This lesson brought to you by . . .

When I worked at the Scarborough Mirror the newspaper did a story on a school that had a track and outdoor basketball court refurbished using the rubber from old sneakers. It was a very cool environmental project that allowed the school's old outdoor facilities to be transformed into new.

The cost to the school board for this project? Nada. Nike picked up the tab and the whole community benefited.

There was little if any downside to this project. The only complaint I heard was a grumble here and there about the Nike swish plastered everywhere. In my mind that was a small price to pay to get kids out using the outdoor track and basketball courts again.

I now have three children in the school system and I'm beginning to think business sponsorship is the only way to give parents a break. Every school year there are fundraisers for school equipment whether it be something for the gym or white boards (that is something our school has put in its newsletter since our eldest daughter started school nine years ago. You would think the school would be flush with white boards by now!).

But what about text books? Each and every year during the first weeks of school my kids bring home notes asking for money for these school essentials. Today Tavish came home with a $25 request for an agenda, math and language textbooks. Rebekah came home with her own note asking for the same amount of money for similar textbooks. Bronwyn hasn't had her first class yet but I'm hoping JKs aren't expected to pay for textbooks as well!

Would it be too much to ask the Province of Ontario or the Durham District School Board to provide textbooks? Long gone are the days when our tax dollars paid for everything but give me a break. Parents these days are being asked to fund for everything from pencils  and erasers to textbooks and yes, even white boards. Maybe Nike or Nintendo would be interested in helping out our school board with some funds. Plaster the halls with swishes, put the Nintendo logo on the inside cover of every textbook, whatever. At the end of the day all our kids need access to a proper education and if the current model of providing this education isn't working, fix it. If that means corporate sponsorship for the essentials, make it happen.

I saw Nike provide outdoor physical education facilities for a Scarborough school that could not afford it. I think it's time the Durham District School Board consider similar methods of funding because it's clear to parents the system the way it's set up is not working now.