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   There was a strong turnout Thursday for a rally against Mike Harris' education tax credit for private schools.

   Many speakers addressed the crowd … beginning with Irene Atkinson. Irene noted that an earlier incarnation of the Tories under Frank Miller went down in flames over the funding of Catholic schools.

   All of the speakers shared Atkinson's belief that the Harris tax credit is taking money out of a weakened public education system, where kids are losing things like libraries and music classes. Major protestant churches such as the United Church have also come on board to oppose funding private schools.

    Money for public education benefits everyone and Kathleen Braithwaite of the Organization of Parents for Black Children called it the delivery of inclusive schooling.

     NDP leader Howard Hampton said that pubic education is being underfunded, undervalued and undercut by a government that doesn't share our commitment for public education. Underfund, undervalue, undercut and then privatize, that's the agenda.

   The Tories are to hold 8 days of hearings in 5 communities and speakers at the rally called for 80 days of public hearings, which is what the Tories wanted on the same issue back when they were in opposition.

   Of course the Tories are in power now and a speaker from the Canadian Federation of Students asked the crowd, "What next?" Meaning will there ever be an end to the destructive policies coming out of Queen's Park?

   My own conclusion is that there won't be an end to the policies until there is an end to the government. In the absence of a workers revolution, modern times and politicians like Harris get the strongest opposition from people undergoing a long personal revolution. And out of the daily opposition the ideas for building a better society arise or are kept alive

   On the education issue a key point is that Harris is working to encourage parents not to fight for education. His policy is to teach parents that if the local public school is deteriorating, then what they must do is take a tax credit and run off with the kids to a private school. In the long run we all learn to run from the issues and not to fight for a better society. Perhaps turning us all into chickens is the ultimate goal of the Tories.

Report by Gary for citizensontheweb.com
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Ontario Teens for Education have a web site up with petitions, opinion and discussion at
http://www.rebellion2001.org/
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Mike Harris Attacks Public Education– May.18.2001
(EMERGENCY SUMMIT on publicly funded private schools)
* I include a copy of the NDP report back listing upcoming actions in this report.
   The provincial New Democratic Party held an emergency summit Thursday to plan actions to block the Harris attack on public education. A number of groups will be battling Harris on this issue and they are forming a coalition that will be holding weekly meetings.
- Read the full report
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Alumni of doomed school protest invitation to Tory power broker -  May, 2001
   A group of former students of Bathurst Heights Secondary School in Toronto are up in arms over what they are calling an inappropriate choice of keynote speaker at a ceremony to mark the school’s closing. Former Metro Chairman and Sun Media President Paul Godfrey, who has been invited to give the keynote address at the closing ceremony, is an influential behind-the-scenes figure in Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party. Bathurst Heights, which, in addition to serving the surrounding community as a high school and community centre, has been an important institution in providing adult education programs, is being shut down because Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has drastically cut funding for adult education.
    A petition being circulated states that "Inviting a prominent member of the Progressive Conservative party like Paul Godfrey to commemorate the history of a school being shut down by his party’s policies is not  merely inappropriate, but offensive to the community which is being harmed by these damaging cutbacks. Through its actions, Mr. Godfrey’s
party has shown itself to be hostile to the public education system as a whole, and to adult education in particular, and indifferent to those for whom educational opportunity means the possibility of a better future."
   An E-mail campaign to gather signatures for the petition asking that the invitation to Mr. Godfrey be withdrawn is being launched today.
For more information contact:
Ulli Diemer or Dr. Miriam Garfinkle
Phone: 416-964-1249
E-mail: respectbathurst@sources.com
Web site: www.connexions.org/respectbathurst.htm
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OCAP - call for Youth -  Wed, 16 May 2001
   Youth in Ontario are robbed of their dignity.  We are bored and unstimulated by school, we have little access to things we need to enrich our lives and better our selves.  We are viewed as criminals and it makes us targets of harassment from the police and other authorities.  These problems aren't new, but since the Mike Harris government has taken office the problems of youth have gotten significantly worse.
   The Mike Harris government has made a series of attacks on youth in this province.  There has been increased criminalization of youth through changes to the young offenders act, laws attacking squeegee kids, and by creating privatized youth "boot camp" prisons.
   The Tory government has drastically altered the education system, slashed billions from its budget, and created conflict between students, teachers and the boards of education. At the end of the day school is an even worse place.
   Through the cuts he has made, the Harris government destroyed many of the social services that were meeting the needs of youth.
   In partnership with a broader campaign to defeat Harris, we are organizing to take action this fall.  We intend to disrupt the economy and infrastructure of the province.  At the same time we will have some of the needs of youth met through our actions.
   Our emphasis will be on high school walkouts, but students will take on other actions, some will block highways and intersections, others take over classrooms for teach-ins or start food fights in cafeterias.  We will confront politicians, school bureaucrats and those particularly heinous teachers.  In some communities we will distribute condoms, in others we will put up basketball nets, and throw parties.
   As high school students and youth we are making a call.  We call on the youth of this province to take a stand, to better their lives, and to attack the interests of a common enemy.
   To get involved or endorse the campaign contact
the Toronto High School Student Flying Squad:
fighting_kids@hotmail.com
 Or phone us care of O.C.A.P.:  416-925-6939
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Public Education Threatened - May.11.2001
(The NDP on the Harris Budget)
The NDP will not stand by while the Conservatives and their Liberal friends destroy Ontario's public school system, NDP Leader Howard Hampton said today.  The NDP will hold an emergency summit meeting next week to begin the campaign against the Tory assault on public schools. The non-partisan summit will be held at Queen's Park on Thursday, May 17 and a wide range of educators, parents, students, principals and stakeholders are being invited.  For information about attending and participating in the summit, phone Abigail at 416-325-3260.
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Concordia University seeks to purge Student Activists through secret trial!
Info from Tom Keefer and Christina Xydous (accused students)
   April 4th, 2001 ---  Two student activists at Concordia University may be expelled for their roles in peacefully opposing the Canadian Army and CSIS for their efforts to clamp down on anti-FTAA dissent.
   CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY (Montreal) - Concordia Student Union (CSU) executives Tom Keefer, VP-Communications, and Christina Xydous, VP-External, have recently had charges brought against them under the university's Code of Rights and Responsibilities following two peaceful student protests which took place in February against the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) respectively for their role in suppressing dissent at the up-coming Summit of Americas in Quebec City as well as their role over the years in criminalizing activism.  Keefer and Xydouss trial date has been set for Thursday April 5th at 5:00pm.
   The two CSU executives have been singled out and charged with creating, or threatening to create, a condition which unnecessarily endangers or threatens the health, safety or well-being of another member or group of members or threatens the damage or destruction of property. Shuld Keefer and Xydous be found guilty they may be fined, suspended or expelled from Concordia University.
   The defendants have in their possession evidence (film, eye-witness accounts, photos, etc.) that prove that the above charge is nothing short of a gross exaggeration and political frame-up for the purposes of ridding the university administration of two of their most vocal critics.
   In addition, the Concordia Student Union has very serious doubts as to the very legitimacy of the Student Hearing Board.  None of the students currently sitting on the Hearing Board were ever appointed by the CSU, a legal right the union gained during the last academic term after a successful accreditation drive.  Instead, the university administration has set up the appointments process in order to chose the jurors who will be involved in this case. Furthermore, the university has refused to open the hearing to the public and the press and seeks to impose strict time limits on deliberations and presentation of evidence.
   Please take a stand in support of students right to protest against the Army and CSIS.  Send an email supporting the charged student protestors to csu@csu.tao.ca or call 514-848-7394 to express your support for the protestors.
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Solutions to the Commercialization of University Research– March.17.2001

   Nancy Oliveri addressed the issue of the Commercialization of University Research at last night's memorial lecture in memory of Eric Fawcett of Scientists for Peace.

