Where Things Stand in K-12 Education in Ontario
- Enver Villamizar -
Picket in Windsor during one-day strikes by
teachers and education workers, February 21,
2020.
Enver
Villamizar is a high school teacher in
Ontario and a host of the Education
is a Right Podcast.
At this point schools in Ontario have been
closed indefinitely
since April 12 which was the start of the spring
break. It is important
to note that special education classes and staff
continue to be working
in the schools as do custodians and other
maintenance staff, along with
some administrative and clerical staff. In one
case all but one of a
whole crew of custodians at a school that was
"closed" became infected
with COVID-19. So the idea that schools are all
closed and everything
is fine still shows that the protections
required when people
congregate have not been consistently put in
place, so that even when
most students and staff are not present, the
virus gets in.
Prior to this latest shutdown all kinds of
discussion was breaking
out about whether to refuse to work when the
spring break ended, how to
refuse, and what that means for the entire
school body. The threat of
mass work refusals is something the school
boards, the unions and the
government see as a concern on their radar. It
is likely one of
the reasons that a number of boards closed their
schools before the
government acted, as the system is hanging on by
a thread at the moment
with a lack of supply teachers, people off on
leaves, etc. Any refusal
can shut down a school and a few of them can
shut down a whole board.
With the threat of a number of refusals, some
school boards
therefore shut down all their schools
pre-emptively.
 In
response to persistent demands from educators,
the government has
announced that they can all now schedule
appointments for a first dose
of the vaccine, and those who did not have paid
sick leave now have
access to three paid sick days. This seems like
a set-up to say that
now everything is fine and the rest is up to
you. This is not a plan
to actually ensure the timely vaccination of
teachers and education
workers, at their place of work, for example,
which would mean a
guarantee, and that they will not have to line
up or wait for a time
when the shot is available for them.
A big demand now is that unless changes are
made so that educators
are fully vaccinated, have N95 masks and other
necessary PPE, that
ventilation is sorted out, not on a school-wide
basis but on a class by
class basis, with adequate paid sick days in
place for all staff and
parents who need to isolate at home, schools
cannot re-open for
everyone.
The Ontario government's recent announcement
that it will pay for
three COVID-related sick days from April 19 to
September 25, 2021 is an
attempt to appear to be addressing the demands
of the people. But it is
too little too late, widely seen as an act of
political expediency to
quell the growing outcry against its refusal to
heed the advice of
even its own medical advisors. It cannot be seen
as a serious attempt
to deal with how to ensure people can comply
with public health
protocols like staying home if they are
symptomatic, are waiting for
test results or have been in close contact with
an infected person. And
while the government will try to claim it has
done its part to allow
people
who are sick to stay home, it refuses to address
how to prevent people
from getting sick in the first place, which is
the starting point of
its social responsibility.
This article was published in
May 10, 2021 - No 42
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08422.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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