Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Post XV: Ontario Teacher Contract, 2014-2017, Articles

(All pictures have been removed from the articles because they take up so much memory in each post. To see the pictures use the web address and visit the sites of the newspapers.)


University of Alberta parting ways with education program 
for at-risk youth

Published on: December 22, 2016 | Last Updated: December 22, 2016 5:09 AM MST

EDMONTON, ALTA: AUGUST 18, 2015 -- Wallis Kendal, Founder of Moving the Mountain Program, poses for a photo with a diorama built by his students. Moving the Mountain is a radical new program for extremely high risk First Nations girls, hosted at the University of Alberta in Edmonton on August 18, 2015. RYAN JACKSON / EDMONTON JOURNAL

A unique educational program that caters to vulnerable indigenous teens is facing an uncertain future after parting ways with the University of Alberta.
The Moving the Mountain initiative had been housed in the university’s Faculty of Education on a trial basis for the past 15 months, but will now need a new space for the 20 or so young women enrolled in the program.
“The founder of the program, Wallis Kendal, and the university have agreed that the program and the participants would be better served in a different environment,” University of Alberta spokeswoman Alison Turner said Wednesday in a written statement. “The university will support the program’s transition to a new home where it can grow strong and stable into the future.”
No details were provided on what precipitated the move, and Kendal could not be reached for comment.
It is unclear where the program might go, but Turner said the founder has taken responsibility for finding a new space.
This will be the second move for Moving the Mountain since it was established by Kendal at the iHuman Youth Society in 2012.
The teens and young women in the program have all suffered from some combination of homelessness, violence, addictions and mental-health issues. Many lack formal education and consequently can’t read, write or perform basic math.
In setting up the program, Kendal decided traditional education wasn’t well suited to the participants, and instead instilled an integrated, holistic and individualized approach to learning.   
Student often choose what they want to learn and the facilitators find ways to teach it. Much of the focus is on basic literacy and life skills, such as cooking, while also helping the young women to handle the challenges they face.
“We realize that change can be challenging and have let the participants know that the university will do everything we can to ensure that this transition has as little impact on them as possible,” Turner said in the statement. “Several university staff that have been involved with the program will be available to the participants throughout the holiday season. Their well-being is our highest priority.”
At the U of A, the program has been under study as a pilot project. It is unclear if U of A professors and staff will continue to be involved following its departure from campus.


School children piece together backpack care packages for the homeless

Published on: December 19, 2016 | Last Updated: December 19, 2016 6:46 PM MST
Students from George H. Luck School sing Christmas carols for patrons of the Boyle Street Community Services after delivering hundreds of backpacks to the centre on December 19, 2016. The backpacks will be distributed to the homeless and people in need. LARRY WONG /POSTMEDIA

All it takes for Christmas sometimes is a little bit of luck.
Students from George H. Luck School sang Christmas carols while handing out nearly 300 “backpacks of luck” Monday to members of the Boyle Community Service Centre.
The backpacks were filled with tuques, gloves, mitts, scarves and socks.
“These are items that our community desperately needs at this time of the year; it’s an amazing day for us,” said Brent Guidinger, development manager at the Boyle Community Services Centre.
The program is in its 10th year and is a highlight for students and the members of the centre.
“The nice thing about doing it year after year is that you start to build relationships. The warmth of having these relationships is really important,” said Jay Y. Procktor, a teacher at the school who has been involved with the program for nine years.
For Helen Herbert, who has been receiving the backpacks for a few years, it’s a time of happiness and celebration: “Most of these guys are homeless and they don’t have anything except what’s on their backs. So, it’s a really good job that the kids are doing.”
The event is an important learning experience for the students, said principal Tanis Marshall.
“It makes such a difference for students to understand that just because they have things doesn’t mean everyone does,” he said. “This program allows them to come forward and help.”
After distributing the backpacks, students performed several Christmas carols for the members, who sang along.
“It really feels like Christmas,” said Procktor.


Pollutants Implicated in Births of More Girls Than Boys

Baby girl

In some communities, exposure to dioxin and other pollutants can lead to higher birth rates of girls than boys.

