Serving LEASIDE-BENNINGTON, DANFORTH VILLAGE, NORTH RIVERDALE and BROADVIEW
www.walkingmobilityclinics.com
www.eastyorkmirror.com
1370 Don Mills Rd, Suite 4, North York, ON
thurs feb 7, 2013
416-445-1015
Councillor supports group fed up with conditions at schools Tara Hatherly thatherly@insidetoronto.com Parents from five East York schools followed up a rally last week by appealing to the Toronto District School Board to prioritize muchneeded funding for their schools. More than 100 parents of students from Secord, Parkside, George Webster, Crescent Town and D.A. Morrison schools packed a recent TDSB meeting, causing it to be moved to a larger room. Group representatives, as well as Beaches-East York Councillor Janet Davis, addressed the board, highlighting the schools’ needs. Peter Saros, co-chair of Secord Public School’s parent council, spoke on behalf of the school and group. Photo/MIKE POCHWAT
Katie Fisher, left, Andrea Williams, Caroline Fellin, Karen Dewey-Decker and Laura Fitzsimmons are members of CAPE, Children’s Advocates for Public Education, in Ontario. The Riverdale group has been raising concern over the impact the lack of extracurricular activities has on children at public schools.
Parents work to return extracurriculars TARA HATHERLY thatherly@insidetoronto.com A group of Toronto parents is reaching out to teachers’ unions and government representatives in a bid to return extra-curricular activities to Ontario’s public schools. Children’s Advocates for Public Education (CAPE) in Ontario was formed by Riverdale parents concerned about the effect of teachers’ labour dispute on students. The group now has more than 100 members from throughout Ontario. “We really wanted to give voice
to our children ... to keep the focus on the impact of the situation on children,” said Andrea Williams, a spokesperson for the group. “We’re trying to build a bridge between the government and the teachers’ unions so that we can get extracurriculars back into our schools, but also restore the goodwill at our schools.” Ontario’s public elementary and high school teachers cancelled students’ extracurricular programs to protest Bill 115, an act to implement restraint measures in the education sector dubbed the Putting Students
First Act. The legislation imposed two-year contracts that included a wage freeze and reductions in sick days, benefits and bargaining rights. While the bill was repealed in January, teachers continue to protest the contracts it imposed. Worried a lack of extracurricular activities is negatively affecting students’ lives and opportunities, and Ontario’s schools, CAPE hopes to persuade teachers’ unions and the provincial government to find ways teachers can protest, and feel they are being taken seriously, without >>>GROUP, page 6
‘Ignored far too long’ “Our needs, in our opinion, have been ignored far too long,” Saros said. “We’re at 108 per cent over capacity, others are at 125 per cent over capacity. They’re in old, old, old portables; between George Webster and Secord, they’re the oldest portables in the city and they’re literally rotting.” There are 36 portables at the two schools, some separate and some connected in “port-a-pacs.” Portables are sometimes unusable, due to decay and raccoon infestations. Some are said to be filled with a stench possibly caused by dead raccoons in the walls or floors. Saros said the problems aren’t limited to the schools’ portables. “You walk into rooms and ceiling tiles are missing, there’s unfinished
drywall, moulding’s peeling off, there’s water stains, there’s probably mold and mildew in the walls, they smell,” he explained. “There could be legitimate health concerns, and they’re not getting better.” With the schools in need of repairs and overflowing with children, Secord Public School is set to welcome scores of new students when full-day kindergarten debuts there in 2014. Over-population at George Webster Elementary School was exacerbated by the introduction of full-day kindergarten at Crescent Town Public School. With Crescent Town already filled over capacity, the school had nowhere to house the new students, forcing it to send students from its highest grade, Grade 5, to George Webster. As Parkside Elementary School faces a potential closure, parents of students there worry their children will be transferred to D.A. Morrison Middle School, which does not have facilities to serve the younger students. Parents from all five schools appealed in solidarity for funding, concerned their schools are being neglected, following funding announcements for renovations and additions at other Toronto schools. Saros said board members seemed frustrated by the appeals, telling the group it should be approaching the province, which controls the board’s capital funding. Though the province controls the purse strings, the group believes the board can influence which projects are prioritized for funding. >>>province, page 12
We feature central Toronto’s
• Newest and most spacious facility • Lowest prices over a range of services
50 Overlea Boulevard
~
• Excellent parking for 200 cars • Fully accessible for physically challenged
and, most importantly Our Family surveys score our overall level of service as “Excellent”
www.heritagefuneralcentre.ca
~
416-423-1000