COVID-19 NS Teachers Union Calls For Distance Learning As Winter Back To School Approaches | The Canadian News

Back to school after an already long winter break is imminent for Nova Scotia students.

And as it stands, public schools will open to classroom learning on Monday, January 10.

This, despite several other provinces opting to begin the period with remote learning, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to rise in the country.

On Monday, Ontario announced that it will move to online learning later this week, amid a series of other restrictions to contain the spread of Omicron. New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador had already announced plans for remote learning.

But on the same day, Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s medical director of health, told Global News Morning that the plan is still for students to return to classrooms next week.

“We have to accept that there will be some spread of the virus within schools,” he said. “We are creating layers of protection in those schools, but it is vitally important … to have them in the school whenever possible.”

He said the province wants to avoid the “significant damage” that occurs when children are not in school, and said COVID-19 largely does not cause serious illness among children.

However, the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) disagrees and is calling for schools in the province to return to remote learning on January 10.

The union is also expressing concern over Public Health’s decision to suspend contact tracing in schools.

In a press release, the union predicts the move will result in “widespread operational problems that will close schools with little or no notice.”

“Schools are where our communities come together. If our schools are vulnerable to the spread of COVID, by extension, so are our families, friends, and the community at large. Our teachers and other educational workers have been on the front lines of the pandemic working with the most vulnerable unvaccinated population in crowded classrooms, with questionable ventilation, no physical distancing, and poor compliance with masking, ”said Paul Wozney, President of NSTU , in the statement.

“While I hope I am wrong, the teacher shortage made it difficult to maintain school operations before the holidays, and we hope it will only get worse until the current wave recedes.”

On Monday, the province reported 1,020 new infections, representing only the results of PCR tests completed by the province’s laboratories. Over the weekend, nearly 1,900 new cases were reported.

Wozney went on to say in the statement that it is “difficult to understand” that other Canadian Atlantic provinces with lowercase counts and “stricter in-person learning protections than Nova Scotia” are moving toward remote learning, while Nova Scotia promises to reopen. classrooms, while contact tracing is discontinued.

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In an interview with Global News later Monday, Wozney went on to note that schools closed for winter break two days earlier in December for operational reasons because many employees had to isolate themselves. And there is nothing that leads you to believe that the situation has changed.

“There is no plan to mitigate the staff shortage. The plan is, ‘We are going to open the doors of the school. And if not enough people can show up, we will close the doors and everyone will be home for the day. ‘ And if that doesn’t seem like a great plan to you, it’s because it doesn’t seem like a great plan to me either, ”he said.

The NSTU encourages parents to contact their local MLA to express their concerns.

‘Looking’ at ventilation in schools: premier

When asked about ventilation systems in schools during a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Prime Minister Tim Houston responded that between 70 and 80 percent of schools in the province have HVAC systems of “ pretty high quality ”. For those who don’t, he assured Nova Scotians that it is an “active” archive and that it is being investigated.

Last week, Education Minister Becky Druhan said improvements have been made to ventilation systems when needed, inspection regimes have been put in place and there is 24-hour on-call maintenance support.

While most Nova Scotia schools have “active” ventilation systems, which use mechanical fans to promote air circulation, more than 70 schools across the province rely on “natural” ventilation, according to early data. of the school year. compiled from the eight regional education centers of the province.

“Natural” ventilation, in some cases, would mean opening windows.

When asked about the situation at the briefing, Houston said “procurement discussions” were underway for ventilation systems in schools that needed it, but admitted that it would not be in place when school started.

Wozney said the explanation is unacceptable.

“We’ve heard all the time that ventilation is a layer of protection, except now it’s three consecutive governments that have been totally unable to produce evidence that ventilation is working as intended and that air quality is safe,” he said. Wozney.

He said both staff and parents deserve to know vital information, including the specifications of ventilation systems and the results of inspections.

“So really, what we have now is a situation where no one knows if ventilation is an issue or a real layer of protection,” he said.

“Publishing this information would let everyone know: ‘Okay, at my school, it’s not a problem. I could sleep well at night knowing that the air quality is good where I work or where my children go to school. ‘

The prime minister and Strang said they are closely watching the COVID-19 situation and will have another briefing on Wednesday. It was suggested that more restrictions may be applied at that time, if warranted.

– with Alex Cooke files