Messy start to the school year at North York school

Kids at a North York school walked into a messy situation on their first day. Shauna Hunt talks to a dad who noticed the playground that looks like it hasn't been maintained in months.

By Shauna Hunt and Dilshad Burman

Back-to-school day is usually met with mixed emotions — joy along with some tears, excitement and perhaps even apprehension.

But for some kids at a North York school, all those feelings turned to disbelief as they made their way to class down a pathway lined with overgrown bushes covered in burrs, leading to a weedy and unkempt schoolyard.

A father of two children who attend Joyce Public School contacted CityNews saying he was stunned by the state of the property and wondered if this is the first visual of what budget cuts will look like.

“The pendulum has swung too far,” says Chris Papaiconomou. “I don’t think anyone would want their kids to go to a school like this.”

The school’s playground also looked worse for wear, with weeds growing wild over the summer and covering large patches around and under the equipment.

“The playground rules sign is covered [in leaves] you can’t even see that. Even my kids, when they saw it for the first time, were disgusted with the way it looked,” says Papaiconomou, adding that it was not this bad last year.

Bushy, prickly weeds have also sprouted along the sides of the building and the basketball court surface is cracked, with the net rusted and broken.

In addition to the state of disrepair, Papaiconomou says his kids’ class sizes have ballooned, claiming his son’s 4/5 split has more than 35 students.

“One of the teachers said that they had to rearrange the classrooms and remove carpet time when I asked how they will fit all those kids in the classrooms,” he said. “My kids were kind of let down and it kind of hit my heart, because you hear all these talks about budget cuts and you don’t expect it to go this far.”

The Toronto District School Board says class sizes are often bigger in the first week of school while rearrangements are underway.

In addition the board tells CityNews the state of the schoolyard and playground is not a budgetary issue but one of timing.

Crews are expected to be on scene first thing Wednesday morning to clean up the space.

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