Alberta Schools Resume Under Difficult CircumstancesSchools reopened in Alberta during the week of September 1. The start of a new school year is always full of energy and excitement, and teachers are enthusiastic to be back in the classroom where the interactions so crucial to learning take place. Teachers and all the school staff worked very hard to prepare for the reopening under the very difficult conditions imposed by COVID-19. To make matters worse, they are faced with a government which can only be called indifferent to making schools safe. What keeps the teachers and all the staff going is the enthusiasm of the kids to be back in school, and how important it is to students to keep the schools open.
CBC reported on September 18 that 67 staff and 831 students in Edmonton public schools were in isolation. As of September 21, 1,400 students and over 90 staff in Calgary public schools are in isolation. That does not include students with symptoms who are staying home but have not tested positive nor been linked to a case. This will have a serious impact on the availability of substitute teachers to cover all absences. When teachers are absent and there is no sub available, other teachers have to cover those classes, giving up their prep time. This could stretch teachers to the limit and lead to violations of the collective agreement limits on instructional time. Many retired teachers who are normally available part-time as substitute teachers are choosing not to work under the present conditions. The government has mandated that all students from Grades 4-12 must wear masks at all times in the school. Intensive cleaning and hand washing/sanitizing are practiced. However, there is no physical distancing and the government has contemptuously dismissed the demands of teachers that class sizes be reduced, claiming "It can't be done," which means that they intend to continue robbing education of funding in order to pay the rich. Nothing is being done to improve ventilation, one of the clear guidelines from public health authorities. The Kenney government accepts no social
responsibility for a safe
return for students. "Alberta's belief is we're not going to micro
manage our way out of this," Kenney said. "We're only going to get
through this if people exercise personal responsibility, and that's
what we call on Albertans to do." The United Conservative Party government has reduced funding for education, and the budget remains below 2019-2020 levels, despite all the needs to deal with COVID-19. One quarter of classrooms have more than 30 students. As for not "micro managing," what the government is actually doing is concentrating all power and decision-making in the executive power. For example, it has threatened to fire school boards which don't toe the line, and thrown out the work of thousands of teachers who devoted their time and effort to develop a badly needed new curriculum. The Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) is carrying out a weekly survey, the Pandemic Pulse Research Project, in partnership with Alberta doctors and infectious disease specialists. The ATA reports that more than 90 per cent of teachers report extremely high levels of anxiety and exhaustion. Students are also affected by the stress, not only worry about getting sick or bringing COVID-19 home, but the difficulties of wearing masks at all times and remaining at their desks for long periods. As cold weather sets in and it is too cold to go out for lunch, or for teachers to take their classes outside, the situation will become even more stressful.
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Already,
there are 152 schools in Alberta with at least one COVID-19 case, 36
schools with an outbreak (defined as two to four cases), and five
schools on
"watch" with five or more cases. In three schools, there is evidence of
in-school transmission.[
Teachers and
education leaders are speaking out. The principal at
Bowness High School in Calgary publicly challenged Jason Kenney and
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange to come and spend a day at the
school, wear a mask, sanitize, sit in a typical classroom and follow a
student for a day.
