Sarah Ramsay (she/her)

Our new principal cut lunch to 15 minutes. Not 15 minutes to eat. 15 minutes total. Line. Food. Sit down. Eat. Trash. Done. The legal lunch requirement in our district was 30–45 minutes. We were already at the minimum. Then a new principal showed up and decided middle schoolers needed to “learn time management.” On the first day, we rushed to lunch like normal. Sat down. Ready to eat. Then got told to wait because the principal needed to explain the new “lunch rules.” He talked for 10 minutes. By the time we got through the line and sat down, the bell rang. Lunch was over. No one had even taken a bite. An entire cafeteria full of 7th graders just sat there holding untouched trays while he got on the mic and said: “Have a good day, students.” That was it. No explanation. No second lunch. Nothing. Just kids throwing away full trays of food because lunch ended before anyone got to eat. I asked a teacher what was going on. She looked nervous and quietly said lunch was only 15 minutes now. No warning. No notice to parents. Nothing. So I asked the principal why he thought this was okay. He looked me dead in the face and said: “Students need to learn to eat faster and manage their time better.” So I called my mom right in front of him. His face changed instantly. Turns out there was a reason for that. What he did was illegal. My mom made a few calls, checked district policy, and two weeks later lunch was suddenly 40 minutes again. Funny how fast “time management” disappears when lawyers start asking questions.

#BREAKING: I've written to Prime Minister Mark Carney, urging him to intervene to stop Doug Ford's Toronto Islands land grab. While emergency rooms close, grocery prices go up, and workers lose their jobs, Doug Ford’s obsession with Toronto is costing the province. The federal government can end this today.

Thank you @ElemTeachersTO for letting hundreds of thousands of @TorontoStar readers know how #fordnation is gutting the quality of education. #FundOurSchools!

#BREAKING: Doug Ford was in such a rush to hide his phone records that his Freedom of Information changes quietly received royal assent this morning, on a Friday, with the Legislature not even sitting. I have sent urgent letters to: 1. The Secretary of Cabinet 2. The RCMP 3. Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner Each is being asked to act immediately to safeguard evidence related to the Greenbelt scandal before this government can destroy it. As Premier, I will reverse these changes and restore transparency, trust, and faith in our democracy.

BREAKING: The Ford government has passed the budget bill, complete with the retroactive FOI scaleback. MPPs were chanting “F-O-I” in the house. #onpoli

#BREAKING: Democracy dies in darkness. Doug Ford just passed a law to hide his phone records and 40 years of public records. Honest governments don't change the law to protect them from the truth. As Premier, I will roll back these changes and restore transparency, trust, and faith in our democracy.

Today, the Ford government announced changes to Ontario’s teacher education program that will not fully address our teacher retention and recruitment crisis. “While reducing teacher education programs to one year may make it easier for people to enter the profession, easing some recruitment challenges, it does nothing to confront the real crisis driving educators out of Ontario’s classrooms: the chronic underfunding of the system by the Ford government,” said @etfopresident David Mastin A recent @otffeo report highlights that teachers are leaving the profession at alarming rates, particularly within their first five years. Although thousands of qualified teachers exist, many are choosing not to work in schools because of deteriorating working conditions caused by years of provincial underfunding: · large and increasingly complex class sizes · rising violence in schools · inadequate resources and staffing, leaving students with unmet needs and teachers without the tools they need to support learning and well-being · unsustainable workloads and job instability Added Mastin, “These are not abstract concerns; they are daily realities in classrooms across the province and the direct result of this Conservative government’s reckless decisions. Without meaningful action and investment that addresses these pressures, the retention and recruitment crisis will only intensify.” Recommendations are outlined in OTF’s report: otffeo.on.ca/en/wp-content/…

BREAKING: Premier Doug Ford is changing Ontario's elections rules: - No more fixed election dates with a 5-year maximum - The premier will decide on the date of the election - Increasing the annual contribution amount to $5,000 / per person - Making the per-vote subsidy permanent - Eliminate pre-writ spending limits for political parties and third parties. #onpoli

@ColinDMello So, he is trying to change the rules to suit his own agenda. @fordnation is sounding more and more like Donald Trump every day. He is just as corrupt.

I am very concerned to learn that Ontario is considering changes that could eliminate rent control, opening the door to rent hikes that could push people into homelessness - making an already bad situation worse. I grew up in a one bedroom apartment and while my mom and I didn’t have a lot, we had enough for us to stay there. Rent control was a lifesaver for us. For a government to even think like this is terrible and I will be opposing this every way that I can. cbc.ca/news/canada/to…

Doug Ford is on the verge of making a terrible mistake. "... doing away with the very people (trustees) whose job it is to be accountable at the local level is the wrong answer. It will accomplish the exact opposite." thestar.com/opinion/contri… #onted #onpoli

Every new story makes it clearer: Therme hit the jackpot, Ontarians got ripped off. Ford handed Ontario Place to a company that boosted its books by $170M in paper profits from a stalled spa in Germany. Auditors flagged ‘significant uncertainty’ in Therme’s finances — but Ford looked away. Now Ontario families are stuck with a $2.2B bill and the loss of our public land. This deal is rotten to the core. Ford must cancel it.

For all the talk about creating safe spaces, schools are anything but. Educators, as well as students, experience elevated levels of stress, fear, and anxiety due to increasing levels of violence, which greatly impacts the school culture. #etfo #onted #cdned #edchat

Every teacher in North America should post this in solidarity.

The Special Education funding model in #OntEd is broken, and it's hurting our kids. We need: 1) Funding based off of actual needs and programs 2) Funding based on current demographics data (not outdated census data from 20 years ago) 3) Funding indexed to inflation

It's deeply troubling that the new PM @MarkJCarney removed equity and inclusion minister positions for Women and Gender Equality and for Diversity, Inclusion, and Persons with Disabilities from cabinet. ETFO calls on gov't to maintain and expand work on equity. #cdnpoli #onpoli

Ford would sooner spend $100 billion on a Fantasy Tunnel than just remove all the damn tolls on the 407. I'll get them removed, permanently:

@MaritStiles It's bad. Doug Ford underspent billions in federal transfer funds meant for Ontario's public health system, to fail the system & boost private pay services. This is why closures. Now he's laundering the Billions thru the $200 vote bribe rebate chqs. Read ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/rele…

2.5 million people have no family doctor, and can’t get one. Doug Ford has doubled down on the failures of the Liberals who invented hallway healthcare, and made it harder than ever for families to see a doctor and get the care they need. Every day this crisis deepens. It’s time to do something about it. That’s why as Premier, I will connect every single Ontarian with a family doctor. If you're with me, add your name and support our plan to connect every single Ontarian with a family doctor: ontariondp.ca/family-doctors

@WendyGoodes @fordnation @PCPressOffice They lied about “saving $7200 on tolls” yesterday. They lied about “200,000 jobs created in the past year”. They still lie about “300,000 jobs lost under the Liberals”. Doug Ford lies every single day.