Province takes heat over soaring temperatures in schools

Tories call for maximum limits to bring relief to teachers, students in buildings with no air conditioning.

Thestar.com
Sept. 26, 2017
By Rob Ferguson

It's not just students and teachers suffering in the sweltering temperatures - Premier Kathleen Wynne has also been feeling the heat.

Wynne told the legislature on Tuesday that she doesn't have air conditioning in all of her offices, or even at home.

That prompted Progressive Conservative MPP John Yakabuski to quip: "Did you move into a school?"

The hot conditions in many classrooms across the province have led to calls from teacher unions as well as the Ontario PCs for the province to come up with heat-relief plans

At the legislature on Tuesday, Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown demanded the government set maximum allowable temperatures for schools.

Wynne said she knows "that when a classroom is hot, it is uncomfortable for teachers and for students ... I recognize that, and it has been very, very hot. We understand that there have been concerns raised by students and parents and teachers."

She said the province has given school boards $1.4 billion for upgrades that could include things like air conditioning.

"We have worked to provide additional funds to schools because we recognize that the majority of schools in this province were built years ago, when we actually didn't have on a regular basis the kinds of peak hot periods that we have," said Wynne.

"I'm not in any way saying that that work is completely done but, again, I have a lot of faith in the educators in our schools to make sure that children and teachers are kept safe.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter acknowledged temperatures in schools are "sticky" but school boards "need the flexibility" to make calls on appropriate temperatures and develop plans to keep kids cool.

"They have the authority to make that decision," she told reporters, noting many schools have cool areas such as air-conditioned libraries or gyms that students can access.

The Toronto public board was forced to cancel outdoor athletic events for all students for a second day because of the extended heat wave that, on Tuesday, saw temperatures soar to a high of 31 C, feeling more like 39 C with the humidity. Only 125 of its 584 schools have full air conditioning.

In an email sent to parents Tuesday, the TDSB said it was "doing everything within our means to alleviate some of the discomfort being experienced," including the following:

• Using fans to provide air movement, where possible.
• Keeping lights and computers turned off, where possible
• Keeping doors and windows open.
• Rotating staff and students into air-conditioned areas within the school, where available.
• <bullet>Reducing strenuous activities, including gym and sports activities.
• Creating cooling stations at schools without air conditioning (a long-term project to cool large areas such as gyms and/or libraries for students and staff to access during extreme heat).

"Any student with particular susceptibility to heat or with medical concerns should speak with school staff to be accommodated," the email said. "As always, parents may also choose to keep their children at home during extreme weather."

Brown stopped short of promising air conditioning for schools but said "dilapidated infrastructure" in the education system must be fixed with more money for maintenance and repairs.

"I'm certainly going to invest in our schools' infrastructure," he said, calling for public health officials to determine what the top temperatures in schools should be.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the lack of air conditioning in schools is part of a broader problem about outdated school infrastructure - with an estimated repair backlog of more than $14 billion across the province - and blamed the Liberal government for not keeping up despite being in office since 2003.

"It's obvious that there needs to be some kind of maximum (temperature). It happens on construction sites, for example ... where if it gets too hot, workers are sent home. We should be thinking the same way about our children."

Students are developing heat rashes and falling ill from the heat, and parents are opting to "keep kids home, not just to keep them comfortable but to keep them safe," said NDP education critic Peggy Sattler.

"Teachers report that children are unable to concentrate, their learning compromised."