Tag Archives: TDSB

Buildings continue to deteriorate as TDSB governance reviewed

March 26, 2015

Back in March 2008, when Kathleen Wynne was Minister of Education, she gave the TDSB Trustees two months to figure out a better governance structure for the TDSB. Wynne said that in the 10 years since the provincial government had mandated the amalgamation of six school boards to create Canada’s largest school board, the TDSB hadn’t managed to “come together properly”. Seven years later, this same provincial government apparently still hasn’t figured out a governance solution that works for Canada’s largest school board.

On March 16, 2015, Kathleen Wynne’s government announced that it had appointed a seven member advisory panel to make recommendations on how to improve the governance structure at the TDSB. This advisory panel is to conduct public consultations from March-May 2015 and, based on these consultations, make recommendations on governance changes by Summer 2015.

So for the last seven years, this Liberal provincial government has failed to make the governance changes required for the TDSB to “come together properly”, has continued to ignore funding as a potential root cause of many TDSB issues, and has allowed the repair backlog in TDSB schools to accumulate to $3.3-billion. In failing to take accountability for finding funding solutions to address the $3.3-billion repair backlog that plagues TDSB schools, this provincial government has ignored the safety and well-being of the 246,000 students who attend school at the TDSB. 

This Liberal provincial government has been in power since 2003. They are the sole funder of public education in this province and also hold power over all major policy decisions. Enough is enough – the almost 13% of Ontario’s students who attend school at the TDSB deserve to learn in safe, well-maintained buildings. When is this provincial government going to take the accountability that is commensurate with the power they currently have over public education and make decisions that enable fixing our schools?

 

 

Why does public transit trump public schools?

March 16, 2015

Public transit is a hot topic in urban centres across the nation.  Sadly, public education is not.

In Ontario, public transit in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was a key issue in both the provincial election in June and Toronto’s municipal election in October. There was much discussion on transit solutions that ought to be pursued and how those solutions should be funded.

In B.C., public transit has also been in the spotlight. Mayors in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVQ) have been working together to raise awareness of the need for transit improvements in the GVA. They’ve been actively encouraging citizens to vote yes in the upcoming special plebiscite vote asking citizens if they would pay 0.5% more in provincial sales tax to fund better transit in the region.

Despite the fact that public schools in both Toronto and Vancouver are in need of billions of dollars of repairs, this issue has received scant attention in Ontario’s recent elections and no plebiscite vote is in the works to decide how to fund public school repairs in Vancouver.

Toronto’s public schools need over $3-billion of repairs, many of which are urgent, including: fire suppression and alarm systems; electrical systems; heating/cooling systems; and structural issues. If these types of items fail before repairs can be done, there is a risk to student safety. Kathleen Wynne’s provincial government blames the TDSB for this unacceptable repair backlog, even though the Province is the sole funder of public schools in Ontario and the repair backlog has accumulated under the watch of the Province.

Vancouver’s public schools need $2.2-billion* of seismic upgrades to prevent collapse in the case of earthquakes. Christy Clark’s provincial government has delayed funding these repairs, but blames the Vancouver School Board for the delay even though the Province is the sole funder of public schools in B.C.

So we have a situation where public schools in two major Canadian cities are in need of massive repairs that could, potentially, impact the safety of students. Neither provincial governments seem interested in finding funding solutions to fix these problems and, instead, blame local school boards for the disrepair even though these school boards have no power over funding. Students are being penalized by the inability of the grown-ups in charge to take accountability and find solutions. As citizens and voters, we must start making the issue of public schools a hot topic and demanding more from our provincial governments. Students deserve to learn in safe, well-maintained buildings and, since they can’t vote yet, we need to demand that for them.

*According to VSB Trustees, the number as at September 2015 is closer to $1-billion in seismic upgrades.

New funding solutions needed for public schools

March 12, 2015

The TDSB will receive only $74.9-million from the Province this year to take care of its buildings; an amount that would pay for only 2.3% of the $3.3-billion of repairs plaguing TDSB schools. To take care of the entire $3.3-billion repair backlog in TDSB schools, $13,414 of funding must be found for each of the 246,000 TDSB students.

The Province insists the TDSB must fund the repair backlog by selling schools. However, the Province’s math doesn’t add up! Even if the TDSB immediately sells all 130 “empty” schools, there would still be over $1-billion of repairs in the remaining 458 schools.

Kathleen Wynne’s government must start working with the TDSB and the City to secure other funding solutions to address the unacceptable state of disrepair in TDSB schools.

The Province is exploring issuing equity in Hydro One to raise billions of dollars for new transit. The City approved a property tax increase, including a special 0.5% levy to pay for the Scarborough subway. At the City budget meeting on March 11, a motion was also made to explore reinstating the $60 car registration tax. Unfortunately, the TDSB has no power to pursue funding solutions such as these.

Surely, the Province and City believe that public schools are as integral to our public infrastructure as transit and will help secure the required funding to ensure TDSB students attend school in safe, well-maintained buildings?

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.”

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.

 

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.

2015_02_13_Runnymede PS

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.

Continued conversation is good news

February 20, 2015

Despite headlines such as, “TDSB reforms fail to meet Minister’s demands regarding schools” and “TDSB reforms don’t go far enough Sandals says”, Fix Our Schools believes things are headed in the right direction.

In a Feb. 20, 2015 interview on Metro Morning, Liz Sandals mentions ongoing conversation with the TDSB over the coming months.

If the Province had simply accepted the TDSB’s submission last week and washed its hands of the TDSB (yet again!), that would have been incredibly disappointing. Ongoing conversations are desperately needed if the adults in charge are going to take joint accountability for finding solutions to the massive issues facing the TDSB.

“My kid’s school is a disgrace” – Nayamath Syed

February 19, 2015

Sarah Fulford, editor of Toronto Life, starts her editor’s letter in the February edition with:

“The seven-year-old girl on our cover; Amal Syed, came to Canada 3 years ago from Abu Dhabi. Her father is a computer analyst who left everything behind to give his daughter a first-rate Ontario education. Like many new immigrants, they settled in the inner suburbs, and he enrolled his daughter at the local public school. He was bitterly disappointed to discover what long-time residents of Toronto have known for years – that many of the buildings where we send our kids to learn are old, overcrowded and in desperate need of repair.”

When Amal’s father is interviewed on page 29, he says, “When we complained to the TDSB, our trustee told us they couldn’t get funding from the ministry to fix the damage, much less create a new building for the students. The ministry, in turn, said it was the TDSB that hadn’t presented the case for repairs. It’s a never-ending circle of blame.”

Secord Elementary at Danforth and Main consists of a century-old main building and a series of 14 portables connected by hallways. The portables were built two decades ago as a temporary solution to overcrowding at Secord Elementary. Over time, these temporary structures have deteriorated – raccoon infestations, falling ceiling tiles and water damage are amongst the most noticeable examples of disrepair.

Several people have asked Fix Our Schools if our call for emergency funding from Kathleen Wynne’s government isn’t a bit much – is this really an emergency?  We believe it is – and Amal’s school is a perfect example.