Photo by Amy Barry via Flickr

A recent study found that residents of Canadian communities who were exposed to emissions from polluting industries such as oil refineries, metal smelters, and pulp mills gave birth to more females than males, a reversal of the normal sex ratio. This is likely due to high levels of common air pollutants called dioxins and is not a surprising finding, according to James Argo, a medical geographer with the IntrAmericas Centre for Environment and Health, who conducted the study. “There is a very strong association [in the scientific literature] between chronic exposure to dioxins and an inverted sex ratio,” he said.
The study is the second phase of a three-part project to examine the links between early exposure to industrial pollution and the development of cancer. In the early 1990s, Argo documented the lifetime residences of 20,000 people who had cancer and 5,000 “control” subjects who did not have the illness. The database was developed to inform research about people’s exposure to industrial pollutants throughout their lifetimes, including prenatal exposure, Argo said.
The inverted sex ratios became apparent when Argo looked at the genders of children born to parents who lived within 25 kilometers of a polluting industry. The percentage of girls was higher in all of the nearly 90 communities surveyed, and in some communities, residents gave birth to as few as 46 males for every 54 females, compared to a normal sex ratio of 51 males for every 49 females. Chronic exposure to dioxins “interferes with the process of conception,” so people who have been exposed for over 20 years or so “will have a higher probability of giving birth to females,” Argo said.
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Studies conducted in Russia, Italy, and elsewhere have also linked inverted sex ratios to dioxin exposure, but these have tended to focus on exposure in the workplace, not in the wider community. Argo’s research suggests that the influence of the pollutants is more far reaching than was previously thought. “[This] may represent one of only a few studies explicitly designed to identify the impact of carcinogens from industrial sources on residents at home,” he explained. To conduct the analysis, Argo used data from the 1991 Canadian Census and combined it with his own data collected between 1993 and 1995.
The third phase of the project will use Argo’s latest findings on inverted sex ratios to examine the documented rise in female reproductive cancers. With more females than males in a population, there is likely to be a greater incidence of breast, uterine, ovarian, and cervical cancers in that group, he explained. But male reproductive health problems are also on the rise, he noted.
This story was produced by Eye on Earth, a joint project of the Worldwatch Institute and the blue moon fund. View the complete archive of Eye on Earth stories, or contact Staff Writer Alana Herro at aherro [AT] worldwatch [DOT] org with your questions, comments, and story ideas.
A recent study found that residents of Canadian communities who were exposed to emissions from polluting industries such as oil refineries, metal smelters, and pulp mills gave birth to more females than males, a reversal of the normal sex ratio. 

Bracebridge learning centre gives children with dyslexia second chance
Mary Beth Hartill
Bracebridge Examiner | Dec 16, 2016
Carly Duff, a tutor at the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation's Learning Centre for Children in Bracebridge, teaches Matalynn Brewer and Jordan Hooyenga, two children with dyslexia, how to read.
BRACEBRIDGE — Some local students have a different way of processing information and they have gone outside the traditional educational system to learn to read.
Ross Martin is the director of the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation’s Learning Centre for Children that teaches children with dyslexia to read — a skill the regular educational system thus far has failed to help them learn.
Carly Duff, one of the tutors who works with children in the after-school program at Bracebridge’s Pinegrove Fellowship Church, says dyslexia affects sound-symbol association “meaning that when they look at letters they don’t recognize the sound the same way we do.”
The students work with the tutors two nights a week after school for three years. Matalynn Brewer and Jordan Hooyenga, both 10, are testaments to the program’s success.
Unfortunately, as Martin explains, not recognized by the school board dyslexia is lumped in with other learning disabilities but he says dyslexia is different. The program teaches using the Orton-Gillingham method that uses all of the children’s senses to learn. Martin said multi-sensory learning opens up all of the avenues to the brain.
“Most of these children are extremely bright because they compensate with the other side of the brain,” he said.
Learning to read sets up a brighter future for the children. Martin said that one in 10 people have dyslexia, which is inherited, as do 60 per cent of those within the prison system. The frustration that they can’t read, the name calling, the desire to seek out people who are similarly outcast often sends children down a wrong path but Martin said it doesn’t take long after a child begins to read that there is a marked improvement in their behaviour. Everything begins to change; their reading, socialization skills and ability and desire to forge friendships.
For Christine Brewer, Matalynn’s mom, and Liane Spong, Jordan’s mom, the program is a blessing.
The struggle to find a solution was long and frustrating until they knew they were dealing with dyslexia and until they found the learning centre to help.
“I tried really hard to help her and I couldn’t,” said Brewer. “It really hurt me that I couldn’t.”
“It took us six years to get him diagnosed and everything after that fell into place,” said Spong.
With the help of the centre Jordan went from struggling to form very basic three-letter words to enjoying reading chapter books like the "Harry Potter" series, "The Last Kids on Earth," and "Witherwood Reform School."
“Language is now the greatest on my report card,” said Jordan.
However the program is not without its own struggles; the demand is greater than they can fill. Jordan and Matalynn are the lucky ones. The program is very intensive, not only for the students but for the tutors who must have the dedication to remain with the children throughout the entire process.
To learn more about the program, contact Ross Martin at ross.martin3@hotmail.com or call 705-325-1708.
Mary Beth Hartill is a reporter with the Bracebridge Examiner. She can be reached at mhartill@metrolandnorthmedia.com . Follow her on Twitter and Facebook