   University research has become controlled by Transnational Corporations and the private sector at the expense of the public good. Scientists that in any way oppose the corporate agenda do not get funds. They get knocked down on the totem pole or fired.

   The current establishment of Corporations, Government, and University Administrators likes to see the results of scientific experiments as neutral and not good or bad. Value-free is a term they use. They feel that debate on controversial Issues must take place inside of science and outside of the public domain. Research must not be stopped unless it can be proved scientifically that it is causing harm. It is no longer necessary to prove that research is of any benefit to the public. It need only be beneficial to corporate profits.

   Generally ethics have been tossed out the window by the drug companies and their controlled government/university flunkies. And Ursula Franklin addressed this problem at the lecture when she said, "We don't need to know more, we need to know better."

   Nancy listed six things that are wrong with the commercialization of university research and then proposed some solutions.

1.  The commercialization of university research leaves commercial forces directing the questions. Questions that may not lead to a profit or may shed light on harm caused by corporations and their products do not get asked.
2.  The commercialization of university research directs the way questions are answered. As the answers must be favourable to corporate sponsors.
3.  The commercialization of university research decides who asks the questions and who answers them as scientists that try to be honest are not promoted and often get fired.
4.  The commercialization of university research benefits the interests of private corporations against the interests of the public. And public funds get used in the private interest.
5.  The commercialization of university research threatens public health as the health protection branch has been completely deregulated.
6.  The commercialization of university research threatens the public trust as the hidden agenda of the private sector is not one the public can have confidence in.

Solutions
1. Genuine public money must be given to granting foundations. It must be money that has no strings attached. There should be public funds to match every industry dollar.
2. Ties between university administrators and drug companies must be prohibited. Currently they receive all kinds of trips and gifts from the drug companies.
3. There must be an end to the corrupt use of Overhead Funding. Deans are currently routing money to industry favoured investigators. Monies should be placed in a fund that is administered by a genuinely independent panel. And funding should be awarded on a competitive basis to all faculties and not just to medicine.
4. The public funder must maintain independence from corporate interests. There should be an independent panel and the membership of it should not be revealed to the drug companies.
5. A portion of the profits from all research must be returned to the public.
6. We must strengthen the health branch so the universities don't privatize their profits and socialize their losses.

These notes by Gary Morton
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New Education Issues Site -University of Windsor Access 2000 Committee
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ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE 'QUASHES' U OF T IN LANDMARK DECISION - Thu, 08 Mar 2001
From: ov@campuslife.utoronto.ca (Oriel Varga)

**** Courts Rule In Favour of Students in Critical Victory for Campus Democracy ****

     (TORONTO)-Chris Ramsaroop, former President of the Students' Administrative Council (SAC) of the University of Toronto has won a landmark decision against the Governing Council of U of T.  Ramsaroop initially was denied his right to run in the upcoming Governing Council election based on a technicality within the election guidelines. Earlier today Justice Matlow of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice overruled the decision of the University's Chief Returning Officer and required U of T to accept his nomination for the upcoming elections.
     Mr. Ramsaroop, an outspoken critic of the university says the decision to not allow him to run was politically motivated.
     "I have never been afraid of challenging the University of Toronto on issues such as systemic discrimination, tuition increases, corporatization and the lack of democracy within their governance structure.  I am convinced that their actions are in response to my strong criticism that they have threatened accessible public education at U of T."
     Ramsaroop argued for a judicial review on the matter stating that the GC election guidelines violated the U of T Act. He also argued that the election guidelines disallowed bona fide students from running for election due to an arbitrary clause that conflicted with the U of T Act. The courts today sided with Mr. Ramsaroop and ruled in his favour.
     The decision of Judge Matlow's judicial review orders the university to:
"quash the decision of the Chief Returning Officer of the Governing Council declaring the applicant's nomination form to be invalid and requires the Governing Council to accept the nomination of the applicant and allow him to run in the pending election. Paragraph IV a) ii of the Election Guidelinesis in conflict with section 2.5 of the University of Toronto and is no force or effect".
     "The Governing Council Secretariat had a strict obligation in law according to the U of T Act in the best interest of  U of T. The actions of  the Chief Electoral Officer in excluding a bona fide student from running for office runs contrary to that duty and that's exactly what the decision of Mr. Justice Matlow has affirmed" says Selwyn Pieters, Human Rights Activist, former member of the Academic Board of U of T and Law Student, Osgoode Hall Law School.
     Emily Sadowski a representative from the Equity Studies Student Union was ecstatic concerning today's decision "This victory sets a crucial precedent against the university and their continued practices of limiting democracy within the governance structure. This is the first step in increasing transparency to a structure which is shrouded in secrecy"
     Mr. Ramsaroop and his supporters will be attending U of T's Governing Council meeting this Thursday, March 8, 2001 to raise questions concerning the invalidation of the nomination of another part time student David Melville. They are asking concerned community members to come to Simcoe
Hall (27 King's College Circle) at 4:00 p.m. to support Mr. Melville in his struggle to run for Governing Council and answer questions concerning this landmark decision.
For More Information call:
Selwyn Pieters          416-921-9356
Emily Sadowski          416-925-0208
Chris Ramsaroop         416-832-4932
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Tories Torment Kids with School Uniforms- Feb.2001
    Parents can demand school uniforms or dress codes under new provincial regulations.
   Education Minister Janet Ecker said all school boards must create a policy by June that will guide parents in making their choice.
   School boards must create policies that allow a majority of parents at a school to decide what is an appropriate dress policy for students.
   School uniform policies will have to respect religious or cultural differences and take into account affordability.
   Apparently the new regulations don't take into account the desires of the kids who have to wear the uniforms. They don't have a vote on the issue.
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Ontario High School Students Protest - Oct.1.2000
Teachers, Harris/Ecker and School Boards Rocked by Student Protests
   High School students across Ontario have been walking out of school to protest education cuts, lack of sports and extracurricular activities. Some have seized playgrounds that are about to be demolished.

1.   Students at Jarvis Collegiate Institute walked out of class last week to protest the lack of extracurricular activities. Jarvis has no basketball teams, chess clubs, dances or trips and they must share resources such as textbooks. Students say they are fed up with provincial cuts to education and how they are affecting already overworked teachers.

2.   At Brock High School in Cannington students faced suspensions after walking out. Some returned after attending a forum with local trustee Nancy Loraine.

3.    In Aurora 200 pupils of Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School left their classroom to protest the elimination of extracurricular activities. They marched to the York Region District School Board demanding the return of after-school sports and clubs.
   Many of them feel teachers are using students as bargaining tools in their fight with the province over legislation making extracurricular activities a mandatory part of the job.

4.   In Toronto a fiasco engineered by Mike Harris and the Board of Education saw playgrounds demolished across the city. In place of the play equipment the trustees are putting in garbage cans postered with advertisements. Last weeks students at Inglenook Community High School had enough of this silliness and occupied their playground to halt its demolition.

