Keep our cherished local schools
On Tuesday March 7, 2017 I took the opportunity to watch the Ontario Legislative Special Debate and Vote, calling for an immediate moratorium on rural school closures, and an immediate review of the Pupil Accommodation Guideline. I did so with apprehension, as usually these exercises become akin to nothing more than a school yard brawl, […]
closing schools based on skewed utilization numbers
An internal Liberal government document obtained by the NDP shows the Kathleen Wynne government knows it’s closing schools based on skewed utilization numbers, party leader Andrea Horwath says. The concern is revealed in a ministerial briefing note the NDP obtained through access to information laws. In part, it reads: “Utilization does not typically recognize all […]
Systemic Racism and Class Inequality a Reality in Hamilton School Closures
Closing these schools and leaving a neighbourhood with a large immigrant population without any schools is an injustice that should be challenged. by Yen Graham Last year, I attended Louder Than a Bomb, a spoken-word event by high school students in Hamilton. In one performance, students at Sir John A. Macdonald (SJAM) spoke […]
community rallies to save schools
In one rural Ontario community, an ice cream company has offered to scoop up a school to stop it from being shut down. Worried about the impact of the loss of the only elementary in Markdale, Chapman’s Ice Cream has a sweet deal: it will spend about $1 million to buy the building, and lease […]
Stop closing schools
The calls to keep rural Ontario schools open made it to Queen’s Park on Monday. [province wide] groups, organized to represent their schools against closures, were among hundreds of people from across the province who were in Toronto, calling for a moratorium on school closures and for provincial pupil accommodation review guidelines to be rewritten. “It […]
Vancouver suspends school closures
The Vancouver School Board is suspending the school-closure process indefinitely, after a number of staff took medical leaves, leaving the organization without the capacity to move forward. The district’s new superintendent, Steve Cardwell, made the recommendation to suspend the school-closure process at a board meeting Monday night. Cardwell, who was the district’s superintendent for five […]
Ministry releases disrepair data for ALL schools
The parent run group, Fix Our Schools has been calling for transparency on this information so commends the Ministry of Education for releasing data about disrepair for every single school in the province. This is an important next step in ensuring all citizens realize the level of disrepair that exists in Ontario’s publicly funded schools. Public acknowledgement of […]
Taxation powers could fix schools
Of all the duties that educational leaders and policy-makers have, ensuring that schools are safe is arguably the most important. But it looks like that is not happening in our city. Documents from the provincial government state that 56 per cent of schools in the Toronto District School Board are in “critical” or “poor” condition. […]
Schools grossly underfunded
“The Ministry of Education needs $1.4 billion per year to maintain schools in a state of good repair. However, actual annual funding in the last five years has ranged from $150 million to $500 million.” – 2015 Auditor-General Report Take action, send a letter to your MPP. Fix our Schools!
Question MPs on fixing our schools
Ask your newly elected MP this question “Given that curling rinks and hockey arenas receive federal infrastructure money, how much will the government be prepared to invest in repairing and rebuilding Canadian public schools, a critical element of our country’s social infrastructure?” Of course, if you have the opportunity to speak with your MP in person, let them know you view public schools as important […]