Parents pushing for French immersion in Gravenhurst
Kelly Kenny

Muskoka Region.com  |  Dec 06, 2016
GRAVENHURST - When it comes to French immersion in Gravenhurst, the numbers just don’t add up, according to the board.
“At this point, based on enrolment, it’s just not going to happen,” explained Trillium Lakelands District School Board superintendent Andrea Gillespie.
A group of Gravenhurst residents have launched a letter writing and survey campaign to have a French immersion program at Gravenhurst Public School, but the efforts could be in vain.
“I know they really want it, but the numbers just don’t add up,” said Gillespie.
According to Gillespie, the designated French immersion location in South Muskoka is Monck Public School, where she said 530 of the 724 students from junior kindergarten to grade eight are enrolled in French immersion.
She said only 69 of those students are from the Gravenhurst area, noting once you break those students down by grade, there aren’t enough Gravenhurst kids to fill classes in grades JK through eight as is the case at the Monck site.
Gravenhurst High School teacher and member of the Gravenhurst Parents for French Programming committee Jacki McPherson said the enrolment numbers don’t reflect the actual interest level in having French immersion in Gravenhurst.
She said based on the responses from the more than 100 surveys received so far, there would be enough students to run the program locally.
McPherson said the surveys show more parents would enrol their children in the program if transportation wasn’t an issue.
“Transitioning Muskoka Beechgrove to a lower elementary and Gravenhurst Public to an upper elementary would improve population and programming for students, especially if French immersion was to return,” said the group in a release issued by the committee.
The committee is planning to meet with the board for a second time to discuss the data within the week, said McPherson.
Gillespie said she is interested in hearing what the group has to say once their data is compiled.
“When we get correspondence from parents, we do take it seriously,” she said.
McPherson said the outcome of the meeting will be posted on the GHS Here to Stay website.
To complete a survey, visit ghsheretostay.weebly.com/increasing-programming.html
Kelly Kenny is a reporter with the Gravenhurst Banner. She can be reached at kkenny@metrolandnorthmedia.com . Follow her on Twitter and Facebook