5.   In Durham the board suspended about 200 students after they protested. Students are being forced to agree to conditions that remove their right to protest as guaranteed under the charter of rights - suspensions are lifted on the condition that the students not participate in any more walkouts.
   The walkout began with students at Henry Street High School. Student Katie Rushton says students made protest flyers on the issue of Durham region's lack of after school activities/programs. The flyers were handed out to the students at Henry Street, Anderson, Auston, Sinclair etc. . . . and a group session was held to talk about the walkout.
   After teachers threatened suspensions students put together a petition. 250 students at Henry Street signed it. Later they walked out, police were called and students still in class were ordered to stay inside. Joined by the principal the protesters walked to the Durham Board and joined students from Sinclair, Anderson and Auston.
   Signs said We Want Our Sports, Honk For Sports, etc. At present Henry Street's football team won't be competing against other football teams. Students feel many teachers are lazy and could be working to provide sports.
   Katie says Henry Street students plan to protest every Friday at Sinclair until they get sports. The Board is working to make this difficult, giving student organizer (Munroe) a five day suspension that they may up to 20 days. Other students that protested have three-day suspensions.
   Teachers are informing students of the "proper" way to protest. (And maybe how to be ineffective, as the sort of weak protests offered by teachers and trustees accomplish nothing)

   Student leaders currently say they are giving Janet Ecker (MPP of Pickering) one week and if there are no results, they will walk out again.
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Background - Who is to blame here?

   I would say that everyone but the students is to blame. Students are caught in the middle of a war between various forces of petty tyranny. Teachers and unions do use students as bargaining chips. Trustees and board officials often display a degree of pettiness and incompetence that is unequaled - like in Toronto where they will vote through all sorts of nutty stuff while refusing to listen to parents and students.

   The largest root of the problem is the Harris Government.  If Pierre Trudeau was trying to build the Just Society, Mike Harris has been working feverishly to build the Unjust Society.

   This is especially evident in education. Harris has taken a system that barely balanced the forces of parents, teachers, students, unions, trustees and government and thrown it into chaos. Harris' cuts (made at a time of surplus) close schools, kill sports, arts, special education and other programs.

   Some of Harris' meddling with the school system more properly belongs in a totalitarian nation. Harris and Ecker are real tyrants and not just petty.

   The Tory Education Accountability Act stops union reps from setting foot on school property. Education Minister Janet Ecker now has the power to change board-approved curriculums. She can assign passing or failing grades to any student dependant upon the amount of resistance the student has made to school-board or ministry policies and regulations. She can expel students for any reason at all, and suspend teachers for any reason at all. Any decision made by Ecker cannot be challenged or reviewed by a court. Boards are not allowed to protect their employees. The Minister may, at any time, incur the costs of the provincial level of education operation upon any school board, and the Minister may direct any school/board funds away from the schools to anywhere the Minister deems appropriate, and such funds may not be reviewed or traced.

   In a nutshell, Mike Harris' education policies are nuts. But that doesn't give teachers and board officials an excuse to jump in and victimize students even more.

   If Harris, trustees and teachers ever come to their senses, high school kids will get their activities back and younger children will have playgrounds.

   But don't count on it. Politicians like to talk about sports and the Olympics, and then they make sure that kids can't play in any game.

   Students should exercise their right to protest, and show the courage that their elders do not have. If every kid in Ontario walked out, they would have to do something.

By Gary Morton
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Toronto Playground Seized - Sept.28.2000
   The Toronto School Board's merciless demolition of school playgrounds hit another snag yesterday. Downtown students have seized a playground that was marked for demolition at historic Inglenook School on Sackville St. The high school students say they are defending the playground for younger neighborhood children. They have plastered their school with banners and are asking motorists to honk in support.
   Liberal M.P.P. George Smitherman appealed for Queen's Park to intervene and save Toronto's few remaining allegedly unsafe school playgrounds but Education Minister Janet Ecker declined.
School Board Ignores Voice of Parents
   Yesterday trustees voted down a parent supported motion proposal that surplus money from any sale or rental of school property should be set aside to rebuild the playgrounds torn down by the school board.
   "They seem always to forget to consult parents," said Sheila Carey-Meighen of Ward 12's Parents Committee.
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Funding needed for students' extracurricular activities.
BILL 74  The Minister of Education declined the opportunity she was given by the NDP yesterday to explain her strategy for dealing with the crisis in education that Conservative policies have wrought.  Today, education critic
Rosario Marchese gave the minister another chance to right the wrongs of Bill 74 and provide needed funding for students' extracurricular activities.
Marchese referred to parents of Henry Street High School in Durham, angry about barred doors and police presence when they went to the school to complain about 200 students being suspended for protesting the lack of
extracurricular activities.  "You have caused the problem with Bill 74. You are now asking the board of education to take responsibility and fix the problem. When are you going to fix this mess that you have started so that the escalation of confrontation doesn't spread to the rest of Ontario?" Marchese demanded.  Predictably, the minister's response was evasive.
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Corporate Ads to Replace Razed Toronto Playgrounds - Sept.22.2000
   They have millions and millions to build a new School Board HQ. They have no funds for running, swimming, music, art, adult education, etc. And they especially have no money to replace the 27.5 million dollars worth in school playgrounds they are tearing out.
   Why is the Toronto School Board doing this to us? Are school playgrounds unsafe as they say? Well now the answer appears to be no. Children's play is to be replaced with more profitable corporate advertising. Ads targeting schoolchildren are to be put into the empty playgrounds.
   The pilot project has been endorsed by the Toronto District School Board's Business Opportunities Office. Advertising will be pasted on the sides of new garbage bins OMG Media is currently installing. The school board refuses to reveal details of the deal and defends the program as an opportunity to clean up littered schoolyards and promote recycling.
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School Issues - Megacity Election - Sept.19.2000
Poor Left Out in Council Plans to Replace Razed Playgrounds - Sept.20.2000
   A new plan by Toronto City Council to help parents, schools, and neighbourhoods replace torn-down playgrounds is unfair to children in less well-off neighbourhoods. Playground equipment in over 170 schools was torn out by the Board of Education because it was deemed to be unsafe.
   The city will match the funds that parent councils can raise. Parents in well-off neighbourhoods can raise more money than parents in poorer areas, so the new equipment they can afford will be superior.
   There is also more devastating news coming as the Board of Education meets today. Plans are to cut $15-million or so out of local schools by eliminating 800 lunch-room supervisors, psychologists, social workers, music teachers and others.
   $300-million annually is taken out of the Toronto system by Mike Harris. Inner-city funding has been reduced from $180-million annually to $49-million and 52.5 million more must be cut city-wide to satisfy Harris' funding formula. 30 more schools are to be closed, librarians wil be fired, swimming pools will be drained and special-education programs cut.
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   As part of his plan to destroy education in Toronto Mike Harris amalgamated the school boards into one huge board. In this scheme, the Tories now funnel billions of education dollars out of Toronto every year. The newly elected trustees make so little the job is hardly worth it. But a number of trustees were elected and they have made some big mistakes.
   At first they tried to fight the Harris cuts, then School Board head Gail Nyberg gave in and began to put them through. Acting like Harris, trustees began to ignore public input. 400 residents stormed the board trying to save adult education. And instead of listening to them, trustees went into a back room and voted away adult education programs, leaving the most vulnerable in society (those without a high school education) without hope.
   Currently we see Mayor Lastman along with Mike Harris and federal MPs across the water at the Olympics. While they boast of the great Olympic City Toronto will be, our high school sports teams are shutting down. The reason is user fees. For example - a team that paid $5,000 in user fees to use a gym regularly now finds those costs at about $55,000. They can't afford it, so there is no team. Incumbent trustees are doing little about this other than talking about arranging easier payment plans.
   If Mel Lastman and Mike Harris and the Prime Minister want to help sports in Toronto, why don't they cough up the cash so our kids can play? And why don't they eliminate the user fees for good?
   Recently Toronto's School Board decided to raze playgrounds across the city. To replace all of this equipment will cost us 27.5 million dollars. How did this happen? Well - it started when the province's Ministry of Community and Social Services under John Baird okayed new safety standards for equipment at day-care centres.  Day care is connected with schools and Baird didn't bother to oversee the matter. His failure set a deal in motion that everyone failed to stop.
   Experts and insurance people called for the razing of unsafe playgrounds, the school board went ahead without further study or consultation. Other experts involved in the standards only spoke out after the playgrounds were razed, saying it wasn't necessary. The provincial Ministry of Education didn't stop it and the Ministry of Community and Social Services didn't stop it. The School Board in its arrogance disallowed community hearings and consultations that would have brought the facts out.
   So here we have government by experts and bully politicians at its worst, and we now know how much it can cost when the community is not allowed to scrutinize the actions of government.
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Harris Efficiency Experts to put the screws to Universities- Sept.18.2000
   Mike Harris has a new way of convincing Ontario's universities and community colleges to do business its way. Dianne Cunningham, Minister Colleges and Universities is creating an Investing in Students Task Force. It will study existing college and university administrative operations and receive proposals on new technologies and best practices that could help institutions run their shops more efficiently.
   Funds for schools will be tied to cooperation with the Task Force's demands.
   Best Practice is the term efficiency experts used when they tied Ontario's hospitals in knots and created a crisis in emergency rooms and health care in general.
   The Harris Task Force will, if anything, create a crisis at our colleges and universities
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Ontario Teachers at War with Harris - Aug.20000
   Teachers are again at war with Mike Harris and the media is not really telling the public why. Here are Nathan Drecher's bare facts on Bill 74, the new Harris anti Education bill.

