Parents vote down water vending machine at school
March 14, 2010
Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
Fern Ave. elementary won’t be getting a water vending machine after all, and now parents — with the help of the Council of Canadians — say they’ll fight to stop the Toronto board from putting any more in its schools.
Right now, the only water refill vending machine — which charges 50 cents for water and $1 for watered-down juice — is at Parkdale Collegiate. It was installed last week as part of a pilot project that was to include Fern Ave., and meant to help eliminate the use of plastic water bottles and encourage the use of reusable water bottles, as well as generate revenue.
However, a handful of Fern parents were up in arms about the move, saying the board has no business introducing a vending machine to their school to sell chilled, filtered tap water or any sugary drink, even if it is naturally flavoured.
At a school council meeting Thursday night, parents voted down the move. Some 94 have also signed a petition opposing the vending machine.
“The bottled water industry and the water privatization industry have been looking at other ways to sell water” now that plastic water bottles have been targetted by scores of school boards and municipalities looking to be environmentally responsible, said Mark Calzavara, the Council of Canadians’ organizer for Ontario, who attended the meeting.
“We’ve been working for quite a long time against the commercialization of water, and despite what it seems like on the surface, this is about the commercialization of water.”
The water refill vending machines cost $10,000 to install, and the board was not expecting the Fern Ave. machine to recoup that money.
Children can fill up their water bottles for free at the fountain.
Catherine Parsonage of the Toronto District School Board said only the two schools were considered for the pilot right now, although up to six could possibly be included in a trial.
“There was good discussion (Thursday night) at Fern and the parent input was very valuable,” she said in an email. “As previously stated, the (board) would not go forward without the support of the school community and therefore Fern will not be participating in the trial.”
However, she added, the launch at Parkdale “went very well and a great deal of positive feedback was received from the students.”
Meanwhile, Ryerson University is aiming to be the “first bottled water free campus in Ontario,” with its president and student leaders promising stop the sale of bottled water by 2013.