The Toronto Star reports that, “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.”
“At a school council meeting Thursday night, parents voted down the move (to install a water refill 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.’”
“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…”
“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.’”
The full article is at http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/779767–parents-vote-down-water-vending-machine-at-school.
It’s also in the Metro News at http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/local/article/477746–parents-vote-down-water-vending-machine-at-school.