BILL 74 - EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
* Restricts the collective bargaining power of teachers unions by not allowing union representatives to set foot on school property, to approach a teacher during school hours or to spend more than 15 hours a month talking to teachers.
* Gives all teachers 1 extra class to teach per semester, changing the amount of work a teacher must complete PER DAY from 1250 minutes to 6.67 classes.
* All teachers will receive a minimum of 25 extra students to teach a day.
* Principles will have the power to ignore and/or over-ride any collective agreements reached by the teachers unions.
* The Education Minister will have the power to, at any time, change board-approved curriculums, assign passing or failing grades to any student dependant upon the amount of resistance the student has made to school-board and/or ministry policies and regulations, expel students for any reason at all, and suspend teachers for any reason at all.
* Extra-curricular activities can be forced upon any teacher at anytime of the year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without pay and regardless of collective agreements reached by teachers unions.
* ANY DECISIONS MADE BY THE MINISTER CANNOT BE CHALLENGED, NOR CAN THEY BE REVIEWED BY A COURT.
* Boards will not be allowed to protect their employees.  Any board which makes a move which is contrary to Ministry guidelines, or which HINTS at making such a move, can be suspended and/or fined.
* Boards are no longer subject to collective agreements reached by the teachers unions.
* The Minister may, at any time, incur the costs of the provincial level of education operation upon any school board.
* The Minister may direct any school/board funds away from the schools to anywhere the Minister deems appropriate, and such funds may not be reviewed or traced.
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Teachers Walk out on Janet Ecker -Aug.2000
Mike Harris' education minister stepped up to deliver a speech to the province's elementary school teachers, and half of more than 600 delegates stood up and walked out on her.
   Those that stayed called for her resignation and hollered "shame, shame!" as she left.
   "There's nothing she can say," kindergarten teacher Edith Shore said. "She has no backbone and is just a puppet for Mike Harris."
   Grade 4 teacher Eileen Markwick said there's been nothing but cutbacks and a lack of respect from the Harris government.
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Ecker Strapped by Teachers - July.2000
   Teachers heckled Education Minister Janet Ecker this week when she visited a summer school in Oshawa to outline her government's new plans for professional testing.
   400 teachers attending professional training erupted into heckling and catcalls, with teachers repeatedly questioning Ecker over class sizes, the new curriculum, the Education Accountability Act and the new teacher testing regime.
   One teacher shouted: "I'm tired of being trashed by the government.''  This was in reference to the Harris Government's endless attack on the teachers through legislation and the media.
   Another teacher noted that while the province has decreed that average class size in high schools should not be more than 25 students, some teachers have up to 35 students in one class.
    A retired teacher set the mood when Ecker took the first sip of a glass of water beside her podium.
   "Ms. Ecker, I hope you're drinking bottled water,'' he said.
   In the end Ecker got forced from the podium as teachers shouted LIAR!
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Harris Sticks Parents with $80,000 Playground Bill - July.2000
   Many playgrounds in Ontario schools are being demolished, as they don't meet new provincial safety standards that Mike Harris adopted last year.
   Parents will have to pay for new equipment themselves at a cost of up to $80,000 - an exorbitant new user fee.
   NDPer Marilyn Churley says that either the Ministry of Education should provide the money to school boards or a specially dedicated government fund for replacing play equipment should be established.
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Parents Protest Education Bill - June.2000
Bill 74, the Education Accountability Act passed third reading by a vote of 52-42.
   The act allows the education minister to intervene in local school board decisions. It was strongly opposed by parent groups, teacher unions and local board officials.
   During the vote parents in the public galleries tied gags around their mouths and held up pictures of their children. Annie Kidder, of People for Education, said the silent protest was meant to demonstrate how the bill will take away the voice of parents and local school trustees.
   Mike Harris and friends can now interfere directly in the day-to-day business of school boards.
   We've seen what he can do for the water.
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Latest Harris Bills Worse than any Riot - June.20.2000
   Teachers are picketing at the legislature tonight as more of Mike Harris' rotten education legislation has gone through. The latest education changes by Harris could be called outright dangerous police state stuff. A recent post from Rick Jones outlines some the frightening things in the Yechhhhter's recent education bills. It is not a nice trend. The post is below.

   Also coming in is Bill 68, known as 'Brian's Law. It brings in police state squads to force medication on folks with psychiatric problems, and there are a lot of them or us in society. The No Force! Coalition will be holding a press conference tomorrow (June.21) at one PM, in the Media Studio at Queen's Park.  (Ground floor, go to the left after entering through the main doors).

   If the current June 15th trend continues, the first psychiatric patients attended to by the Force Drugs on 'Em Squad will fight back. They will be accused of rioting, charged with assault police, and reporters will write many articles on how their actions accomplished nothing and may scare society into bringing in more repressive police measures.

   Same goes for teachers. Wave those placards very slowly, or the horseback police might charge in, and say later that all those funny glasses prove that teachers wanted a fight.

   Here's the article on the education changes.

   The Harris government's plans to bring in private universities are seen as so odious by the public that they had to bar students and deny them access to a supposedly public news conference.

   "It's a disaster, a total disaster. We're not going quietly into the night on this one," said student leader Joel Harden.

   Furious protesters had the same idea as they disrupted the Tory news conference at Seneca College. Ontario's Minister of Colleges and Universities, Dianne Cunningham was shouted down, and had to run to another room to finish her statement. Under her plan, American-style universities will compete with the province's 17 public institutions. They can operate on a for-profit basis.

   Faculty and student critics say that private universities will increase access only for those rich enough to pay the substantially higher tuition fees and will drain resources from the underfunded public university sector. Post-secondary education is becoming increasingly inaccessible to students from low-income families, so that is where the spending and policy priorities should be.

   Faculty association representatives say that the proposal will not be cost-free as the government claims and could lead to the establishment of second-rate diploma mills.

