By Liam Verster

Back To School Plans

ATA President says work is needed on reopening scenarios before classes can resume

Jun 12, 2020 | 10:58 AM

The President of the Alberta Teacher’s Association says details on the province’s three possible reopening plans for schools need to be worked out before class can resume in the fall.

The three potential reopening plans presented on Wednesday include a full reopening of schools to “near normal”, with extra health and hygiene measures in place; a partial reopening with only 15 people allowed in a class at a time, also with extra health and hygiene measures; or the continuation of at-home learning.

The Alberta Teacher’s Association (ATA) has been in conversation with Alberta Education as the plans were being put together, though there are some issues that still need to be addressed before anything can be finalized.

Jason Schilling, President of the ATA, says while it’s a good plan to have extra sanitization of high touched surfaces or equipment throughout the day, there are schools in Alberta that don’t have full-time custodians on staff, which would mean that teachers or support staff would have to spend time cleaning and sanitizing the schools throughout the day, rather than actually teaching the students.

Another issue Schilling points to, is the fact that the Province announced that school boards would not be seeing any additional funding in the budget for this upcoming school year.

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“There’s not any more money being allocated to [school boards] to assist with the purchase or procurement of masks or hand sanitizer or hand washing stations if they might need them in the school. We’re seeing school boards are doing some cuts and teachers are losing their jobs as well as [Educational Assistants], so we have a class size issue in the province as well. How do we maintain social distancing when we have classrooms that are in the 30s and the 40s?”

Schilling says the health and safety protocols could also cause some issues for support staff who deal with special needs students. He says in many cases, those students may need to be within the two-metre physical distance of a staff member, and there are questions regarding safety measures.

“Will masks be made available? Is it appropriate for a student to wear a mask? Not everybody would be comfortable, they’re scary for some kids, and medically fragile kids might have other things going on, maybe in terms of oxygen supplement, that may make wearing a mask problematic for them.”

He adds the Alberta Government laid off 20,000 Educational Assistants in March, and as school boards put forth their budgets for the fall, many are not re-hiring those EAs.

“That’s problematic as well, because they’re job is to help support students and teachers in the classroom, and if they’re not coming back to school in the fall, then who is going to do that assistant work and support the students and teacher in the classroom?”

Along with getting more clarity on those health and safety issues, there are questions regarding the second proposed plan, of a partial reopening. Schilling says it’s not clear how the 15 person per class would be handled, adding that consistency needs to be a priority in this scenario.

He says it could be done with a class being split in groups, with half a class in on one day, a lot of cleaning and sterilizing after class ends, and the other half in the following day.

“There’s a lot writing in the scenarios about cohorting, and trying to keep a set of kids together so that there’s not a lot of them mixing and mingling in the building, they’re just staying together as one cohort.”

Schilling says while the cohort model may look good on paper, he sees some issues it could cause with students in middle school or high school.

“If you’ve been to high school, then you know that your classes are all over the campus and you don’t necessarily stay with the same kids every day like you would in elementary school. So we need to make sure that however that is implemented by school boards, is done consistently across the province.”

This scenario could also impact teachers, who may have to double their workload to make sure every student is caught up on the curriculum. This could also have negative affects on families in terms of child care, which could become an extra strain on teachers who’s own children would be home every other day.

The third option, having students continue with online learning, has been, according to Schilling, a success so far, and that teachers will be able to maintain the model if needed in the fall.

Schilling also adds that school boards are going to be asked to be prepared to put any of these three plans into effect at a moments notice, as the scenarios are dependent on the COVID-19 situation at the time.

“So if you should happen to have a break out, like for instance there was one in Brooks, they might have to close the schools and flip to the remote learning emergency teaching that we’re doing right now. The Government has tasked school boards to flush out what all three of these scenarios would look like, and be prepared to do any one of them at any given time. So that way instead of shutting the whole province down, and every student goes into a remote teaching environment, maybe just an area or a zone does.”

Any outbreaks would be handled by the local health authorities, working in conjunction with the school boards, to determine the best course of action.

Schilling says while they try to work out the fine points of these plans and how best to implement them, they also need to make sure that the health and safety of the students, the staff, and their families remain a top priority.

“You come to school, and you feel that it’s unsafe, you’re not really going to learn. You need to take that fear and that anxiety and put it to rest, so that you can focus on what your task of the day is and the learning and stuff like that.

“So we need to make sure that those things are taken care of, so that students are comfortable, teachers are comfortable, and the rest of the support staff that work in the school are feeling safe. The rest we’ll be able to work out fairly easily, because teachers are creative and resilient, and will be able to handle how to deliver a curriculum, so long as the space is ready.”

Schilling adds that mental health is also a big factor that needs to be taken into consideration. The pandemic may have been traumatic to some students, teachers and staff, and though the plans involve addressing mental health, he would like to see more counsellors available in schools.

“Right now, when I look at the scenario list, it seems to be a lot of links to resources. But I think some schools could have more teacher-counsellors or regular counsellors come into the building to provide support, and I know that districts are looking at how that is feasible. But again, they’ve received no extra funding in the budget to pay for that.”

The ATA will work with Alberta Education over the course of the summer to try to resolve these issues. Schilling says they will try to have more concrete plans to present to school boards well in advance, so they can prepare for the upcoming school year. The Province previously announced that plans should be finalized by August 1, 2020.