In 2018 MPP Fife signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools
MPP Catherine Fife of Waterloo Riding brought specific student concerns to the attention of our provincial government. The following is from the Hansard:
School facilities
Ms. Catherine Fife: It’s my honour to rise in the House to share the voices of students from Lincoln Heights Public School. Lincoln Heights alone requires over $3 million in repairs and is one of many schools in Waterloo; across the city, over $68 million in repairs are required.
The students wrote to me to share their concerns about cuts to school repair funding. Here’s what they had to say:
Grade 4 student Ryan: “We don’t have air conditioning and our classrooms get really hot…. Our windows don’t have screens, so sometimes wasps fly in on hot days. I got stung by wasps twice while in class.”
His classmate Emily also wants the government to fund fixes to air conditioning.
Madison, in grade 5, says, “In my classroom, it’s usually good in the winter but one time our heat broke and we had to wear our winter coats to keep warm. However, in the summertime it is so hot … one time our classroom was so hot that our teacher was thinking of sending us home.”
Kayden, aged 10, wants the government to know how difficult it was to learn after his class was moved to the cafeteria because of a ceiling leak in their classroom.
William, who just graduated from Lincoln Heights, says, “Teachers and students should be able to complete their work based on their abilities and not on the environment they are working in.”
Joshua, grade 8, was blunt: “Lincoln Heights’ crumbling state is a perfect example of why the school repair budget shouldn’t be cut.”
Thanks to the students from Lincoln Heights for speaking up. Keep using your voices to make the world a better place.
In addition to Lincoln Heights Public School, Fix Our Schools wanted to share the following details of disrepair each school in Waterloo riding:
Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Waterloo:
| ÉÉP L’Harmonie | $1,694,703 |
| Holy Rosary S | $1,812,018 |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Sep S | $3,297,122 |
| Sir Edgar Bauer Sep S | $3,234,323 |
| St Agnes Sep S | $2,921,740 |
| St David Catholic SS | $10,923,975 |
| St Matthew E S | $2,118,524 |
| St. Luke Catholic Elementary School | $324,964 |
| St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School | $101,828 |
| Abraham Erb PS | $145,720 |
| Bluevale CI | $5,534,148 |
| Bridgeport PS | $1,428,294 |
| Cedarbrae PS | $2,489,995 |
| Centennial PS (W) | $1,769,227 |
| Edna Staebler PS | $263,850 |
| Elizabeth Ziegler PS | $3,366,547 |
| Empire PS | $1,525,018 |
| Keatsway PS | $1,084,140 |
| Laurelwood PS | $2,566,400 |
| Lester B. Pearson PS | $25,000 |
| Lexington PS | $398,249 |
| Lincoln Heights PS | $3,071,140 |
| MacGregor PS | $2,461,639 |
| Mary Johnston PS | $639,528 |
| N.A. MacEachern PS | $1,069,580 |
| Northlake Woods PS | $327,316 |
| Sandowne PS | $1,414,868 |
| Sir John A. Macdonald SS | $43,116 |
| Waterloo CI | $9,705,035 |
| Westvale PS | $180,980 |
| Winston Churchill PS | $1,728,931 |
| ÉÉC MèreÉlisabethBruyère | $2,161,036 |
School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health. Clearly, MPP Fife recognizes this fact, as do students and families in her riding. We ask that Waterloo constituents continue to work with MPP Fife to raise the important issue of school conditions and to urge our provincial government to please prioritize schools as critical infrastructure and take the steps necessary to ensure that the $15.9-billion of 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.