   Others think that the Harris Government is creating the elite institutions in hopes of creating more Americanized Ontarians - citizens that will readily accept the future elimination of social programs and public institutions.

   New Private Universities do get taxpayer support as students will be eligible for taxpayer-supported student loans and faculty will be eligible for publicly supported research grants. Donations to non-profit private universities will be tax deductible. Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty says,"Show me a private, American university, I will show you public money."  McGuinty believes the government has opted to create a two-tier, U.S.-style system that will offer prestige degrees for the rich and second-rate diplomas for the poor.

    Ms. Cunningham said there will be a month of public consultations on the proposals, including the establishment of a quality assessment board, which will oversee the degree programs offered by private universities.

   In general there is no public demand or support for the Harris plan. Students, university professors, politicians and members of citizens groups are outraged. Many are demanding a referendum on this issue, and there should be one.

   A recent study shows that a private university will cost a student as much as four times more than publicly funded universities. And the Tories know that if they get away with this they will be over the hump. They will have broken the opposition and the public voice. Leaving them free to forge ahead with the complete Americanization of Ontario.

   A Tory supporter puts it succinctly in a letter to citizens on the web.

   "Private Universities are as important as Armageddon to us. It's best not to oppose us. We'll break whomever we have to break, and in the end lib-left professors and educators will be turfed out of the education system in Ontario."
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Conservatives killing language classes - April 26, 2000
From the NDP -  The Conservative government is killing international language classes in our schools when they are most needed in our globalized economy,
NDP Education Critic Rosario Marchese said today.
 "The priorities of this government are ludicrous. The Conservatives are scrapping a key component for attracting business. Ontario is faced with a critical need to connect with other markets and other cultures. Giving students international language tools is the only way to keep our society competitive," said Marchese.
   Toronto's Catholic and public school boards are considering scrapping daytime language classes that include Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Swahili, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. Also at risk are daytime Black Heritage programs. School boards are being forced to deal with extreme financial pressures because of the Conservatives' new funding formula.
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Harris launches red tape war on teachers - April.23.00 - Despite huge cuts to education in Ontario Mike Harris plans to create an expensive bureaucracy to monitor marks, behaviour and graduation prospects of every student. He also wants to set up another agency to measure the achievements of every school board.
   Teachers' participation in extra curricular activities is to be made mandatory, and as an olive branch teachers will be allowed to suspend students on the spot.
   It borders on police state control of education by the Harris Cabinet, and the largest victims are students (victims of the cuts) who get watched and disciplined at every point.
   On May 3rd Parents for Education will hold a discussion on the role of school boards at Metro Hall, Room 308 at 7 p.m., with speakers who have seen similar upheavals in New Brunswick, New Zealand and England.
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Whiz Kids - The Tory Education Chicken Can't Fly - Apr.14.00
   Harris and company have thrown it in our faces for months. They are going to test all teachers. Problem is how do you do it? It seems the whiz kids that advise Harris never thought it out.
   In a statement that tossed egg back into the faces of Tories, the Ontario College of Teachers says mandatory teacher tests won't fly. University graduates wanting careers in education are the only ones that should write competency examinations.
   Education Minister Janet Ecker requested this study, only to have it reveal that Tory education policies are infantile.
   The college searched the planet for a competency exam and couldn't find one. They couldn't find any test has been successful. It has been tried in the United States and it failed.
   Deputy registrar Joe Atkinson was forceful and blunt with his conclusions. "There is no such test available," he stated. "It is not in existence. There is no test of a teacher that is currently employed that determines whether they should be certified or re-certified."
   Does this mean it is Tories who should go back to school?
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Toronto School Trustees Vote 17-3 to Defy Harris - Mar.30.00
   In a move that is sure to enrage Education Minister Janet Ecker, Toronto trustees have voted not to implement any further budget cuts because of the province's funding formula.
   The motion serves notice to the province that the board will not jeopardize public education. Board chair Gail Nyberg said the motion "is about articulating what we really feel about our kids. . . . We know at the end of the day that this funding model does not work."
   Parents cheered trustees over the vote last night and say they hope other boards will take a similar stance..
   Trustees also voted 13-7 to ban the Youth News Network from Toronto schools. The  network included commercials in its broadcasts to students.
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Study Warns Against Harris' Private Universities - March 29, 2000 - A new report proves conclusively that the Ontario Conservatives should abandon their plans to open the province to private universities, NDP Education Critic Rosario Marchese said today.
   Marchese praised the report issued by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, which exposes the true public costs of private post-secondary institutions.
   "Most damaging, the Conservative government is encouraging a bid by the scandal-ridden, for-profit University of Phoenix to open up shop," Marchese said. "Premier Harris should read this report, drop his privatization schemes and commit to providing adequate investments in accessible, quality public colleges and universities."
   The new OCUFA study also notes that if Premier Harris allows even one commercial university in the door, NAFTA and other trade agreements would force the government to give other enterprises the same opportunity.  This could force taxpayers to provide public money to the private operations on an equal basis with public universities, Marchese said.
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Toronto School Board - Motion to Fight Mike Harris - Important TDSB meeting - From: annie kidder <ericann@the-wire.com>
   On Wednesday, March 29 at 6:30 the Toronto District School Board will vote on a motion which reads: "that aside from reductions  resulting from amalgamation, harmonization of programs and services, and prudent management decisions, the Toronto District School Board commit itself, in
principle, to no more school closures or reductions to programs and services due to the inadequate allocations in the provincial funding model.
And that the board's position be communicated to the Minister of Education and all other school boards in Ontario."
    The Kawartha Pine Ridge Board, in the Peterborough area, has passed a motion supporting the Greater Essex Board who two weeks ago voted to refuse to make any more cuts.
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Canadian Action Party Essay Contest: Why Canada Is Worth Saving  -  Tues, 28 Mar 2000
($120,000 in University/College Scholarships, Travel, and Other Prizes.)
   Canada is endangered by NAFTA and Globalization. CAP is running an essay contest on the subject with substantial prizes.
 - Read the details -  contest rules and addresses.
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Justice for Doctor Kin-Yip Chun - Mar 5.00 (Mobilization Against Racism at the University of Toronto)
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Lawyers call new Harris school code undemocratic - Mar. 22.00 - Mike Harris' plan to give classroom teachers the arbitrary power to suspend students is being denounced by civil-rights lawyers.
   Decisions to suspend should always be made by impartial third parties, and only after the students have been given the right to defend themselves, said Allan Borovoy of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
   Under the new code principals would have the authority to expel students without the full hearing school boards now require.
   Critics in the education system say Harris wants to toss problem kids out of the education system. They don't want to pay for programs to help them. Positions in student guidance have already been cut by Harris, and the sense of community loss embodied in school closures has led to more bad behaviour.
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Councilor Defends Squeegee Program - Mar.22.00 -  Councillor Brad Duguid, chairman of the
community services committee, says a proposal to save the city $250,000 by scrapping the Squeegee Kid Diversion Program would actually cost taxpayers $600,000. The program helps street youth learn life skills and move out of shelters. It saves the city more money than it costs.
   It costs us $18,000 to shelter one person for one year. 33 youths who found permanent housing through the program saved the taxpayers $600,000, and that doesn't include things like social assistance and health care.
   The Harris Government promotes an anti squeegee attitude through its Safe Streets Act. Recent educational material sent to schools reveals that the Tories would rather have kids learn to load guns.
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New Alternative Independent School - Mar.17.00
   VOICE is a new, independent Middle School, unique in Toronto, using a global issues based curriculum. Equity, social justice issues, democratic process, cooperation, high standards of academic achievement.
   Linking learners, families, communities & cultures.  Inspiring the active, analytical, creative & compassionate voice of learners.
   This is our start-up year, but not the start of this vision. Marie Lardino is a gifted educator, and passionate, dedicated spokesperson for Global Education philosophy, as spearheaded by Dr. David Selby at OISE, U of T. Dr. Selby has offered to be an Advisor for our school, as Ms. Lardino collaborates with him for International presentation of this philosophy. Her specialty is 'Democracy in the Classroom'. Rather a timely topic, given the turn in public school violence and faltering conflict resolution implementation.
   Accepting applications for September 2000 enrollment into Grade 7.
   School site to be in Southeast Toronto (near Beaches).
   *NEXT INFO NIGHT* Tues, Apr 4, 7:30 to 9 p.m, Beaches Rec Centre, 6 Williamson Road, just
north of Queen E. & Lee.
   Info: Marie 416-691-4023 allanmarie@home.com or Julei 416-693-7440  jlynnb@sympatico.ca
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Teachers - silent protest against Harris Education Minister - Mar.14.00
   500 teachers greeted Education Minister Janet Ecker with a stony silence at the annual meeting of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation. Ecker then offered to take questions but for several embarrassing minutes the only sound inside the cavernous convention hall came from an unnerved Ecker asshe tried to engage the audience.
   She repeated the province's plan to hold teachers to a stringent new definition of instructional time.  And she repeated Mike Harris' threat to make voluntary after school activities mandatory.
   After Ecker's speech federation president Earl Manners said that the government is trying to provoke teachers into a  "war of words."
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Harris Picks Petty Scrap with Teachers - Mar.12.00 - Premier Mike Harris can't stay out the classroom, and to continue his new eye-scratching match with teachers he says he will force them to run after-school sports and clubs this fall - whether they like it or not. He has also boosted the amount of time teachers must teach each day - which  could lead to high school strikes this fall.
   Harris  will pass a law forcing teachers to provide extracurricular activities this September. More than two-thirds of all Canadian teachers already run at least one after-school activity and it is hard to imagine how Harris expects to force teachers to run programs that are voluntary.
   Earl Manners says that If they're taking a voluntary activity and making it compulsory, that would be overtime.  It sounds like Harris wants something for nothing.
   Harris' new attack on teachers has not caught fire with parents, many worry about the sinking morale and the fact that Harris wants to push people over the edge. The whole thing may be a smoke screen to hide the issue of funding cuts. The government wants an issue where it can appear to be on the moral high ground, defending students.
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Windsor school board rebels against Harris - Mar.00
   The province has forced school boards into open rebellion as its school funding formula guts education, disrupts communities and sort-changes sudents. Adult education is already lost. 133 schools are slated to close. Kindergarten children must travel to distant schools.
   Windsor Essex now says it won't make cuts that will further harm children in its schools. The board has already chopped $35 million. It refuses to cut another $12 million.
   Education Minister Janet Ecker wrote a tough letter saying it is illegal for school boards to submit a budget that includes plans to deliberately run a deficit. But lawyer Clayton Ruby called this a bullying letter and dismissed the claim of illegality as ust not true. Ecker can order school trustees to make the cuts, he pointed out. Or she can make them herself if the trustees resign.
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Students Cheer as Banks Quit Student Loans Program - Mar.9.00
   The feds are taking over the Canada Student Loans Program after failing to reach a deal with three of the country's biggest banks. The Human Resources Department stepped in because the financial institutions wanted additional compensation for risk. The government must now borrow $1.5 billion to lend students money in the next school year. It must also hire a company to administer the loans.
   To make the takeover more economical the government could look at borrowing the the 1.5 billion from its own bank of Canada and in this way avoid paying excessive interest to private banks.
   Ottawa offered a risk premium of $155 million to the banks and they wanted even more. This can only be construed as greed when draconian laws covering students make them nearly a no risk group. Students have to undergo extensive credit checks by the banks, and cannot declare bankruptcy until 10 years after graduation.
   Student associations across the country celebrated the government's decision to take over all new loans, accusing the banks of putting profit above people.
   "Under the banks, the program became much more about profit and greed than it did about opportunity and access to education," said Michael Conlon of the Canadian Federation of Students.
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Harris - Soul of Education Sold to Corporate Welfare Bums - Mar.08.00
    Mike Harris just appeared in Cornwall to announce that the Ontario government will approve the introduction of private universities into Ontario this year.
   It's a plan that won't work as after they are instituted the private universities will begin to feed at the public trough. As big corporations control research and reap benefits through patents, the public will get nothing in return - just the bill.
   It is also doubtful that such institutions could ever have any genuine commitment to Canada, its history and people. Nowadays even our so-called public universities are much like these private outfits, with nearly everything under corporate control.
   What we really need is affordable public education - it really should be free of fees. Mike Harris is just creating another problem and he is not addressing the the real education issue at all.
   Sure this will funnel money into the Tory re-election war chest as Big Business rewards them for selling out our right to public education. In removing our history and public nature they are selling our souls to big business.
   Perhaps there is a way to fight back. This year the Free university of Toronto opened. Citizens who want to fight Harris' privatization agenda should support Free U with volunteer work and donations. High profile Ontarians should get on the bandwagon to aid the Free U effort.
    Info on Free U - The Free University of Toronto has been organized by a collective of students, staff, faculty and community members interested in reclaiming public education and transforming the University of Toronto into an open, accessible, inclusive, worker-friendly, community oriented, non-corporate, no-fees, non-discriminatory institution.
We Site and course listings..