First Nations students at disadvantage: PBO
Dec 06, 2016
OTTAWA — The federal government has for years failed to address the higher costs of operating First Nations schools, leaving some students at a disadvantage compared with their peers in the provincial system, the parliamentary budget officer says.
The funding divide between educational programming on reserves and in the provincial systems was as wide as $595 million in 2012-13, and could reach $665 million in 2016-17, says a new report from the fiscal watchdog released Tuesday.
That said, about $3.7 billion in financial commitments made by the Liberal government over the next five years could begin to narrow the gap starting in 2016-17, and eventually eliminate it by 2020-21, the report says.
Educational funding in Canada is primarily a provincial responsibility except for on-reserve schooling, which is financed by Ottawa.
"There's a huge gap between the average funding that the (federal) government provides for First Nations reserves and what the provinces are providing," said Mostafa Askari, assistant parliamentary budget officer.
"Now, how that impacts the students, that's a different issue ... But certainly there's a funding shortfall relative to the provinces."
For example, the report found that on-reserve schools received per-student funding of $14,500 under the federal formula in 2012-13. But when calculated under the Ontario provincial rules, they would have been allocated between $21,000 and $25,000 per pupil.
In comparison, Ontario's per-student funding was $11,500 that year.
The budget office said the funding gap was a result of the federal government's failure to provide enough financial support for First Nations schools, which often face greater costs due to factors such as remote locations, socio-economic challenges, higher rates of special education and the inclusion of culturally relevant lessons.
Canada has some 500 band-operated schools, which accommodate 110,000 students. More than 140 of the schools can be considered either remote, special access or north of the 55th parallel, the report said.
It also noted that these schools face added obstacles such as higher maintenance, heating and supply costs as well as the ability to attract and house qualified teachers.
The effectiveness of the new federal commitments will depend on how the money is eventually used, the study notes. Even the provincial approach could prove inadequate for these schools, it points out.
"Funding formula methodologies used in the provinces may not fully address the reality of First Nations communities, but they represent a starting point that is both transparent and evidence based."
The report also examined the shortfall in federal capital funding for on-reserve schools.
It said that over the next few years the federal commitments in this area have the potential to address capital funding gaps, but only if Ottawa puts an end to its past practice of failing to spend large amounts of funds it had dedicated for First Nations schools.
Follow @AndyBlatchford on Twitter
By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press

Coding gets boost in Ontario schools
Kristin Rushowy
OurWindsor.Ca | Dec 05, 2016
A Grade 2 student at Scarborough's Courcelette Public School is learning computer coding as part of a robotics program. The Ontario government has just released new resources to help teachers run similar initiatives, from kindergarten through to Grade 12.
Ontario educators are getting help for their high-tech needs — with new lesson plans and suggested apps to teach coding and computer classes.
Education Minister Mitzie Hunter made the announcement Monday, saying the province is also boosting the number of specialized courses in computing for high school students.
“We need to equip our students with the skills to thrive in a world where technology is constantly evolving,” she said. “Our students are global citizens. They require a wide range of tools and skills in order to adapt.”
The coding resources are to help teachers who have no knowledge of coding as well as those with more experience, starting in kindergarten.
The government is providing $150 million over three years to schools and boards through a special technology fund.
At Scarborough’s Courcelette Public School, students as early as Grade 2 are learning to program robots.
“By equipping students with skills like coding and other global competencies, we are preparing them to succeed now and in every stage of their lives,” Hunter said.
The announcement was made as part of Computer Science Education Week. Ontario schools are also being encouraged to take part in Hour of Code, an online tutorial available to students around the world.
Toronto Star
http://www.torontosun.com/2016/12/16/eqao-to-issue-next-literacy-test-on-paper-after-cyberattack

EQAO to issue next literacy test on paper after cyberattack
First posted: Friday, December 16, 2016 11:51 AM EST | Updated: Friday, December 16, 2016 01:23 PM EST
Those who rewrote the EQAO literacy test after previously failing were more likely to fail again than pass. (Toronto Sun file photo)
The next province-wide literacy test for Ontario high school students will be administered on paper, after an online trial last time was hit with a cyberattack.
In October, the agency that runs the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test was forced to cancel an online trial run due to technical glitches, later determined to be a distributed denial of service attack.
Most of the province’s 900 secondary schools — representing a maximum of 147,000 students — had signed up to participate in the online test, and only about 15,000 students managed to complete it.
The Education Quality and Accountability Office had wanted to move the next test, set for March, online, but it has now decided “it would be irresponsible to put students at risk of any further issues without having completed a successful large-scale online trial.”
Education Minister Mitzie Hunter says this is the best solution, and she will need to be assured by EQAO that necessary technical and security issues have been addressed before the test moves back online.
Investigations into the cyberattack are ongoing and will lead to recommendations with respect to additional system security measures.
The 11 universities in Canada with the most women
Plus six schools that are majority male
Book of Lists
August 12, 2013
Jessica Darmanin
 The Maclean’s Canadian Universities Guidebook keeps track of the male-to-female ratio on each campus. Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax been admitting men since 1974, but is still mostly female. The Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. is the only one that’s strongly male. Of those aged 25 to 34 with university degrees, 59 per cent are women, so they’re (unsurprisingly) a majority on most campuses.
 These 11 schools are more than two-thirds female (with the percentage female):
 1. Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax 75%
2. NSCAD University, Halifax 74%
3. Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, Que. 71%
4. Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary 70%
5. Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Que. 70%
6. Université Sainte-Anne, Church Point, N.S. 70%
7. Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver 69%

