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Artwork by Lydia He
Issue 13 - Winter 2022
Issue 13 - Winter 2022

The Schools Issue

From overworked ECEs to anxious alternative school parents, from teenagers mourning their lost high-school years to elementary school students still learning from cramped apartments—an ongoing series about Toronto kids, the people who teach them, and the state of the education system two years into a global pandemic.

In this issue

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Feature by Vanessa Milne

Childcare is an Essential Service and a Dysfunctional Business

With ECEs fleeing the industry and a federal childcare deal on the horizon, now is the time to fix a long-broken system.

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Feature by Wendy Glauser

The Kids Left Behind

Shuttered autism services, kids caring for younger siblings, undiagnosed developmental conditions—for many students, the losses of the last two years go well beyond school closures.

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Feature by Brannavy Jeyasundaram

How to Feed the Future

Canada is the only G7 country without a national school food program—instead, we have piecemeal provincially-funded programs that are leaving children behind.

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Feature by Katherine Laidlaw

Fires, Plagues and Also High School

Their school burned down, they survived a pandemic, and endured the ordinary teenage heartbreaks and triumphs under extraordinary conditions. Within the chaos, these York Memorial students found each other and their purpose.

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Feature by Inori Roy

Two School Shootings, 15 Years Apart

The 2007 shooting of Jordan Manners sparked a massive review of school safety. With another fatal shooting last month, advocates are asking what has changed, and what hasn’t, in the years since.

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School Tracker by The Local

Tracking COVID-19 in Toronto Schools

A data blog about the pandemic's effects on the city’s 800 public schools.

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Participatory Project by Tai Huynh and Craig Madho

RAT Tracker

A citizen-powered tool for anonymous reporting of rapid antigen test results in Toronto public schools.

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Perspective by Tai Huynh and Nicholas Hune-Brown

A Week After Launching RAT Tracker, We’re Still in the Dark

What we learned from our participatory data project asking Torontonians to share rapid antigen test results.

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Perspective by Tai Huynh

How to Keep Schools Open

None of it’s easy. All of it’s urgent.

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Analysis by Tai Huynh

Kids Vaccines Aren’t Reaching the Toronto Neighbourhoods That Need Them Most

Data from the first weeks of the rollout reveals low vaccine uptake in areas with the largest school outbreaks.

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Feature by Inori Roy

Fighting Vaccine Hesitancy at Alternative Schools

High vaccine exemption rates have long been a feature at Toronto alternative schools, but as COVID vaccines roll out to kids, there’s a new urgency to reach these hesitant parents.

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Short Feature by Tai Huynh

Inside the Push to Bring Vaccines to the Schools That Need Them Most

As shots for kids roll out, a small group of exhausted vaccine veterans build what they hope will be their final pop-up clinics.