A group of concerned parents are sounding the alarm over conditions at an elementary school in Hamilton.
Parents from Balaclava Elementary School in Carlisle describe garbage bins lining the hallway to collect dripping water, fire alarms triggered by moisture, and mould forming in the ceiling.
Fix Our Schools Campaign Co-Founder Krista Wylie says the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is in a tricky position because the provincial government holds the purse strings for funding.
"Work that we've done to galvanize parents and stand on our hind legs and say we need to fix this, this has gone a long way to increasing the funding to 10 times what it was when we began. However, as Balaclava School illustrates, it's still not enough."
In a release from Fix Our Schools officials also note water is pooling in fluorescent lights, the school lacks potable water, and the washrooms reek of urine. Parent Brian Orlowski says, "It looks like an episode of The Walking Dead when you go in there. It looks like a nightmare. It’s horrendous."
Wylie says parents might be interested to know where the provincial government is spending taxpayer money. "Our provincial government is currently undertaking a project to repair one of their big office buildings downtown Toronto called the McDonald Block, and the estimates for that are looking like $1 billion." She adds, "Our government of the day has claimed they want to govern for the people. Two million very little people spend their days in these buildings that we call schools so we would hope that this government prioritizes schools as important infrastructure, critical infrastructure."