Schools urged not to ‘dawdle’ on air quality

Premier wants $50M spent on upgrades to ventilation systems by Thanksgiving

TORONTO School boards need to pick up the pace of air quality improvements as schools reopen this fall, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday, urging them not to move “on government time” as they rush to spend millions in funding allocated earlier this week.

Ford’s remarks came just days after the province told school boards they should spend $50 million by Thanksgiving to upgrade air quality in schools in an effort to bolster COVID-19 safety measures.

School boards, opposition politicians and school repair advocates said the government timeline will be difficult to meet.

But Ford said Friday the money is there, so boards need to move now as students return to the classroom in weeks.

“Everything is immediate nowadays with this pandemic,” Ford said. “We can’t wait, we can’t go on government time and dawdle along. We’ve got to go on lightning speed and get it done.”

Ford said the work would be approached differently in the private sector.

“If someone had a warehouse or something and had to put HVAC in it, it would get done in a few weeks,” he said. “So why can’t we do that in schools?”

The province announced the $50 million in funding for ventilation upgrades earlier this month. A memo from the Ministry of Education on Tuesday asked boards to “expedite” upgrades so they can be completed before the start of school.

“The ministry appreciates that some of the initiatives may require additional time, but we ask that every effort is made to bring the benefits of these investment online by Thanksgiving,” Deputy Minister of Education Nancy Naylor said in the memo.

The document also outlines best practices to improve air quality, including opening school windows to increase air flow and using portable

We can’t wait, we can’t go on government time and dawdle along. We’ve got to go on lightning speed and get it done.

air filtration units where possible.

The president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association said boards will do their best to complete the work quickly, but finishing it up by Thanksgiving will be difficult.

“The challenge is going to be making the plan to get to get the work done, and then finding people to do the work in 48 days,” Cathy Abraham said. “It might think sound like a long way off, but really, it’s a month and a half, and there’s so much else going on.”

The co-founder of the advocacy group Fix Our Schools said the province knew months ago that air quality issues would need to addressed, and it should have allocated the funding sooner.

The Canadian Press