          6,705,420
Mackenzie Glen PS  $                              354,620
Maple Creek PS  $                              745,200
Maple HS  $                              650,920
Michael Cranny ES  $                              387,500
Nobleton PS  $                          1,573,900
Teston Village PS  $                              346,300
ÉÉC LePetitPrince  $                          1,217,134

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.