 How do we restore vigour and health to the public education system? John Sewell suggests the following:
1. The province must restore full local decision-making around taxation,spending, and staffing, to local-elected boards of education. This also means that trustees are entitled to reasonable compensation for the work they do representing the public.
2. The province must ensure that local boards have sufficient funds to provide quality education, and that all schools have the programs they need to meet their requirements. This means, for instance, that class size must be reasonable (not based on the crazy `averages' set by the province, which ensure classes which are much too large); that all schools generally have art and music teachers (both of which have been removed from most schools in the past two years); that school facilities are adequately cleaned and kept in a good state of repair; etc.
3. The provincial role should be stated clearly: that role is to establish educational standards, and provide funds to local boards which are not able to raise locally funds needed for quality education and educational facilities. This might require a restoration of some of the tax cuts implemented by the Harris Tories.
4. Provincial standards should be based on providing all kids with an all-round education stressing basic skills, social understanding, and self-knowledge. Kids with this kind of education will substantially add to the quality of society in Ontario in the years ahead.
     These are the first four steps the province must take to restore confidence in the public school system in Ontario - a confidence that is longed for by parents, kids, teachers, principals and school officials. After four years of confusion and revolution, it's about time we started treating public education with care and seriousness in Ontario.
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Feb 10/99 Student Occupation at Carlelton - At Carleton University today, there was an angry demonstration of 150 people that called for a tuition freeze, and targeted all 3 levels of administration (University, Ontario Government, federal Government).  A petition of 1200 names was presented in person to University President Richard Van Loon who refused to sign the petition himself.  Right now, 35 people are occupying Robertson Hall [the Administration Building] and plan to stay the night.
Messages of solidarity should be sent to: cgilbert@chat.carleton.ca
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School Uniforms to be a first Step in the Privatization of Public Education - Feb/99 - It takes a devil to analyze devils, and that empowers me with some insight into Mike Harris? new plan for school uniforms. What I come up with is frightening. The Reformatories believe public school kids, who boo Mr. Mike and crew, have been brainwashed by rude leftists. The cure for this is the massive privatization of the public education system. School Uniforms are a preparatory measure, readying schools for the big stuff coming once Harris and Company get re-elected.
   This is being done in a clever manner. In the last election the Tories created welfare people as villains and then cut social benefits. This time around they need a new villain so Mike Harris can save Ontario and get re-elected by the grateful citizenry. The new Tory hearings into education will be an attempt to do just that - first create a villain and a major election issue for Mike Harris, then to convince Ontarians something is wrong with their kids and their schools so the Tories will be justified in bringing in privatized education as a major deal in their second term.
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Public School Kids May Become Harris Brown Shirts - Feb/99 Premier Mike Harris says Ontario's youth need a lesson in respect. Making his first official speech as premier to the Canadian Jewish Congress, Harris mentioned a growing lack of civility, respect and responsibility among young people. A new provincial school code of conduct, with minimum standards of behaviour and consequences may include school uniforms for public school kids.
Perhaps Nazi-style brown shirts would best reflect the sort of democracy Harris promotes. Harris wants to curb youth violence, yet it was Harris who cut anti-violence programs from the school curriculum. Some students said uniforms would only curb individuality and one Toronto student said he favoured ending things in a suicide pact over wearing a school uniform. Maybe in the upcoming election students will show responsibility and get out and vote - against Harris and his uniforms.
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Killing Time and other essays  by Mumia Abu-Jamal - the death row author points to prison education as the tool that successfully keeps people out of jail.
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Children Face Eviction as the Harris War on Daycare Continues -- 1,500 children are facing eviction from day-care centres in Toronto's public schools.  No level of government appears prepared to pay the estimated $15 million cost to relocate those children to new day cares in the community. ``We have absolutely no commitment from anyone to save these day cares,'' Jane French, a mother, told a recent meeting of more than 400 parents, day-care workers and local politicians in North York. Day cares in schools still slated to close and those in schools that will be forced to take on new pupils are still in peril, French said.
The question of what to do with students in an estimated 800 portables no longer funded by the province, could threaten even more children who use day care in schools. ?It's time we stopped looking at day care as a tenant and more as a partner in education,'' Gail Nyberg said. The province now prohibits school boards from spending education dollars to maintain, move, renovate or build day cares. And no other government programs exist to pick up the slack. The provincial social services ministry cancelled its day-care renovation and construction fund in 1995. A similar fund operated by Ontario's education ministry was killed the following year.
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Harris Abandons Special Needs Kids -- New provincial rules have denied the 11-year-old Harry Bellemare the support he received in his first six years in school. Harry has cerebral palsy and uses an electric wheelchair. When he started school the board assigned a full-time educational assistant to help him with his schoolwork and to get to the washroom. But the Harris Government has taken control of education funding and established new guidelines for providing special education assistance. This year, Harry qualifies for only a part-time aide. The Grade 6 student at Collins Bay Public School has help for only three hours a day, from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. ``What happens if he has to go to the washroom before 10:30 or after 1:30?'' asks his mother, Leslie Bellemare. In fact, Harry has come home from school twice in recent days, soaked in urine because he didn't get to a washroom in time.
A number of kids have fallen through the cracks. The provincial changes have left many children without services they've received in the past. The government's centralized approach has also created a backlog of paperwork that has left hundreds of students who probably  qualify for help unable to get their applications filed.
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Education reforms shutting doors for people rather than improving quality, Ontarians say -- From Susan McMurray November 9, 1998
       A lot of people support the idea of education reform in Ontario.  But,instead of experiencing positive solutions to education problems, as they were promised, participants in the Speaking Out Project describe how the current reforms are shutting doors to education.  Meanwhile, the provincial government, which is making the decisions, blames school boards, colleges, universities, teachers, unions and individuals for the outcomes.
       Centralizing Power, Decentralizing Blame: What Ontarians Say About Education Reform, a report by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy's Speaking Out project, can be found at http://www.caledoninst.org/speaking.
       Janet, a mother from southeast Ontario with five children, spoke of increased restrictions in her community:  "Students have no arts program anymore, they have no home-ec and shop is gone.  Their music program is shot, they don't have a band this year.  So things are looking pretty sad.
I've noticed an extreme decrease in funding for the arts and for what we used  to call optional programs."
       Jeffrey, who is in Grade 11 in northern Ontario, had 38 students in his English class, 42 in chemistry and 36 in math this year.   Trying to seek individual attention from teachers is difficult, because when teachers finish their classes they face a "line of 15 students" outside their door. Jeffrey says there are also shortages of required material: "I mean, I'm halfway through my semester and I still haven't got my marking outline for chemistry because my teacher didn't have his photocopy budget, it was slashed so bad."
        Frank, a community worker from Toronto, expected to be more involved in education reform: "I think the decisions that have been made by the government are going to affect the entire education system from elementary to secondary and to postsecondary sectors, but there has been alarmingly little consultation.  The government has gone in like storm troopers with little or no consultation or only token consultation."  There was so little consultation, in fact, that people accepted the 1997 teachers' strike as an expression of democracy, despite the costs related to it.
       Narrow standards and curriculum, limited availability of good, affordable programs because of funding cuts, rising individual costs and an undemocratic reform process leave many people out of Ontario's new educationsystem.'  These are the key findings in Centralizing Power, Decentralizing Blame: What Ontarians Say About Education Reform, a report released today by the Caledon Institute's Speaking Out Project.
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The Tories' $1 billion education cuts could have led to the loss of 3,700 day-care spaces with the threatened closure of 138 Toronto schools, according to the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. There are already 15,000 children on the waiting list for subsidized spaces - children who may get shoved aside to accommodate 21,000 children of workfare participants.
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Stop the Harris School Closings protest - Citizens Alliance protest  Nov 6/98 - read a report on the rallies page.