 8. OCAD University, Toronto 69%
 9. Brandon University, Brandon, Man. 68%
 10. Nipissing University, North Bay, Ont. 68%
 11. St. Thomas University, Fredericton, N.B. 68%
 And here are 6 with more men than women (with the percentage male):
 1. Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ont. 82%

 2. University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ont. 59%
 3. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont. 57%

 4. Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 52%
 4. Carleton University, Ottawa 52%

 4. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax 52%

Failing Boys: Part 2 of 6
Part 2: The endangered male teacher
Carolyn Abraham

The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Oct. 18, 2010 4:57AM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012 4:16PM EDT
A new study says male elementary teachers live in a steady state of anxiety, with 13 per cent reporting they had been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with students. Part 2 of a six-part series.
The male elementary teacher is the spotted owl of the education system, the leatherback turtle, the Beluga.
His presence is so endangered that in many public schools his numbers can be counted on a single hand. In some schools, it requires no hands at all.
"It is now possible for a child in Canada to go through elementary school and high school and never see a male at the front of the class," says Jon Bradley, an associate professor of education at McGill University, where men make up just five per cent of the elementary teachers in training.
The trend isn't new. Men have been the clear minority in primary teaching since the days of the one-room school house. But with their numbers dwindling to less than 20 per cent nationally, fixing the imbalance has taken on a certain urgency and there's already been talk of affirmative action. Of all the theories offered to explain why boys trail girls in academics, the lack of male role models tends to lead the pack.
Boys increasingly grow up without fathers at home, male high school teachers have slipped into the minority, and at the primary level, where children gain their first impressions of schooling, the numbers look bleaker by the year. "They're getting the bias, unintentionally, that school is a girl thing," says Mike Parr, an assistant professor of education at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont. "They don't see teaching or reading, or even learning, as a guy thing."
Yet the barriers that keep men from teaching are tough to tear down. Several countries have crafted programs to recruit more men and, for the most part, have failed.
If they're not turned off by the prospect of being the only man using the unisex bathroom, or the lone male at the lunch table, men, several studies suggest, see the profession as a nurturing, feminine domain, underpaid, over-worked, low in social status and - for a male - stigmatized.
The most troubling deterrent men cite is the fear that society - for historical reasons - is suspicious of a man who enjoys working with young children. And a new study from Nipissing, where researchers have delved into the male-teacher shortage, suggests the fear is warranted.
In a recent survey of 223 male elementary teachers in Ontario, nearly 13 per cent reported they had been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with pupils.
The study, to be published in the McGill Journal of Education, found the incidents ranged from a male teacher chastised for holding the hand of a female student to more serious accusations that took weeks to resolve.
 "[It was]very, very stressful," one male teacher wrote, "Why bother! It makes you think you should just do the job as described and forget about being HUMAN!"
While the sample size is small, and contains no comparison of allegations female teachers face, the study, partly funded by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, suggests male teachers work in a steady state of anxiety.
"I live life on the edge every day I step into the classroom. All it takes is one parent or fellow teacher to perceive that the line between nurturing and pedophil(ia) is blurry and I am a dead duck!"
Prof. Parr, and co-author Douglas Gosse, write in the paper that the results show a balance must be found to keep student safety paramount and still allow male teachers to feel comfortable doing their jobs.
 "We have to erase the social stigma," says Prof. Parr.
A marketing campaign, similar to billboards used to attract women to apprenticeship programs, he says, could help this with images of men working with young children, so society can see men that way, and men can see themselves that way.
Boys, he believes, need male role models in school more than ever, when the modern world sends mixed messages of what it means to be male - "A sissy is still a sissy - we want boys to grow up nurturing, sensitive, and understanding…[and]they get bullied...it's not cool to be smart."
Rosemary Tannock, a psychologist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, doesn't buy the idea of school boys in crisis. She doesn't believe their poor performance reflects a feminized education system but suggests that current testing methods are not an accurate way to gauge how well boys are learning.
While she thinks that having more male teachers would be valuable for girls and boys, she says that "gender makes no difference [to academic performance]- it's the quality of the teaching."
Indeed, most studies have found male teachers have no impact on boys' academic performance or their school-related problems - that peers are the dominant influence. What's more, a "feminist critique" published in the Journal of Education Policy last year argued that women have taught boys well for decades, and only now that girls are outperforming boys do people suspect young males suffer under female teachers.
 Prof. Parr agrees there's no proof male teachers will boost boys academic performance. But he says that studies to date have not been long term, and that history shows it worked for girls.
When calls came for more female role models in math, science, law and medicine, he says, it contributed "to increases in aspirations of girls overall and to their increasing presence in medical school and law school."
 "Why does this same logic not apply to men serving as models for boys [and girls]in the younger grades?"
Having trained elementary teachers at McGill for 25 years, and seeing "the vast majority" of former male graduates eventually leave teaching, Prof. Bradley believes it's time to move beyond billboards.
"We need to get fairly draconian," he says, and use affirmative action to ensure that 20 per cent of teachers at every school are male.
When most of the teachers, elementary school principals, and support staff are women and "the token male on staff tends to teach phys ed," he says, the entire system has an intrinsic bias against boys.
"Females are making the decisions, they're choosing the books, and setting up the class." Which is why he believes that the early grades focus too heavily on sitting still, and stress co-operation over competition.
A few years ago, he tried to launch a network of male elementary teachers, but couldn't drum up enough support - "Probably," he says, "because most teachers are female."
 

