It’s minus 20 with the windchill and I have to get my 6-year-old to school by 8:15 am. She’s half asleep and grumpy. Breakfast, hair, and getting dressed takes a lot of pushing. Plus, the snow pants, the jacket, the big boots, the scarf, the toque and the ski gloves. She finally loses her temper, “I’m hot!”
I go through something like this every morning, like Sisyphus and his boulder. Except my punishment isn’t the work, it’s the start time. 8:15 am isn’t about learning; it’s about money.
Classes for little kids used to start at 9 am, until the province cut education funding in 2019-2020. The TDSB was forced to make changes. Their least painful solution was to cut down the number of school buses. Instead of having three buses at 9 am, the school board would have only one bus for three schools, all starting at different times.
Unfortunately, the burden of the earliest start time was placed on us.
When we finally reach the entrance doors they’re shut tight. We’re late. Argh! We trudge around the school to the front doors and to the office for a late slip. There’s already a long line of kids blocking the doors, doing the same.
“Please try to get her to class on time,” her teacher tells me. “There are important lessons at the beginning of class that she misses when she’s late.” I feel like a heel.
My child’s teacher has 22 kids in her class and no assistant. That’s a lot of kids for just one adult. That’s a lot of pressure in the classroom.
We all carry the burdens put on our shoulders by the provincial government.
I’ll remember the 8:15 am bell the next time I go to the polls.