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Toronto city councillors (Oct 31/98) yesterday argued that school closings will devastate recreation and community programs as well as day-care services. ``If this is the price we have to pay for the provincial government tax cut, then frankly they can have it back,'' said Councillor Brad Duguid (Scarborough City Centre). `Because we're talking about destroying the very social fabric of
parts of our neighbourhoods.''
Day-care advocates will also resist the plan to close schools.``We're going to fight like hell,'' said Mary Anne Bedard, supervisor at Ferncliff Day Care, located in Fern Avenue Public School that's slated to close. She said it's important not to simply save one school if it means putting another at risk.
City staff compiled a preliminary list of programs and facilities that the city operates or has paid for in the schools due to be closed. In addition to the 77 day-care centres, they include four swimming pools; three family resource centres; and 34 breakfast programs.The fate of day-care centres
stirred the most concern around the council table.The city has 303 day-care centres in schools across the city. And councillors worried that even in schools that are not closing, the day-care centres may be pushed out to make room for the new students who will be pouring into the surviving
schools.
It takes about $500,000 to renovate space suitable for a day-care centre, which means a big bill to relocate 77 day cares.
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Harris Government Insensitive Males - Annie Kidder of People for Education said ``Everybody should remember that in the Stanley Park Zoo in Vancouver they allow 200 square feet per monkey; in Ontario they're allowing 100 square feet per child.''
This comment is on the closure of more than 130 schools in Toronto by Harris. Not only does Harris see children about the same as monkeys, his government continues to attack and burden women, who suffer most from the closures and loss of school based day care and social services.
Citizens have also questioned Toronto Trustees saying they were not elected to carry out the Harris agenda and yet they are doing just that. They eliminated Adult Education and now they are implementing school closures.
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Education a Debt SentenceToronto Students Block Traffic, Oct 16,1998 National Student Week of Action -report by Gary Morton on the rallies page
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Schools to Close because of Harris Funding Model - Oct 28th - Tonight at the Toronto Board citizens gathered just to get a hint of what schools might be closing. Apparently a large number of schools are to close in Toronto. A notice of motion from Gail Nyberg proposes setting up committees called Provincial Government School Closures Committees. This is not because of funding but because of the Harris funding model. The model has a bizarre formula for allocating funding according to measured school space. To put it in simpler terms, this is more bungled Harris restructuring. Likely the media will focus on money as they do in the hospital crises. In health care the main problem is Best Practice, a formula that Harris endorses. Under it they try to keep you out of the hospital unless it's an absolute life and death sort of thing and all of the time you are in the hospital staff are under pressure to rush you to discharge.
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School closings - kids refugees: Toronto public school students will be turned into classroom refugees by the impact of this week's list of potential school closings.  More than 100 schools will be on the list for review, Gail Nyberg said yesterday, but another 400 schools could also see their student populations displaced as the board accommodates students whose schools will be closed.
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The Harris Gov has a new Education Propaganda Site on the Web -- give them a piece of your mind at http://www.qualityeducation.org/
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Education for Democracy -- These articles identify selfish corporate goals in education and point to the need for education for democracy. --- read the full articles
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University of Toronto Campus Coalition Protests Tory Fundraiser  (Oct 7/98) Report by Gary Morton --  on the rallies page.
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Farmers fight school closings - Stratford - Farmers are calling on the Mike Harris to allow communities more time to deal with school closings. ``We'd like to see a moratorium on closings until communities have a chance to look at the situation,'' Ron Bonnett of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture said yesterday.  Bonnett wants the province to extend the Dec. 31 deadline on school closings. 700 concerned residents packed a special meeting of the Avon Maitland District School Board last night. Conservative MPP Bert Johnson (Perth), who took a central role at the breakfast as the proponent of the act establishing agriculture week, said there's nothing unusual about the process taking place around the province.
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129 Toronto Schools may CLOSE - The Harris have forced Toronto's public and Catholic boards to look at shutting down some of the more than 790 schools in the city. "There's a tremendous potential loss -- both socially and recreationally -- to the municipality if this proceeds," Councillor Frank Faubert said. He said the city relies on schools as centres for recreational activities.  "We maintain school sites in the summer so we can use the ball diamonds and soccer pitches and everything that is included on school property," Faubert said. Under a worst-case scenario, the public board may have to close 100 schools and the Catholic board could shut 29 schools.
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Students Boo Their Way Back to School -- Organizers of the Nelson Mandela rally that saw Mike Harris spontaneously booed by 40,000 kids say Harris demanded five minutes for his speech just before it happened. Other speakers got two minutes, but that wasn't enough for big Mike. As it turned out the booing was heard by election strategists for the Tories, Liberals and NDP, and they panicked. Both Johnson and Hampton softened, and legislation went through reopening schools. All along the political parties had been trying to manipulate the education issue to gain popularity. The dramatic Boo-in suddenly woke them to the fact that the public mood had turned sour. An interesting fact to note here is that politicians and the media don't have a grasp of real public opinion. A protest at the right time, done in the right rude way and at the right place can be very effective.
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Harris Policies lead to school closures in Kitchener Waterloo region -- On Tuesday, September 22nd 98, the K-W Record printed the announcement that the WRDSB is planning the closure of 12 community schools in Waterloo Region. They admit that they are "bracing for a wave of anger from hundreds of parents" - meaning the parents of the affected schools. Cecil Onamd is quoted as saying, "it's a battle parents should be prepared to lose given the province's desire to make the system more efficient."
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Education Fight Continues -- Protesting parents in Ontario will be begin unlocking some schools and opening other makeshift schools as the lockouts and strikes continue. Perhaps the odd thing here is Education Minister Dave Johnson was all for back to work legislation before hundreds of protesting parents showed up to demand it. Now he is against it -- this seems to be the Tory rule. So if you want something make sure you don't protest. With the Tories it may be better to convince them your policy is hated, so they will push it through quickly.
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From Education to an Ontario Election -report - Citizens for Local Democracy
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Bill 160 (in the fall of 1998) - How Mike Harris Created Province-wide Education Turmoil: Even though Harris' education bill has been found unconstitutional, reps of striking teachers say they are actually living up to the terms of the bill. The reason education turmoil is continuing this fall is that when you live up to a bill that is fundamentally flawed you get a system that can't work. Through Bill 160, the conservatives created a situation where strikes and outright confusion are the only thing that can happen.
   Here is why --
   --- Under Bill 160, all teacher-board contracts expired on Aug. 31, paving the way to strikes.
   --- Mike Harris wants control of what's taught in elementary and high schools. The minister of education and his team will guide decisions about everything. The union position is often that teachers and parents should be involved in education decisions.
   --- Bill 160 takes tax powers from school boards so fiscal control is separated from bargaining.  Boards are bargaining and they have no money or power to bargain with.
   --- The boards want to increase the teachers' load and increase the pupil teacher ratio to get to 22 to 1, which the law says boards must average. Rapid growth and a large immigrant population put pressure on teachers.
   --- The government legislation sets out several new requirements that in the past had been sorted out by local contract bargaining. For example, the province has decreed high school teachers should instruct for 1,250 minutes a week or four hours and 10 minutes per day. Now one question is just what counts as teaching. The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association wanted the issue sent to binding arbitration. The association wanted an arbitrator to determine what duties make a teacher a ``classroom teacher''? The board seems to be including everything from hall monitoring to taking attendance as it counts the 1,250 minutes a week that teachers must work.
    --- Other issues in negotiations with Catholic boards include salary rollbacks, changes to benefits and the loss from contracts of caps on maximum class size.
    --- Harris and Dave Johnson are looking at Bill 160 as an excuse to gain unfettered control over every aspect of a teacher's working conditions. Often the government plan works out that teachers would have zero time to help students or prepare for classes. Some parents fear this approach will short-change their kids.
    --- The boards need clarification from the ministry on the legislation and the complicated funding formula. Board and union representatives say the current system should be turned into provincewide bargaining between unions and the government.

