Edmonton Public Schools stands behind masking policy, reports 23 COVID-19 cases
Board continues to push province to return contact tracing
Just three days into the new school year, Edmonton Public Schools has already confirmed 23 cases of COVID-19.
Parents have been asked to inform the schools if their child tests positive, but it's difficult to know the exact number without contact tracing provided by the province, superintendent Darrel Roberston said Tuesday.
"I can't say with all confidence that [23] is the total number of COVID cases in our division currently today because I don't have that information from Alberta Health Services," Robertson told trustees at a board meeting.
It will be difficult to keep a thorough record of cases this school year, Robertson said.
"The tracking is not going to be valid or reliable necessarily over the course of the year," he said.
"I wouldn't want folks to get lulled into a sense of maybe COVID is not that bad because we only had X number of cases — where the reality is that we had many more. But again, without contact tracing I am really unable to provide any accuracy to that data."
He said many times last year parents would report positive cases, but usually the school had received notice from AHS.
Board chair Trisha Estabrooks said she is also hearing concerns from parents who worry families may not disclose the information to the school.
Since August the board has pushed the province to continue measures like contact tracing, limiting students to cohorts, and quarantining close contacts.
Mandatory masking
Seven speakers addressed the Tuesday afternoon board meeting to express concerns about children wearing masks. Estabrooks said the board has no plans to change its re-entry plan and will continue to require masks for students.
A mask mandate brought in by the Edmonton Public Schools was among the first in the province, but more divisions are announcing a return to masking this school year.
Red Deer public and catholic schools announced the move over the long weekend, while Fort McMurray and Elk Island Public Schools made the announcement last week.
Estabrooks said nearly 95 per cent of students returned to in-person learning this year because of the measures that have been put in place.
"Speaking to parents, the reason they felt safe in choosing that was because they knew that we would have strong measures like masking, cohorting and screening for illness in place," she said.
Estabrooks said there is a patchwork of policies in place around the province, which can be confusing for parents, particularly with the return of a provincial mask mandate for public spaces.
"Mandatory masks in indoor spaces [but] not including schools — I do not understand the rationale behind that."