Ontario’s four major education unions stress we shouldn’t be opening schools until the level of risk is acceptable.
Harvey Bischof is the President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation and says he can’t see any way the government can reduce that risk given the short time we have until opening.
“When we’re talking about reducing class size. That means staffing up. That takes a bit of time. And we’re talking about ventilation. Heavens sake that would take even more time to resolve ventilation issues.”
Bischof says anxiety is rising among teachers, education workers and the parent community.
“There’s a lot of parents who are not at all confident that they can return their children to face-to-face classrooms.”
Bischof notes while virtual learning is an option some parents can’t keep their kids at home because of their work situation.
He says the province hasn’t addressed critical issues and the Ministry of Education has placed the health and safety of educators, their students and the entire school community in significant and imminent danger.
“Despite the fact that this plan seems to have the approval of Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer, I have a lot of questions when this plan contradicts the advice and the direction that is required to be followed in every other public space.”
Bischof stresses it’s not safe to reopen Ontario schools right now as the plan fails to meet health and safety requirements including: limiting class size to allow for necessary physical distancing; setting out minimal measurable standards for ventilation in schools; providing a mask requirement for children under age 10; providing adequate screening for students; and providing adequate safeguards for student bus transportation.
He notes it also fails to adopt the concept of cohorting in a manner consistent with current research, particularly by allowing cohorts of up to 100 students at the secondary level.
Bischof says the four unions offered cooperation back in March to develop an effective and safe education strategy with the province.
“Having had no positive response and in fact no meaningful consultation with the Ministry of Education, we’ve appealed to the Minister of Labour to step in. He has a responsibility to keep Ontario’s workers safe.”
He notes “Instead of consulting with us, they squandered that time, have come out with plans that really advocate their leadership to local school boards rather than providing the appropriate guidance themselves.”
To hear more from OSSTF President Harvey Bischof, visit the Audio link below:
