COVID-19: BC Parents, Teachers, and Unions Call on School Districts to Announce Mask Mandates

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Vancouver School District’s extension of a masks mandate that will include students in kindergarten through third grade starting Monday has prompted calls for more districts in British Columbia to follow suit in the absence of a public health order across the province.

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The Vancouver district informed parents of the change in a letter Wednesday after a unanimous vote by board members concerned about the increase in COVID-19 cases among children.

Vancouver School District President Carmen Cho said in the letter that requiring all students to wear masks will provide an additional layer of protection to limit the spread of the virus.

Provincial health official Dr. Bonnie Henry has resisted requests from parents and teachers that face coverings be mandatory for all students, saying that ventilation and limitations to intermingle between classes at different grades are also important factors in schools.

Henry said Tuesday that more children between the ages of five and 11 are being diagnosed with COVID-19 in Fraser Health’s eastern region because they are ineligible for vaccines and due to lower vaccination rates in at least four communities there.

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Kyenta Martins, who speaks to the parent-led group Safe Schools Coalition BC, said an increase in cases should drive a province-wide mask mandate for all children if the goal is to keep students learning in schools. .

“We are calling for better remote learning for those who cannot enter the classroom,” he said. “We are asking for rapid tests. And we keep asking for transparency and data because the data they are putting on the website is not accurate. “

Henry has dismissed rapid tests as unreliable, even for residents of long-term care facilities at the beginning of the pandemic, and said on Tuesday that regional health authorities would post potential COVID-19 exposures in schools on their sites. website so that parents have an authoritative source of information.

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“It takes time for the public health to be notified of a positive lab test and to do that important case investigation to understand what environments people were in, where they could have detected it, and where they could transmit it to other people,” he said. .

The BC Federation of Teachers lobbied for a mask mandate for months before Henry implemented it last March, and union president Teri Mooring said Wednesday that there is no acceptable justification for not extending it now to the higher grades. youths.

“We would like other school boards to follow suit of what the Vancouver School Board did,” he said. “The trustees have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that schools are healthy and safe spaces.”

CUPE BC, which represents about 30,000 workers in the public education system, said in a statement that it applauds the Vancouver board’s decision to extend the mask’s mandate to all students and that it encourages the province’s trustees to vote for a similar extension.

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“Clearly, the Delta variant has changed the situation in schools,” said Karen Ranalletta, president of the union’s provincial chapter.

The mandates of masks in schools vary by province. In Alberta, for example, masks became mandatory in indoor public spaces earlier this month, but schools were exempt and school boards had to set their own policies.

In Ontario, indoor masks are required for grades 1-12. Quebec has focused its requirements on high-risk areas such as Montreal, where face coverings must be worn in common areas, while students in grades 5 and above must also use them in classrooms.

Amy Johnston, who teaches music to kindergarten through sixth grade students at a school in Surrey, BC, said parents and teachers also urged Henry to require masks in schools before that decision was made, and now now is the time to extend that mandate to younger children.

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“Dr. Henry seems to agree with Vancouver doing it on its own, so there is no reason why other school districts should not hold emergency meetings to do the same,” he said.

Johnston said he disagrees with the provincial health official that there is no intermingling between the grades because their movements are less restricted without the cohorts that were in place in the last school year.

She said her daughter, who is in kindergarten, happily wears a mask to school, so there should be no concern about children not wanting or not being able to wear face covers to protect themselves.

Parents in some school districts have not received information on the state of ventilation in schools since the province promised improvements.

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The Education Ministry said all school districts are now reporting information on ventilation improvements through their health and safety committees and have been asked to make it available to the public.

However, Mooring said that while the Vancouver School District has improved ventilation with high-quality filters, that is not the case with the other 59 districts in the province, and no information will be released.

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