According to CBC report on November 22, 2019 entitled, “Parents worried over mould exposure at Ottawa school,” Alta Vista Public School was closed on November 21st and 22nd after staff discovered a leak in the school’s heating system on November 18, 2019.

Sufficient mould seemed to have been present that one 11-year-old student, Benson Ptasinski, came down with a runny nose and sore throat on Monday and then started complaining of sore eyes the next day. Apparently, other students and teachers were experiencing symptoms similar to her son’s early in the week.

Mike Carson, chief financial officer for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) said three or four teachers had complained about odours and air quality in their classrooms earlier in the week, but it wasn’t until early last Wednesday that the board realized the scope of the problem, or how long repairs would take. That’s when the decision was made to shut the 70-year-old school last Thursday and Friday.

Mould, asbestos, lead in water, roof leaks, classroom temperatures requiring children to wear winter coats indoors. Unfortunately, all of these issues are a reality in publicly funded schools across Ontario. Fix Our Schools believes that all children deserve to spend their days learning in buildings that are safe, healthy, well-maintained and that offer environments conducive to learning. We trust that our provincial government agrees and will take immediate steps to:

• Update and release disrepair data for all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools.
• Increase funding to school boards so that we can quickly eliminate the $16.3-billion of disrepair that currently plagues Ontario’s schools; and also deal with issues like mould, asbestos and lead in drinking water – issues that are not even reflected in this $16.3-billion figure.