In an attempt to cover up the severe school bus driver shortage ? and "save taxpayers $", the #Ontario Conservatives are cutting school bus eligibility.
Gr 9-12: Must live over 3.2km (doubled)
Gr 4-8: >1.6km
Gr 1-3: >1.6km (doubled)
Kindergarten: >800m (doubled)
🤯 In addition, funding will NOT be provided for students who no longer meet their grade distance qualification.. even if their younger siblings do.
Can this guy be any more condescending?
Stephen #Lecce, Ontario's minister of education, who has done nothing to clean the air in our school classrooms, is pontificating on the merits of FRESH AIR.
"As I made very clear to school board leaders today, children should be outdoors for recess, benefiting from physical activity and fresh air.
Every parent knows this is critical to the mental and physical health of children everywhere.
Common sense is restored!"
Ontario’s ombudsman has announced an investigation into the Ford government’s pandemic education policy that gave parents cash [$1.8 billion bribe] to “boost their children’s learning” instead of investing in classroom learning supports or infrastructure such as improved air quality.
"Indoor air quality has a whole bunch of beneficial effects, and not a lot of detractors. If air quality is excellent, there's less disease circulating, less need to mask.
Great indoor air quality has no detractors except for governments and employers, of course. They'd have to pay." - Dr. Colin Furness - #Toronto
Ontario's Minister of Education, Stephen #Lecce.......
"Brilliant experience meeting the UK's former Prime Minister Boris Johnson with my old boss & Canada's 22nd Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
They had the backbone to stand up in the defense of democracy to the world's dictators & human rights violators, including Putin. True leadership. "
A Paris, #Ontario cattle farmer is concerned about coexisting with a proposed 400-unit subdivision. The farmland, bordered on three sides by the Grand River, has been a family farm since 1852.
More farmland gone: this farmer will likely be forced to sell - especially once the new homeowners start complaining about "the bad smell"
@gemelliz The #FordGovernment is coming to an end. Already the rats are starting to jump ship. The true die-hards like #Lecce will hang on to the very last. They’d be nobodies without #FordNation. Just like he’s an entitled nobody without his cronies. His time has come.
Another day, another #Ontario real estate swindle - the usual suspects...
NEW: The Ford government has rezoned a golf club located in the Greenbelt after direct request. The golf course was recently purchased by the Rice Group, the de Gasperis family & Mario Giampietri of Geranium Homes. Coincidentally, the govt's proposed Highway 413, is planned to run just two kilometres north of the golf course. 🤷♀️
It was a major PC donor, Mr. Quinto Annibale, who asked MPP Steve Clark to remove #Greenbelt protections from the newly purchased golf course in Caledon, mentioned above.
Mr. Annibale was also recently appointed by Premier Ford as vice-chair of the LCBO and is the same person who founded 'Vaughan Working Families' and spent $200K on ads bashing teachers.
Mr. Annibale is on the right in this group photo with Ontario's Minister of Education, Stephen #Lecce.
BREAKING: OSSTF members have voted yes on the framework to go to binding arbitration if they can't negotiate a contract in the next 30 days. It means no strikes or job action at public high schools until the next round of talks.
Education minister #Lecce wants other teachers' unions to sign the same deal.
They've said no.
👊Meanwhile...
Teachers in #Québec vote in favour of unlimited strike action.
The membership is determined to improve their work conditions. There is no intention this time to engage in half-measures. If they walk out, they walk out for good.
A staffer from the office of Ontario Education Minister, Stephen #Lecce has been charged with fraud in connection with the Royal Canadian Legion in Vaughan. Josie Fedele allegedly transferred over $33,518 from the Legion into her personal account.
@Carolepayne “Fedele has worked in MoE #Lecce’s office for several years and has been a media contact on several occasions. She previously served as president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 414.” #notvetted
Anne Frank's Diary
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Harry Potter
The Hunger Games
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Just some of the books removed from Peel District School Board #PDSB shelves under an "equity-based" selection process; a new provincial directive from the #Ontario Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce.
Less than a day after the story broke, #Ontario Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, has blamed Peel District School Board for "misinterpreting" his equity-based book weeding directive and ordered #PDSB to immediately end book banning practices in school libraries.
Too late. #Lecce
The banned books have been discarded.
Carleton MPP Goldie Ghamari is presenting a petition to reopen Munster Elementary because the OSTA won't transport students.
The PC govt she's part of is passing legislation that forces school boards to fast-sell board properties like Munster Elementary - so that those properties land in the hands of PC-friendly developers on the cheap.
sigh. And so begins #DougFord's sell-off & profitization of Ontario's public education system.
In #Bill98, his so-called "Better Schools & Student Outcomes" Act, the words Literacy, Math, & Reading appear only ONCE.
👉 Power, Sale, Lease, Property, appear 11-21 times.
Remember before the pandemic when #DougFord secretly explored moving all high school learning online?
"Ontario will be progressively increasing our e-learning enrolments for “cost savings & revenue generation.” Documents also outlined options for teenagers to obtain high school diplomas “entirely online”.
Guess what happens to schools if they’re empty?
Ford's new #Bill98 gives #Lecce the authority to sell it.
FYI #Ontario owns $60-BILLION+ in school property.
@Scienceisnotopinions
Remember when the federal government gave #DougFord Covid rapid test kits to give to the people of #Ontario and #Lecce distributed them only to private schools?
@alexblock@Scienceisnotopinions Over the past 2 years private schools, not beholden to #Lecce's "your kids are safe in schools" nonsense, have simply moved on providing its students with #Covid protections unavailable in public schools. #onpoli
#BackToSchool "... children spread the virus “very readily,”
“If you look at household outbreaks of COVID — which is one of the more common ways to get #COVID — 70 % of the time is it’s because of children bringing it home from school."
"It is important to note that during Premier #DougFord's biggest scandal, the provincial broadcaster #TVO has seen its workers go on strike. That means the public doesn't get its in-depth reporting & smart panel segments organized by great producers... The union representing TVO workers, offered to go into binding arbitration because the journalists & education workers wanted to work & cover this story — but the offer was rejected by mgmt / govt."
Unless you have a loved one in an #Ontario senior home or LTC, you likely have no idea #Covid-19 is rampant.
Neither CMOH Dr. Moore, MoH Sylvia Jones, or MPP Calandra (seniors) have stirred off their deck chairs all summer to address this.
Sienna #Woodbridge Vista, in #Lecce's riding has had a tragic record over the course of the pandemic & required Canadian military assistance.
It's currently in a faculty-wide outbreak with NO MENTION on their website. #onpoli
"Correct me if I’m wrong here, Mr. #Lecce, but are you promising free labour from the very people you refuse to bargain in good faith with? Last time I checked, teachers ran extra curriculars and sports on a VOLUNTARY basis.
So, stop with the extra curricular/sports demands unless you are paying #teachers for coaching."