This article is from a few days ago, but it’s about the fact that many Toronto District School Board (TDSB) schools don’t have air conditioning.
The heatwave in Toronto earlier this week meant that “The temperature in the GTA has hovered in the mid 30s […]and has felt as hot as 45 with the humidex, at points.” according to the attached article.
And the TDSB kept most of the schools open despite the danger to the health and safety of students and staff.
I went to a TDSB school that was not air conditioned, and I remember how the layout of TDSB schools, which typically involves large windows all around the building, made the heat almost intolerable any time it hit 30°C, let alone 45°. We would close the blinds and turn off all the lights, and it would still be too hot to get anything done. And we never had to deal with temperatures anywhere near 45°C.
The fact that it got to the point where parents were pulling their kids out of schools, but the TDSB kept most schools open and has yet to dedicate extra funding to cooling these classrooms in any way whatsoever is horrible.
My hope is that the teachers’ union can pressure the TDSB to take action, because it’s clear that the school board isn’t doing enough, we’re only going to be dealing with more frequent and extreme heatwaves in the future, and this is just not safe.
