A fundraising and strategy update
We wanted to provide a quick update about the progress of our journey to improving the health and safety for students and education workers in Ontario schools—and what a journey it has been!
You may have noticed that we released our open letter to the provincial government dated May 16, 2023 – complete with many important endorsements from experts all across Ontario. If not, be sure to take a read and endorse it yourself! Every signature lends weight to our demand for cleaner indoor air in our schools (and on school buses!) for our students and education workers to breathe.
In an effort to get as much support for our cause as possible, we’ve made a slight shift towards speaking about indoor air quality, instead of COVID-19 exclusively. This was a strategic communications decision that will allow us to reach more people, and make it more difficult for the government to say our cause is unnecessary.
Improving indoor air quality will not only reduce COVID-19 infections in schools, but it will affect the rate of infection with Influenza A, RSV, and many other types of illness. We also know that it has positive effects for people suffering from allergies and asthma — not to mention the links to improved academic performance. Given all of that, it seems pretty silly to argue against breathing clean indoor air, doesn’t it?
We’re also drawing on pre-established precedent around our right to clean drinking water, and the UN declaration about our right to clean, breathable air.
In the end, our mission is still the same – we want our students and education workers in the classroom where they belong. We just want them to be there in a way that keeps them happy, healthy, and safe.
We believe that embracing evidenced-based decision making when it comes to indoor air quality will be an important first step in achieving a truly safe learning environment for our students and educators.
If you have any unanswered questions after reading this, please feel free to reach out to us.
Additionally, if you haven’t already, please get onto our mailing list so we can keep you up to date on the progress of our campaign!
Thanks again for your continued support – and remember: the more you share our posts on social media (@ONSchoolSafety), and with friends, coworkers and family who can get on board with the mission to improve indoor air quality in schools, the more pressure we put on the Ontario government to make the changes we need to keep our students and education workers safe.
If you know of anyone who has a student in their life who has experienced harm as a result of indoor air quality in schools and on school buses – whether that’s via COVID-19 infection, asthma diagnosis, or anything else – please encourage them to share their story! We’re looking for a diverse pool of applicants for our legal challenge.
If you have expertise in the areas of ventilation, engineering, public health and public health law, communications/PR, fundraising, project management, or operations, please consider volunteering. Many hands make light work, and we have a lot more work to do!
Lastly, if you are able to pledge any more financial support – or share our GoFundMe with other people or organizations who might be able to pledge their support – that would go a long way to making our mission a success. Legal challenges are an expensive undertaking, but we know that with our dedication and commitment, we can create the kind of change we’re looking for.
On behalf of the entire Ontario School Safety volunteer squad, thank you again for your continued support. We literally couldn’t do any of this without you!
Sincerely,
Kate Laing
Chair of the Board
Ontario School Safety
P.S. We’ve retained one helluva lawyer to advise us on how to proceed with the legal challenge should the government fail to act on our recommendations for change. We’ll be announcing them shortly. Stay tuned!