This time most parents oppose strikes, while students support their teachers. ``Withdrawing extracurricular activities is worse than striking to students. In the end school boards are taking the heat that should be burning under Harris and Johnson, teachers are facing attacks from a number of roads, all leading to Queen's Park, and students are the sacrificial lambs.
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Harris Tories on Book Shredding Spree -- Old English books not on the government approved list have been ordered shredded by the Tories. The new texts that were bought for a $100,000,000 Tory photo-op are the only ones that cut the mustard for Dave Johnson. There is not much love for history that is not party approved, says a Tory source.
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Harris Defends Outrageous Student Assistance  fees: Student assistance  fees net the province $750,000 and Premier Mike Harris says there's nothing wrong with that. The Ontario Student Assistance Program launched a 1-900 phone service at the end of 1996 charging $2 a call for information on student loans. The service netted the province $330,000 in the fiscal year ended in March. In addition, OSAP recently imposed a $10 application fee. That has already yielded more than $420,000 this year. Revenue figures were released yesterday by Liberal education critic Lyn McLeod (Fort William), who obtained them through the Freedom of Information Act. A Statistics Canada report says that Ontario universities have imposed the biggest tuition hikes in Canada for the start of the school year next month. According to StatsCan, only Nova Scotia charges more than Ontario.
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