Halton School Board Decries Province's Contradictory DirectivesOn August 21 the Halton District School Board (HDSB) issued a public letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce. The Board addressed the Minister's return to school announcement on August 13 in which he said that the Province's Chief Medical Officer of Health had signed off on the current return to school direction maintaining existing class sizes in elementary schools. But in the same speech, Lecce stated that school boards have the "choice" to implement greater distancing between students and smaller class sizes.
"In Halton, over 1,200 new teachers would be required to lower elementary class sizes to 15, and additional space would need to be sourced and outfitted, transportation arranged, etc. In addition to a multitude of logistical challenges, and a lack of rental spaces in areas of need, it is anticipated that the cost to do so would be well in excess of the amount our board could access from reserves." The Board also noted that it had planned to have a model that fit the government's requirement for 50 per cent of in-class time based on 2.5 days of in-class instruction per week, which it had no indication would be a problem. Then, when asked about that model at a press conference, the minister said the government wanted students to spend at least half of every instructional day in school, or alternatively one week of full days in school followed by a week of remote learning, which caused confusion and forced the school board's planners to pause and seek clarification and eventually modify their plan. Addressing a government announcement that it would invest $50 million to upgrade and address HVAC systems across the province to ensure proper ventilation in schools, the Halton Board pointed out that the cost to retrofit just one older secondary school with a partial air conditioning system has historically been in excess of $1 million. In conclusion, expressing their frustration the
HDSB said:
"Minister, you have spoken many times about
working together. It is
very challenging when these announcements come
with no advance notice,
and Boards hear about them at the same time as
thousands of concerned
citizens of Ontario who, in turn, expect school
boards to have
answers. These announcements may trigger complex
revision processes
that often require additional direction from the
Ministry which may or
may not come in short order. You have also
mentioned "scaling up" a
number of times, inferring that other
announcements could be coming.
Systems and people are under great pressure. At
this time, staff
need to focus on implementing plans for return
to school in just over
two weeks." (Graphic: Ontario Parents' Action Network)
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"This
is highly confusing and puts our board in a very
difficult position,"
said the HDSB. "The announcement created an
expectation that would be
nearly impossible to meet, particularly before
September 8."