Back to school: How young is too young for a cellphone?

'I am totally against it. Kids should just be kids,' says mother of 8-year-old

By Justin Li, CBC News Posted: Sep 06, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 06, 2016 9:23 AM ET

Although Joshua Casino, 6, likes to play Pokemon Go, his father JP says 'he's a bit young for a cellphone.' (CBC)
Justin Li
Senior News Writer
Justin Li is a senior news writer. Prior to joining CBC News, he worked for the Toronto Star and wrote for various magazines in Toronto, where he's always lived.
It's 3 p.m. Do you know where your children are?
With the influx of cellphones and other technology into kids' lives, parents increasingly do — even in the classroom.
A 2015 study by MediaSmarts, a Canadian not-for-profit focused on digital literacy, says over a quarter of students in Grade 4 own cellphones, and that skyrockets to 85 per cent by Grade 11. Some children as young as eight own phones.
And many will take their phones to class.
Millions of Canadian kids are heading back to school — some earlier than others — raising the questions of what age is too young to have a phone and how owning one helps or harms kids.
According to one study, 85 per cent of Grade 11 students in Canada own cellphones. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
'Kids should just be kids'
The parent of one eight-year-old thinks that's too young.
"I am totally against it," says Melissa Joyce on her daughter Aniah having a cellphone, although the competitive dancer and avid soccer player keeps asking for one. "Kids should just be kids."
A cellphone for Aniah would open a "whole other realm that she doesn't need to be exposed to," says Joyce. She notes access to technology and the internet, notably social media, is especially problematic for young girls.
Thierry Plante, a media education specialist at MediaSmarts, says the omnipresence of cellphones could keep kids plugged in to social media, which can be problematic.
According to a 2012 MediaSmarts study, over half of Grade 11 students in Canada sleep with their phones because they fear missing messages. (Jean-Sebastian Evrard/AFP/Getty Images)
"Social media can exacerbate problems" like bullying, harassment and FOMO (fear of missing out), he says, noting school should be one of place kids can have "digital breaks."
Plante gives the example of a 2012 MediaSmarts study that found over half of Grade 11 students sleep with their phones because fear of missing messages.
"Bringing cellphones to school could bring with it other problems you might have," he says.
Some schools have considered banning cellphones. The Toronto District School Board, Canada's largest, did just that from 2007 to 2011.
"We all know that technology is here to stay, and so the school board has to get with the times," Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the TDSB, told CBC News in 2015.
Some schools have considered banning cellphones, which the Toronto District School Board, Canada's largest, did from 2007 to 2011. (Getty Images)
Health and academic consequences
However, many schools and classes have increasingly been using technology to teach. The results vary.
"There has been a lot of research on whether or not devices in school are useful," says Plante. "We are still in the discovery stage."
Plante says one literature teacher used Twitter to teach Shakespeare, having the students create Twitter accounts for characters and live-tweeting during class.
However, not everyone has been able to integrate technology in the curriculum.
"There is a bit of a struggle to use devices in a way to support learning," says Plante, noting the success of BYOD (bring your own devices) policies largely depends on the teacher. "Some teachers find them disruptive."
Many schools use technology to teach. Thierry Plante, a media education specialist at MediaSmarts, says success depends on the teacher. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images)
Some researchers suggest there's a link between cellphone bans at school and increased academic performance.
