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Toronto, June 19, 2007 -
The battle between local and provincial governments over
education funding has children and adults alike demonstrating
this week to protest the planned closure of the Keele Street
Swimming Pool, one of six in Toronto slated for shut-down by
this September. Up to thirty more pool closures are planned by
2009, all due to education and infrastructure underfunding.
Public swimming pools within schools do not receive adequate
financial support from any level of government due to budgeting
conflicts within the public service. As a result, communities
may lose their pools because no level of government is
maintaining the assets.
According to
a statement by Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation
Vice President Jack Jones last fall, "The Ontario education
system is bordering on widespread and serious difficulties and
its stability is at stake because of the systemic problem of
underfunding and the provincial government's inability or
unwillingness to address the flawed funding formula."
Toronto
District School Board trustee for Parkdale-High Park, Irene
Atkinson agrees. "We were elected to represent our communities,
their needs and their aspirations," she said recently. "However
our hands are tied by an antiquated funding model which inhibits
us from doing exactly that."
Hundreds of parents and area residents will join the nearly 500
students of Keele Street Public and Mountview Alternative
Schools in the protest, which will take place outside the pool's
doors this Thursday at 8:30 AM. The goal will be to raise
awareness of the invaluable health, safety and recreational
benefits to the schools and community that's derived from
investing in their pools.
The community also seeks to gain a reprieve on the September
closures while an appropriate funding plan is prepared by all
levels of government to ensure the long-term survival of the
pools.
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