There’ll be no clean sweep in this election

TDSB apologizes to voters for dirty halls in schools serving as polling stations Monday while janitors continue job action

Politics may be dirty, but Canada’s largest school board doesn’t want voters to think education is, too, as they cast ballots Monday in schools where caretakers on a work-to-rule haven’t cleaned halls in weeks.

The Toronto District School Board is preparing signs of apology to the electorate — and the public at large — that schools aren’t in their usual spit-spot shape because support workers are on work-to-rule. The signs will be offered to all schools, including the 354 to be used as polling stations Monday, said spokesman Ryan Bird.

The move was sparked by concerns from Trustee Gerri Gershon, who didn’t want people arriving to vote “to think this is how we maintain our buildings — the big ones are getting grubby . . . I’m concerned people are going to walk into filthy hallways and not know there’s strike action underway.”

It has been nearly three weeks since CUPE members stopped cleaning halls in a bid to speed up negotiations, although they continue to clean classrooms, libraries, cafeterias and gymnasiums, where many schools host polling stations, and have pledged to take action if health or safety is at risk.

“We chose not to clean hallways to point out one of the ridiculous holes in the province’s school funding formula — which doesn’t count hallways as part of a school’s square footage when they’re funding the costs of cleaning,” said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario.

The new “please-excuse-our-mess” signs will tell TDSB visitors that “as a result of ongoing job action, some areas of the school may not be maintained to the usual standards. We appreciate your understanding and patience,” said Bird.

CUPE members also have said they will not help set up school polling stations or take them down — jobs Elections Canada officials will have to do themselves and in some cases did at advance polls held in schools.

“We were in touch with local Elections Canada officials to find a solution, and the advanced polls in 16 schools went as expected with no issues,” said York Region District School Board spokesperson Licinio Miguelo. Some 160 York schools will be used as polling stations Monday.

Some high school principals in Peel Region, where 160 schools serve as polling stations, also worry about the public perception dirty floors will give Grade 8 families touring on information nights, said spokesperson Brian Woodland. Peel won’t be posting apologies or explanations, he noted, because “this is a logical impact of work-to-rule.”

While some students across the province have tweeted photos of dirty hallways, principals are hoping students and visitors “will understand that it’s not business as usual,” said Mary Linton, chair of the Toronto School Administrators’ Association, which represents principals and vice-principals at the TDSB.

“In many schools the principal is the only staff member not on a work-to-rule, so they can’t pick up a lot of other jobs,” she said.

So as talks continued Thursday between CUPE and school boards, unless there’s a breakthrough, any clean sweep on election day will come from candidates — not caretakers.