In a May 2015 research paper by the London School of Economics, researchers sifted through surveys from 91 schools in England with cellphone ban policies and compared their standardized test scores for 16-year-olds to the rest of the country's.
It found overall student scores improved by 6.41 per cent.
Although she does not support a ban on cellphones at school, Joyce believes they're not necessary in that environment.
"If [kids] need to use the internet, schools have computer labs. If they want to play games, they have recess," she says. "If there is an emergency, she can call me from the office or a counsellor can call me."
"Kids should be using pen and paper."
A pupil uses his phone for research during class in Winterbourne, England, in 2015. Researchers for the London School of Economics suggest banning cellphones at school can improve academic performance. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Some studies suggest excessive time spent using screens, including cellphones, can affect children and youth adversely, stunting emotional and cognitive growth, warping a young person's perspective on social norms and causing health problems such as poor eating and sleeping habits.
In 2012, the Canadian Pediatric Society came out with these guidelines for children and adolescents:
  • Children under 2: no screen time is recommended.
  • Children 2-4: less than one hour a day.
  • Children 5-11 and youth 12-17: no more than two hours a day; lower levels are associated with health benefits. 
  • Too much screen time harms "aspects of cognitive and psychosocial development," writes the CPS.
Plante agrees. "The time spent in front of a screen is time taken away from interacting with the real world and with real people and the benefits of cognitive development," he says.
The Canadian Pediatric Society recommends children under two should not spend any time in front of screens because doing so 'negatively impacts aspects of cognitive and psychosocial development.' (CBC)
For JP Casino, parent of two and owner of KidGadget, an online tech and gadget store for Canadian parents, cellphone usage for children is "less age-dependent and more need-dependent." Casino says he knows teenagers who don't have or want a mobile phone and 12-year-olds who do.
Casino says some of the need comes from a desire for safety.
"Some children walk some distance to get to school, and parents can't always accompany them," he says.
A cellphone can help a parent track kids on their way to and from school. Kids get "a means to get a hold of [parents] in case of an emergency."
Joyce says the only situation where she could imagine giving Aniah a cellphone is if she started walking home by herself in Grade 7 or 8.
For parents who balk at the idea of handing their kids a smartphone, Casino recommends other devices that have speech and tracking features.
"There are an emerging number of kids' wearables, like smartwatches, that have GPS and calling features," he says. Such devices use less data than phones.
JP Casino, with his six-year-old son Joshua, says parents need to 'be vigilant and educate themselves.' That includes knowing what apps their kids use, and even their passcodes. (CBC)
Casino's six-year-old son Joshua uses Tinitell, a watch with mobile phone and locating features.
"He's a bit young for a cellphone," he says. The watch does not have the capacity to run Snapchat and other social media platforms that may put kids at risk.
Although Casino does not believe cellphones are an absolute necessity for school-aged children, he thinks it is important for them to be more tech-literate because much of society, including classrooms, is becoming more plugged in.
"More teachers are talking about and using apps, and devices are starting to take the place of (the) notebook," he says. "There's also peer pressure" to own a phone.
But Casino says parents need to "be vigilant and educate themselves." That includes knowing what apps their kids use, and even their passcodes.
"A cellphone is like anything else, it's a tool," says Casino.
"Until kids can demonstrate responsibility, parents should not let them use it completely unsupervised."


