Students 'safer in the local Walmart,' says NLTA president
NAPE also has concerns for workers
The Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association is taking issue with what it is calling differences between general public health orders and those outlined for schools in the provincial government's return to school plan.
Association president Dean Ingram said Monday the standards of safety in the province's schools are different from the ones in public venues.
"Our children deserve the same level of safety precautions as anyone else," said Ingram during a virtual news conference. "They're safer in the local Walmart than they are in their English classroom."
Ingram said the provincial government has overlooked the safety of students and teachers, while other industries and sectors have more stringent regulations in place. Ingram added regulations, specifically masks and physical distancing, should be the same across the board.
On Monday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, along with the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District, announced the plan for returning to school this fall.
Some of the health orders in place include reduced capacity on school buses, limits on some school activities and mandatory non-medical masks on buses and in common areas of schools, not including classrooms.
Ingram took issue with the fact that masks will not be required in the classroom, noting the provincial government also announced Monday non-medical masks will be mandatory for everybody in indoor public spaces beginning Aug. 24.
"It's indeed frustrating to see the strict occupancy limits and other restrictions in place for almost every facet of life including controlled environments such as churches, daycares, restaurants, yoga classes, government service and public transportation in the absence of similar public health safety guides for schools," Ingram said.
"The chief medical officer of health and the minister of health have repeatedly and recently stated that people are to avoid large groups, in confined spaces, with poor ventilation for long periods of time. This is the very definition of many Newfoundland and Labrador classrooms."
Cohorts will fail: Ingram
The province and the district will implement a cohort system that will keep students from kindergarten to Grade 6 in their homerooms to stay with the same group of students, in the same space, for the majority of the day. Some junior high students will do the same.
Teachers will move between cohorts if special instruction is needed.
But Ingram said one problem is that students in different groups will be bused together.
"Children, regardless of age, regardless of grade, travel together to school on the same bus. This will be the first failure of the directions. Protocols must be in place to ensure that the cohorts remain separated at all times," he said.
Ingram is also taking issue with the plan to allow 46 students to ride the bus — about 6,000 students will be cut from busing routes to allow distancing aboard buses — while Metrobus caps riders at 19 per bus.
Work to be done
The union representing custodians, student assistants and bus drivers also says there's still work to be done.
Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees president Jerry Earle told CBC News there needs to be further dialogue to ease worries for the union's 2,000 members returning to work this fall.
Earle said they've seen very little in talks about student assistants, who perform a variety of roles, including delegated medical procedures and assisting kids with special needs to be able to attend school
"We've seen no additional resources in that area, and we understand the situation the province is in, but if we're talking about the health and safety of our children we have to look at what a couple of other provinces have done."
Earle also said there aren't enough custodians in the casual worker pool in some areas, and said there needs to be additional workers added in case a permanent worker gets sick.
"They don't have the physical resources, especially in the larger schools, to implement the protocols and procedures," said Earle.
"I think the vast majority of parents want to see kids back to school, but it has to be in a safe manner."
With files from Mark Quinn