Not enough has been done to prepare schools and classrooms for kids’ safe return Monday.
That’s the feeling of NDP Education critic Marit Stiles, who is calling for urgent action and investments to make things safer.
Stiles says the government has to stop treating the problem of in-class COVID-19 infections like a communications exercise, and start treating it like a public health concern.
She stresses the province needs to do the following:
-A broad in-school asymptomatic testing program
-A calls size cap at 15, and school bus cap at 50% capacity
-Rapidly upgrading school ventilation
-Support to address the learning gaps facing students who have been shifted between remote-learning and in-class learning, especially those with special needs
-Partnership with education workers and school board, which have often been left out of decision-making
Stiles states “Students, their families and frontline teachers and education workers have shown incredible resiliency this year in the face of significant challenges. We owe it to them to learn from the past four months and deliver action and investments to make our children safer. No just communications materials with platitudes and lies.”
