Parents from Fern Avenue Public School surprised their trustee when they arrived en masse to protest a pilot project she thought was nearly a sure thing.
Trustee Irene Atkinson previously said she would halt installation of a $10,000 chilled-water vending machine if the community opposed it. A group of about 20 parents attended the March 11 school council meeting to make themselves heard and halted Atkinson's plans."People have been agitating the issue and suggesting that this is about making money from the kids and taking food from their mouths practically, but that wasn't the point of this at all," Atkinson said. "It was to reduce the number of plastic bottles and give the kids and staff another choice."Similar to a coffee vending machine, the proposed device wouldn't actually sell plastic bottles, but for 50 cents would refill a student's container with chilled and filtered tap water. For $1, it would provide flavoured water.The initiative was part of the school's plan to achieve platinum EcoSchool status and students of Fern, now graduated, were involved in developing the idea. Vocal opposition to the pilot project began to gather momentum in early March, after widespread media coverage of parents' opposition.Some felt $10,000 was too high a price to pay for a machine that essentially filters water that is already clean and available for free from taps and drinking fountains. Others saw the vending machine as a social justice issue that should concern all parents with children in the public school board.Mark Calzavara works for the Council of Canadians, a social justice organization contacted by parents to support them in their bid to keep the machine from entering Fern. He attended the school council meeting and plans to continue fighting installation of water vending machines in public schools on principle.While Atkinson views the machine as simply providing more choices for the students, Calzavara said he doesn't feel the choice is so simple for young children. "Our fear is that when you start engaging children, especially at that age, and start giving them choices about buying public water back, it is a lesson in commercialization and consumerism," Calzavara said. "The bottled water industry would love that kind of thing because it conditions kids to pay for their water and makes them think the stuff coming out of the taps isn't good enough."While Fern is no longer an option, there is already a machine installed at Parkdale Collegiate Institute. The machine intended for Fern still needs a home."It was made plain that the decisions would be made at the school meeting and they were opposed to it, which is fine," Atkinson said. "It will be taken to another school and they will get it instead."Calzavara said Atkinson can expect an extended battle from he and the Council of Canadians. He said he is frustrated the Toronto District School Board continues to push the machines and plans to oppose it at the new location, which is yet to be determined.In the meantime, Calzavara will be taking his ideas directly to the students of Parkdale during a speech he is booked to make during Earth Week in April.