Condo developers could help to pay for Toronto public school repairs, board says

TDSB chair says the state of public schools is 'awful' given the wealth in Toronto

CBC News Posted: Sep 06, 2016 10:03 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 06, 2016 10:03 AM ET

The Toronto District School Board says its schools are old, in desperate need of repair, and it could begin to fix problems if it could collect fees from condo developers. (Robert MacPherson/AFP/Getty)
Toronto's public schools are "old," in desperate need of repair, and the school board says it could start fixing these problems if the province allowed it to collect fees from condo developers.
Robin Pilkey, chair of the Toronto District School Board, told Metro Morning that one potential source of money for repairs is "education development charges." Fees that would be charged to developers for new school sites in order to make room for students from a new development. The board said in August that it needs an estimated $3.4 billion in total to repair its 588 schools.
"It is awful," Pilkey said Tuesday. "We are doing our best with what we have, but we're not printing money at one of our tech programs. We have to take the money that we get."
Pilkey, who described Toronto public schools as "old," said the Toronto Catholic District School Board is allowed to collect development charges under a provincial regulation because it doesn't have excess classroom space. The province has determined that the public board has excess classroom space in its elementary and secondary schools.
Robin Pilkey, the trustee for TDSB Ward 7, Parkdale High Park, is chair of the board. She says the state of public schools in Toronto is 'awful,' even though the city itself is wealthy. (Robin Pilkey/Twitter)
She said the TDSB does have more classroom space than it needs across the city and it is working to "level that out."
"The problem is [the excess space] doesn't take into account the fact that there are areas of the city, particularly along the Bloor subway line and the Yonge subway line, where we are extremely overcrowded. There is severe overcrowding along some of the main arteries and will only get worse," she said.
"This is Toronto. Everywhere you turn around, there are condos going up," Pilkey said.
Development charges are calculated based on the number of units in a new building. Under the regulation, however, the money cannot be used for renovations and maintenance, she said.
"You are only allowed to take that money and buy land. The government could change that so that money could be used to build new schools and make repairs."
Toronto's public schools, with an average age of 60 years, are in desperate need of repairs, the Toronto District School Board said after it launched an online guide that shows exactly what repairs are awaiting funding at each of its 588 schools. (Neil Herland/CBC)
The TDSB arrived at the $3.4 billion repair bill by adding up what repairing every item on its backlog list would cost.
Pilkey said many of the needed repairs have to do with the "internal workings" of the buildings, such as heating and cooling systems, and "big money items," such as roofs. She said parents would see evidence of the need when they see paint peeling and that many schools lack curb appeal.
She blamed historic underfunding for the current state of public schools in the city. She said it has been hard to plan for repairs when funding has not been consistent, although the level has improved in recent years.
"There is a fear, I think, from some people in government that if the TDSB had development charges, they wouldn't close schools that they need to close, which is patently false," she said.
But Pilkey said, despite the TDSB's long term plans, closing schools is not an easy process. People in surrounding communities get upset when plans are announced to close schools.
"That's the reaction we often get, 'this is a historical property. Please don't take it down. My parents went to this school.' A lot of people have a lot of emotional attachment to their school," she said.
The TDSB, the largest school board in Canada, has about 245,000 students. Tuesday is the first day of classes.


School zone safety blitz targets motorists, cyclists, pedestrians all week

Officers will look for infractions like distracted driving and failing to stop for a school bus

CBC News Posted: Sep 06, 2016 6:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 06, 2016 8:05 AM ET

A Toronto police officer trains his radar gun on the road outside Second Street Junior Middle School on the first day of the force's back-to-school safety blitz. (Trevor Dunn/CBC)
As kids head back to the classroom, Toronto police are launching a back-to-school road-safety blitz focused on the behaviour of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in school zones.
The initiative, dubbed "Are You FOCUSED on school" (with FOCUSED being an acronym for Frequent Offences the Community and Road Users See Every Day), will have officers looking for infractions particularly in pedestrian crossovers and crosswalks, as well as intersections, and mid-block crossing, aggressive driving, prohibited turns and distracted driving.
The police force is running the blitz in partnership with the Toronto District School Board. It runs until Friday.
Police officers, parking enforcement officers and representatives from the TDSB will officially launch the program at Second Street Junior Middle School on Second Street Tuesday morning.
Toronto police Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook said that a refresher on road-safety rules, particularly in school zones, may be required because kids have been off school.
"Specifically in school areas people might have gotten a little more relaxed with the rules surrounding these areas, so we are reminding road users, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians just to be aware," Douglas-Cook told CBC News on Monday.
Officers will also be watching for vehicles in "no stopping" or "no parking" zones, and vehicles that fail to stop for a school bus, an offence that comes with a $400 fine.