Students, parents and school board members in Penetanguishene demonstrated their frustration with the Ford government after being denied several grant applications for a new school.
After the Protestant Separate School Board’s latest request for provincial funding was rejected, Julia McLaren, Burkevale Protestant Separate School principal says they staged a protest in hopes of being noticed.
“Look at us, and remember us,” McLaren says. “Sometimes we get forgotten because we’re the little guy, and we’re not a big board.”
The board says Burkevale Protestant Separate School is bursting at the seams, with the gym converted into a classroom and changerooms into sensory and COVID-19 isolation spaces.
The school’s 350 students share just two bathrooms.
Burkevale Protestant Separate School in Penetanguishene, Ont. is bursting at the seams as the school board applies for funding for a new school. (Supplied)
As Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop presented a check at the Penetanguishene Curling Club on Friday, hundreds gathered outside, including students, parents, and faculty.
“I think what we were hoping to get out of this was to say, you know, don’t forget about us,” McLaren says. “We’re equally as important, and maybe, to get people to check into it again.”
CTV News reached out to MPP Dunlop’s office for comment and received this statement:
“To support working families and students, the government has committed nearly $14 billion over the next 10 years to approve new schools, renovations and major expansions at schools that directly benefit rapidly growing communities across the province.
No other government in Ontario history has invested more in public education, supported by the largest investment in tutoring supports, mental health, and special education.
We are investing a historic $26.65 billion to ensure that all students, including students at Burkevale Protestant Separate School, reach their full potential.”
While Dunlop’s office says she was “happy to speak to those that were present” for the protest, her statement did not directly address the school board’s funding request.
McLaren says the board hopes to submit a fourth grant proposal in the fall.